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| photo: Travis Jensen | |
Roy Choi was born in Seoul, Korea, and raised in Los Angeles, where he still lives. He graduated from the Culinary Institute of America and went on to cook at the internationally acclaimed Le Bernardin in New York. He was named Best New Chef by Food and Wine in 2010. Choi is the co-owner, co-founder and chef of Kogi BBQ, as well as the restaurants Chego!, A-Frame, Sunny Spot and POT. His book, L.A. Son: My Life, My City, My Food was published yesterday by Anthony Bourdain/Ecco.
On your nightstand now:
Johnny Cash: The Life by Robert Hilburn. I read books that fall into my life by chance, it's the same way I approach music. I got lucky to do a Southern California Independent Booksellers Association event promoting the book, and Robert Hilburn was at the same event. I can't put it down.
Favorite books when you were a child:
The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl, Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien and Superfudge by Judy Blume. The Giving Tree has been my philosophy of life throughout my whole life. I knew I was a giver since a young age and this book helped me see I wasn't weird in that. I was the tree.
Your top five authors:
That's hard for me to remember because I don't have a good memory like that. But I like Elmore Leonard, James Baldwin, Maya Angelou, Jack Kerouac and Junot Diaz.
Book you've faked reading:
The Odyssey.
Book you're an evangelist for:
If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin. I could feel the pain and racism, which mirrors a lot of what I've been through in life.
Book you've bought for the cover:
The whole Culinaria series.
Books that changed your life:
On the Road by Jack Kerouac and The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Malcolm X and Alex Haley. Freedom and the fight for freedom. Two parallels that guide me today.
Favorite line from a book:
F***, I don't remember that kind of stuff... too much weed in my life. "To be or not to be" is the only thing I remember from anything... ha!
Book you most want to read again for the first time:
Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain. I never read something so visceral in my life that hit me in the gut like KC. Everything else I had read was from a time way in some past; this felt like the moment and like a life I wanted to live. I'm sure it would feel the same now, that's why I want to read it again for the first time.