Roy Choi

Chef Roy Choi is a Korean American chef, L.A. icon and one of the leaders of the modern entertainment/restaurant industry serving as a producer and major inspiration for the hit Netflix series Chef and The Chef Show. Born in South Korea and raised in Los Angeles, Choi’s cuisine blends Korean and Mexican influences into his signature Korean-Mexican style that initiated his food truck success. After working in various kitchens in California, he founded his own food truck and became the first food truck operator to win the distinction of one of the top ten “Best New Chefs” of 2010 by Food and Wine magazine.

He was born of a father from the South Jeolla Province (Chŏllanam-do), South Korea and a mother from the northwestern province of modern day Pyongyang (P’yŏngan-do), North Korea. At only two years old he emigrated with his mother and father to Los Angeles in the heart of Koreatown on Olympic and Vermont from Seoul. Here they worked to provide a living, thanks to the shared community funds in the area and opened up a liquor store on 9th Street and Vermont. Troubled times would lead them to Orange County where chef Choi’s parents operated one of the few Korean restaurants in the late 1970’s West Anaheim, Silver Garden. Continued financial troubles would lead to the closure of both stores but his parents tirelessly worked to make ends meet for their son and daughter creating an established jewelry business.

Despite the family’s new outward success, internal struggles of addiction and depression along with alienation at school would send teen Choi onto a path of delinquency with continued drug abuse and petty gang violence. He would develop a deep respect for other minorities in L.A. he felt community and a true acceptance with especially Chicano groups such as the Street City Minis. After continued struggles at Cal State Fullerton his parents sent him back to Seoul to “reconnect with his identity” in 1990. Once back in the states he would fall deeper and deeper into depression and self identity crisis. It would again be thanks to his support system that Choi's parents were able to save him from his struggles with drugs, and set him towards the path to recovery. As he continued his life back in L.A., chef Choi would begin to deepen his love for the culinary scene throughout the area while starving off a gambling addiction. This continued addiction resulted in rampant trips to Vegas and left him in debts he managed by stealing from his family. Finally with the help of his father he surrendered his gambling addiction away and began a new chapter of his life.

Food helped mend the void he felt consumed his life and softened things with his parents. It offered solace that often words could not. In 1995 he would again come to a crossroads with another drunken bender in Koreatown leading to a gun pointed at his head. To this day he believes that they should have shot him based on his behavior. This would help serve as the few final reminders that food was part of his family identity and was a key to helping get his life together. He applied to one of the top notch culinary schools, Culinary Institute of America after building up his skills at a local culinary school again with the support of his parents. In New York he would hone his techniques and learn the importance of food security and the food cycle from several head chefs in the city as well as what it took to make a good leader. After graduating culinary school, chef Choi would go back to the westside to build up on restaurant and hotel cuisine. Continued successes with Hilton Hotels in California in the early 2000’s allowed him to travel to different parts of the world visiting kitchens and developing a unique perspective. By 2008 Roy Choi was fresh from another failure with his most recent firing from RockSugar test kitchen, where he felt constrained being in a position as a Asian chef cooking Asian cuisine. This turned out to be a blessing in disguise with former Hilton Hotel colleagues Mark and Caroline Shin-Manguera offering to go all in on a new fusion adventure, Kogi, a love of Korean and Mexican cuisine. The rest is history from here with the Kogi food truck helping develop the modern food truck scene. This would really help place Choi on the map with new recognition as Best New Chef of 2010, and TIME list of 100 most influential people of 2011 and 2016. As recognition of chef Choi became widespread, he was able to get his first cookbook, L.A. Son: My life, My City, My Food: published by Anthony Bourdain in 2013 creating a rich friendship.

One of the most humbling aspects of chef Choi’s mission is people over profits. The pandemic has been rough on everyone with many restaurants and retail industries suffering a large hit. Despite this Kogi has gone above and beyond to ensure the people of Los Angeles do not go hungry and their food trucks and workers have been offering free food to those affected by the pandemic since March of 2020. Even though early on profits helped keep Kogi Food Trucks afloat, chef Choi has had to close staples throughout the area before and during the pandemic including A-Frame (Washington Blvd, Culver), Chego (N Broadway, Chinatown), and Sunny Spot (Washington Blvd, Venice). The chef has brought universal acclaim to many AAPI owned businesses throughout the L.A. area, as well as brought to light the social issues surrounding his city as well as country. In chef Choi’s most recent show, Broken Bread he examines the effect food has on uniting cultures and respecting one another through passions as well as the future of food sustainability. The show also serves as a great guide on unique L.A. restaurant spots, both up and coming as well as institutions that are/were working to do good in the communities such as 3 Worlds Cafe, Homeboy, and LocoL.

Sources:

L.A. Son: My life, My City, My Food

Broken Bread

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