Kogi's Famous Mexi-Korean Taco These days I have been helping over at Korea Tourism's Website Koreataste.org to help them get articles for the website. One story I knew that I wanted to get was from the good people over at Kogi: the Mexi-Korean Taco Truck. Luckily, they were receptive to the idea and their creative director Alice Shin was able to contribute a piece to the site. She wrote an article stating that Kogi is not Korean food; It is LA Food. You can see it here: http://www.koreataste.org/lang/en/en/magazine-en/columns-en/kogi-the-food-of-the-people And here is an excerpt: Kogi food is LA food. It’s not fusion; it’s not a gimmick; and it is certainly not a PR-driven endeavor that sprung from the minds of enterprising big thinkers.  It’s food that comes from the gut and the heartbeat of what makes LA, well, LA. Alice, thank you for contributing to the site. Sincerely, Dan

One of the things that I look forward to every month is volunteering at an orphanage. This month, we prepared a barbecue feast for the kids and they absolutely adored it. Every time an order of meat was ready the kids were quick to yell out for more, "Kogi, Kogi, Kogi." Whoever was serving meat had their name changed to Kogi since that was all they kept asking for. Oh, that and sanchu, leaves for wrapping the meat. I thought this was quite interesting that the kids would ask for leaves. I don't think any kids in the states would ask for greens. Anyway, that day, I made some carrot kimchi. Although it was a bit too salty, they were really good in the beef and leaf wraps. It was very easy to make as well and I will probably end up doing it again. The carrots were just julienned and then I added salt to pull out the water for a while. Afterwards, I made a sauce with fish sauce, garlic, sugar, soy sauce, and red pepper flakes. I then rinsed off all the salt off the...

Hey Seoul Eats Readers, I love getting fan mail and I always try to answer them as soon as possible. One reader, Jennifer asked: since last week, i've had this unsatiable craving for pommes frites, but have not been able to find a place that sells belgian fries anywhere. =( do you know of a place you can recommend? oh, and one more question. do you know where i can buy real cheese? i.e. cheese that does not resemble kraft singles slices and posseses actual substantive taste to its existence? i have no cheese(s) to eat with my wine. brie and apples! gruyere! super crumbly blue cheese i always forget the name of! For Pomme Frites, I recommend Mignon behind the Hamilton Hotel. I t has great food and the patio is wonderful to sit out on during the Springtime. I recommend getting the mussels with the pomme frites. If I recall, they might have come automatically as a side. For real cheese, it's around everywhere, but I've been noticing it has been getting expensive. Cheese can be...

This is an interesting e-mail that I got in my inbox the other day and I thought you should totally know. I wish i could go to it, but I'll be in Korean class. The Kogi guys are amazing. I mean they haven't been at the game for too long and they are famous around the world. Geez. Think about it. One taco truck had the entire world talking. Now there are two and I heard of more on the way. On Tweeter they have 21,419 followers. I'm debating if I should stop over in LA just to find them when I go back to the states next month.Well, here's the press release for the trade show. Dan Media Contact: Grace Niwa, Niwa Public Relations (646)-644-5799 grace@niwapr.com “ FROM ROYALTY TO REINVENTION ” A TASTE OF KOREAN CUISINE AT THE KOREAN PAVILION Featuring Imperial Cuisine Chef Michelle Cho and Chefs from the Kogi BBQ Truck from Los Angeles Hosted by the Korea Agro-Trade Center, NY at the National Restaurant Association Trade Show, McCormick Place, Chicag...

