Chef Roy Choi, one of the founders of the food-truck movement, says his Kogi BBQ business could only have started in Los Angeles, a city where food boundaries don’t exist and street culture brings people together.
Choi, who was born in Seoul, grew up in an immigrant family that bounced from Koreatown to West Los Angeles. “Especially with Asian immigrant families, you live together, you share duplexes, you share houses, and you go through all those iterations until you get your own apartment, you rent your own house, and you finally, hopefully, get to a point where you buy your own house,” Choi says. “It took my family about 13, 14 years to get to that stage, but they figured it out.”
It was November 2008 when Choi, with partners Mark Manguera and Caroline Shin-Manguera, rolled out the first Kogi truck with Korean BBQ tacos, using Twitter to announce where they’d be. The business grew to include several trucks, a catering operation, a bar, the Alibi Room, and his latest restaurant, Best Friend! at the Park MGM Las Vegas.
Choi, who lives in Koreatown, says his blend of Korean and Mexican cuisine is an homage to the street culture he grew up in. Today, the chef’s perfect Sunday is a foodie’s dream — sampling food from around L.A. by driving to different parts of the city, and savoring his alone time the entire day.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
6:30 a.m.: Wake up and walk the dogs
I have two dogs, so I take them out to do their business. Then you got to walk them a little bit. You got to give them coochie-coos, and that’s my workout. Some people go to the gym or do yoga. I play with my dogs.
8 a.m.: Check out the Hollywood Farmers Market
The Farmers Market is the first thing on my agenda. I try to do the Hollywood FarmersMarket on Sunday, and that’s my breakfast. All the free samples, you know? I don’t eat the traditional three squares a day. I’m like the Thai, who eat eight meals a day, snacking throughout the day. At the Farmers Market, breakfast is maybe three oranges, two apples, a basket of strawberries, half a melon and two peaches. After that, I’ll shoot over to Los Feliz and go to Maru Coffee and get either a cortado or the espresso, because it comes with a little sparkling water, and a croissant. The whole set is really serene and Zen-like. Then I’ll get a matcha latte to go.
10 a.m.: Visit with the vendors at Smorgasburg
From there, I’ll hit Smorgasburg L.A., the largest open-air food market in town. My friend Zach Brooks runs it on Sundays. I love seeing all the vendors because I’m a street-food cook. I love meeting young entrepreneurs with their booths. They’re just full of joy and energy. It inspires me, so it’s like a natural spring well of water that I go to every Sunday. That’s where I get my spiritual pick-me-up. There, I’ll hit up a couple of vendors and maybe get a shawarma and lobster noodles.
Noon: Head over to Boyle Heights
Next, I’ll go to East L.A., Boyle Heights. It depends on what I’m craving, but usually I’ll end up at Burritos La Palma, which is a stand, and Mariscos Jalisco, which is a truck. They’re a block and a half away from each other, so I’ll get a refried beans-and-cheese burrito from La Palma. They’re called burritos, but they’re rolled tacos. Then at Mariscos, I’ll get their shrimp tacos, which is not a soft taco. It’s a fried taco. That’s like my Sunday brunch.
1 p.m.: Drive south to Torrance
Then, I love to drive south. I’ve been places there my whole life. I’d roam Gardena and Torrance, eating soba, udon and tempura. I used to mob all throughout Carson, eating Hawaiian food. So I’ll head for Old Torrance and do another doubleheader with Kagurafor katsu, and I’ll hit Tendon Tempura Carlos Jr. for soba or tendon. I’ll do that back-to-back because they’re right down the street from each other. From there, I’ll stop and roam around a bit at Del Amo Fashion Center, just to walk it off.
2:30 p.m.: Move farther south to San Pedro
I’ll drive to San Pedro, hit the Korean Bell of Friendship and just chill for awhile. I love to drive across the two bridges [Vincent Thomas Bridge and Long Beach International Gateway] from San Pedro to Long Beach. That’s like my hobby because there are not many chances in L.A. that you get to drive across bridges of that magnitude.
4 p.m.: Drive west for almond milk tea
After that, I’ll shoot over to the west, get to Volcano Tea House on Sawtelle for some almond milk tea. The flavor of the milk tea, the atmosphere on Sawtelle, the street, and the punch card at Volcano Tea House makes it special there. Every 10th drink is free!
Or I might grab a quick strawberry or peanut butter smoothie from Main Squeeze in Santa Monica, then go see the sunset.
6:30 p.m.: Dinner in Koreatown
Then I’ll shoot back up to Koreatown and get dinner. I like the sundubu-jjigae, spicy tofu stew at Surawon Tofu House.
Or I’ll go to Myung Dong Kyoja, a.k.a. MDK, for the chicken kalguksu to get my slurp on.
Asian restaurants don’t serve dessert, so I’ll go to Anko for some shaved ice.
9 p.m.: Take in a movie
I like the Regal Sherman Oaks Galleria theater. I’ll get a popcorn with butter in the middle and the top, and a blueberry and cherry Icee. Then, after the movie, you need ice cream, right? So I’ll probably hit the Van Leeuwen Ice Cream in Studio City if it’s still open. Late night, I like to eat soft serve, versus scooped, ice cream. I like scooped ice cream during the day.
Midnight: Zone out and doomscroll
I probably won’t go to bed for another three hours, so I’ll just be zoning out. If I’m watching TV, I’d be catching up on “Andor,” Season 2. But I’d probably be doomscrolling on the phone. So if you want to DM me, DM me between midnight and 3 a.m. To me, a beautiful Sunday is having “me time,” being connected to the universe and others, but having your own little bubble to maneuver through it.
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