You've seen the Korean-language, poster-sized ads on the swinging glass doors of Mr. Pizza, Pizza Hut & even Domino's Pizza in Seoul:   Thick slices of sweet potato, drizzled with honey mustard sauce, surrounded by heaping amounts of corn, grilled chicken doused with a white-garlic ranch sauce, jalapenos and cherry tomatoes, all criss-crossed with a version of balsamic vinaigrette and all piled high on a thick crust stuffed with mozzarella or surrounded by a heavenly golden-ring of cream cheese. 

Photo:  Papa John's Korea's Golden Ring Spicy Chicken Ranch Pizza.  Get Down.  

That's not a dream come-true, Dear Reader, that's just one of the well-documented versions of Korean pizza.    Looks strange?   Sure it does.  Can't believe anyone would eat it?  I did.  And it actually wasn't half bad -- like a mix of cheese bread and chicken strips with a little extra Tabasco.   The crust was crisp but not too heavy.   I'm not joking -- I'd get after it again.

You don't believe in change.   For a culinary snob like you, Korean tastes for pizza are just...well, weird.  I mean, who doesn't love salted Italian ham with sweet chunks of pineapple on a steaming, wafer-thin pizza crust slathered with spicy tomato sauce?  Its the Hawaiian, goddamn it, and its as American as...as...French Fries and Tacos.  

Look, I'm not the first one to throw houses at glass rocks, but I can tell you this as fact:  I spent 6 months living in Italy, and my first night out at a local ristorante, I caused our server to stumble backwards gasping, old men to clutch at their chests and parents to cover their children's ears when I ordered a simple "pepperoni with onion, black olives, mushrooms and green peppers."  

"What the Hell were you trying to do in there, you American buffoon?" my Italian friend confronted me after we left, using his favorite hand gestures.  "We almost got our asses kicked.  No one orders all that shit on a single pizza in Italy.  I mean, how do you expect to taste anything at all mixing black olives and onions and strawberry jam and whatever else you were rambling about in there?  Jesus!" 

Italians, real Italians that is, cling with passion to two things:  inventing the radio and perfecting the pizza.  Mess with either in front of them and you're likely to get a mouthful of chicklets.   Cowed and bent, but unbroken, I got my friend's point.  I started to notice how most Italians in the small town I lived in would order a basic Margherita (tomato sauce and cheese, at its essence) or at the most one topping of proscuitto cotto/spek or a few different types of cheese/quattro formaggi, all of which were kept to their own part of the pizza.  In short, if Italians can do it like a simple Matisse, why can't Koreans celebrate the magnificent complexity of a pizza by decorating it, exhorting it, honoring it with as many different toppings and tastes like Jackson Freaking Pollock?  Pizza is not a daily food in Korea; Koreans don't buy it by the slice for lunch.  Its a special food, a celebratory food and, to some extent, that should explain its extravagance. 

It was with simple understanding I had long forgotten since coming to Korea.  Dave from The Pizza Peel, however, knows it well, having studied the art of pizza making in the Holy Land of Italy.   Dave's Canadian, but I still respect him, because he believes in creative simplicity.    In fact, Dave woke the slumbering four corners of my brain with a short, humble speech he delivered to me the first time we met.

"Everyone has different tastes in food, pizza especially.   As a restaurateur, you ignore those tastes at your peril.   I focus on the individual customer, but I never veer from the mission of making a pizza that I'm proud of."   Or something like that. 

Like all great artists, Dave and I both understand that if its not edible/comprehensible, it won't sell while you are alive (near term goal).  Then again, if its not done with a mind on perfection, whether you are blending words, watercolors or pizza ingredients, you, as its creator, shall never achieve immortality (long term goal). 

Video:  Watch Dave make some Fork-In Good Pizza!  See the full video here:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LX1kdyd4leA

I've got Dave on film cracking out a damn tasty Margarita pizza.  He was kind enough to let me inhale a few slices after I filmed him, so if that counts as a paid advertisement for his pizza joint, so be it. 

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