The New York Times ranked Seoul third in a list of 31 places to visit in 2010. Here's what they said: 3. Seoul Forget Tokyo . Design aficionados are now heading to Seoul. They have been drawn by the Korean capital’s glammed-up cafes and restaurants, immaculate art galleries and monumental fashion palaces like the sprawling outpost of Milan’s 10 Corso Como and the widely noted Ann Demeulemeester store — an avant-garde Chia Pet covered in vegetation. And now Seoul, under its design-obsessed mayor, Oh Se-hoon, is the 2010 World Design Capital. The title, bestowed by a prominent council of industrial designers, means a year’s worth of design parties, exhibitions, conferences and other revelries. Most are still being planned (go to wdc2010.seoul.go.kr for updates). A highlight will no doubt be the third annual Seoul Design Fair (Sept. 17 to Oct. 7), the city’s answer to the design weeks in Milan and New York, which last year drew 2.5 million people and featured a cavalcade of e...

This is from Chef Flor who is starting up the movement to popularize Korean food in Latin America. She makes some very good points on how Korean food and Latin food are well matched. I mean we've already seen the Koreazy Tacos and Koreazy Quesadillas from Kogi Taco- so it makes sense that these flavors would pair well.  You can check out Flor on her website (it's in Spanish) at http://soulofhansik.blogspot.com/   Flor, thank you so much for the letter. Dan   Hi Daniel, How are you hope very well.    I read your article on the globalization of Korean cuisine in Korean Heral d, and I loved it, first I feel obliged to express my opinion, I don´t know if it helps, but I want you to know my point of view from Latin America, I will give you a brief explanation why I am so fascinated with Korean cuisine, the one for me started as a novelty as a chef I like to know of the cuisines of the world and here in my country Venezuela "does not know Korean food," and of cours...

Korean Food is getting a lot of press these days. Here's an article in the Wall Street Journal. The New Hot Cuisine: Korean The noted Chicago eatery Blackbird has kimchi on the menu, and California Pizza Kitchen is developing Korean barbecue beef pizza. In Los Angeles, crowds are lining up for street food from a pair of Korean taco trucks called Kogi. The slightly sour-tasting Korean frozen yogurt served at the Pinkberry and Red Mango chains has inspired many imitators. Redolent with garlic, sesame oil and red chili peppers, Korean food is suddenly everywhere. It's even on the packaged-food industry's radar. "Last year, mostly what we saw in our database was Korean food at authentic ethnic places," says Cindy Ayers, vice president of Campbell's Kitchen, which tracks trends for new-product development at Campbell Soup Co. This year, she says, she's seen Korean flavors appearing on both high-end menus and in casual, nonethnic restaurants in cities like Minn...

Me and Marja Vongerichten It's been a great year for Korean food and next year looks to be even bigger. Let's first talk about the good. 1.      Korean Tacos. This was the year of Korean tacos when bulgogi tacos and dakgalbi burritos became king. Roy Choi and his crew at Kogi turned kimchi into a gourmet topping. There were also copycats all over the place and I think the trend will continue. 2.      Korean-Gyopo Chefs gain respect: Roy Choi, Sang-hoon Degiembre, Corey Lee, and Rachel Yang, and Akira Back were featured in many news stories. And we can't forget David Chang who was nominated as one of Time Magazine's 100 most influential people list. Corey Lee's new restaurant in San Francisco, Benu, has a 2-month wait. 3.      The Korean Bibimbap Commercial. I love the dancing, the colors, the juxtaposition of dancers to Bibibimbap. It totally works. 4.      The Jean-George and Marja Vongerichten's upcoming show on Korea...

I am happy to introduce Ms. L, a chef that is embarking on starting her own Korean Street Truck business in middle America. These are her true story. Names and locations have been omitted. You can leave Ms. L a message in the comment section of this post. Dan Chapter 1: Insomnia So here I am, it is 3 in the morning and I'm spending another insomnia filled night on the Internet researching recipes. If trying to develop a menu was the only thing I have to deal with I would have been asleep hours ago. Licenses, vendors, legal protections, insurance, marketing are just the beginning of opening your own business. Trying to find a place to start has made my head spin and I've had to keep reminding myself of one of my favorite sayings: How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. And in this case, preferably with some ssam and kimchi. So how did I, a half Korean, half American get to the idea of opening up a Korean street food truck? I didn't grow up with Kor...