Valentine Gifts for the Five Senses
Self-Medicating with Magical Food
Zodiac Valentine Menu Game
How to Store Foie Gras
When Should Bars Cut You Off?
Sausage Recipes of the Month
—THE CHOW 13—
CLICK THUMBNAIL FOR EACH PROFILE
enlarge imageROY CHOI
Kogi
LA’s Kogi barbecue taco truck became a seeming overnight sensation when it debuted last December, amassing long, hungry lines, coverage on food blogs and in the national press, and several copycats. It was a mobile hole-in-the-wall for those in the know: LA street tacos filled with Korean barbecue, broadcast via Twitter, only after midnight. Drunken kids coming out of clubs tweeted it to all their friends, proving you can rely almost entirely on Twitter to launch unconventional new restaurant ventures.
But Kogi would have been just a novelty act if the food wasn’t amazing. Which it was, thanks to Roy Choi. An intense former chef for the Beverly Hilton Hotel, Choi was tapped for the project by his old friend, Mark Manguera, who had the truck and the idea but needed somebody with the chops to execute it. Drawing on the Korean food he grew up with, Choi developed the truck’s crazy-good mainstays: barbecue short ribs inside soft corn tortillas, and the kimchee quesadilla. Then he ventured into even more creative realms: Last summer’s daily specials included a spicy Korean pork sandwich, pressed between El Salvadoran soft pillow loafs, with caramelized onions, house-made chile mayo, grilled heirloom tomatoes, and cheese. In a year when nouveau food trucks became the most buzzed-about trend in the restaurant industry, let Choi go down as the chef who nailed the concept as sure as a drunk craves tacos at two in the morning.
Was there any dish you created that failed?
“With the exception of two or three dishes out of hundreds we created since we opened, everything has gone over really well. There was a mandarin-yogurt dish that didn’t go too well, though.”
If you weren’t doing this, what would you be doing?
“A lot of people do something for so long, then they say: I wish I could be a ballet dancer instead of an accountant. I’m like the complete opposite. I tried everything in the first part of my life. I tried to be a good student, son, tried out for sports. I tried to work in an office, at an investment bank. I did all these things that I guess normal people do, but I just wasn’t good at them! And so, from there, food is all I’ve done. I have no hobbies. Any spare time I have or creative joneses, I give it towards food.”
What would you change about your industry?
“In the last eight months of cooking for Kogi, I’ve learned that there’s nothing more important than seeing the expression on somebody’s face when you hand them food, directly. How great would it be if the best chefs in the world brought their food to the people? I don’t mean the people who can afford the food. I’m talking about the people who would never get the chance to eat at a Le Bernardin, or even a Lombardi’s pizza, or a Shake Shack! Kids in Queensbridge projects or South Central LA, who may never get the chance to eat great food from the hands of a master like an Eric Ripert or Daniel Boulud. Imagine if they brought that food down to the people? If we made that fundamental shift in the industry, it would change the framework of who we are as humans.”
I am so deeply over Slow Food USA. Was cool in 2000, definitely does not merit attention now. 300 picnics is the stuff of revolution? Big time boring, just like Slow Food has been for...um....the past decade? Novella deserves the shout out, awesome.
But, it's the first time you guys are doing this so I am sure it will get better!
I have to disagree-What Sam Calagione is doing for beer has brought the craft beer movement to a whole new level. Just one example is Dogfish Head's ancient ale series, or "liquid time capsules." They recreate and reinterpret ancient brewed beverages based on chemical analysis of pottery shards from archeological finds. You may think that this idea is purely novel, but the ales are intricate,...+READ
I have to disagree-What Sam Calagione is doing for beer has brought the craft beer movement to a whole new level. Just one example is Dogfish Head's ancient ale series, or "liquid time capsules." They recreate and reinterpret ancient brewed beverages based on chemical analysis of pottery shards from archeological finds. You may think that this idea is purely novel, but the ales are intricate, unconventional, and most of all delicious! Beer is the new wine, and Sam Calagione proves it.-COLLAPSE
@davina-thank you pointing me in the right direction and highlighting each illustrator in the comments box. They all rock!
HillJ -- we love our illustrators, there are four of them and we're so proud of the work that they did. They are Nathan Fox, Yuko Shimizu, Frank Stockton, and Eamo. Their credit lines are underneath each image.
Props to the "head shot" illustrator. They too deserve credit....heck, why not credit them!
Just because people have been doing coffee bars since 1988 doesn't mean they've been doing them right.
::cough::Starbucks::cough::
And no, people weren't doing anything close to what Caligione, Cilurzo, Arthur, Allagash, et al are doing now 20+ years ago. Wait a sec, how many of those guys from back then are still at it? Surprisingly few.
By your reasoning, no one should get...+READ
Just because people have been doing coffee bars since 1988 doesn't mean they've been doing them right.
::cough::Starbucks::cough::
And no, people weren't doing anything close to what Caligione, Cilurzo, Arthur, Allagash, et al are doing now 20+ years ago. Wait a sec, how many of those guys from back then are still at it? Surprisingly few.
By your reasoning, no one should get superlatives for any of this slow food, locavorism nonsense because really, no one's done anything new with that, oh, since the beginning of human civilization.-COLLAPSE
Great job on 10 of 13 picks. But picking Deb Madison in Chow 2009 is like giving Scorcese that Oscar a couple years back...the timing is wrong, just give the Lifetime Achievement Award instead. And really guys, you've picked a beer guy and a gourmet coffee guy...in 2009? NOTHING has really changed/no innovation in coffee or beer since 1988...just a few new personalities who hit the market more...+READ
Great job on 10 of 13 picks. But picking Deb Madison in Chow 2009 is like giving Scorcese that Oscar a couple years back...the timing is wrong, just give the Lifetime Achievement Award instead. And really guys, you've picked a beer guy and a gourmet coffee guy...in 2009? NOTHING has really changed/no innovation in coffee or beer since 1988...just a few new personalities who hit the market more right, that's all.-COLLAPSE
I'm not getting this pick. Micro beer is 25 years old, and the 'special ingredients' story is way overdone. This guy is just slightly more interesting and his beers are just slightly better.