Top 77 Roy Choi Quotes

TV is a hard thing to do. It’s a hard thing to get a show.

For us in Asia, fermented, bubbly, creamy things are just the norm.

At my lowest point, I found cooking.

There are certain foods that are somewhat sacred or you’re not supposed to mess with. When you do mess with them, it touches a nerve where you have to compare it to the original, and then that thing you’re creating has a loosing change right out of the gate.

I know a lot of artists and chefs don’t talk about this, but sometimes you just don’t get to the finish line. That honesty and tenderness is something we’re kind of not supposed to express.

American barbecue is all slow and low, you know, or low and slow, as they say down in the South, in Texas. But Korean barbecue is thinner cuts of meat.

Korean food is primarily based on herbs and shoots and sprouts. There’s no pasture land in Korea; we eat like Hobbits.

Everything I do is like tough love; everything I put out there in the universe is me trying to feed you. I really care.

You have to believe in something, and you have to believe in the things that you feel and find value in those things, and not be swayed all the time. Maybe you’re gonna get swayed 90% of the time, to keep those things submerged, but you can’t distrust yourself 100% of the time.

I’m a little old-school in that I think there’s some value in the classics and the steps of achieving a certain profession. If we start slanging the word ‘chef’ on anybody and everybody who cooks, it takes away a lot.

A lot of my friend’s mothers and parents worked at Paramount Studios, so I would always go. I met the Fonz when I was really young, like four or five years old. I was always around people in entertainment all the time throughout my whole life.

I want to pay homage to Los Angeles.

I typically like Sicilian pizza.

There is something timeless and beautiful about cooking straight to camera.

I’ve got a lot of experience under my belt, but I still have a very naive and idealistic outlook on life.

I know a lot of artists and chefs don’t talk about this, but sometimes you just don’t get to the finish line. That honesty and tenderness is something we’re kind of not supposed to express.

When Kogi started, I was dead broke, selling tacos on the street just to survive.

I don’t really have a strategy for social media. I think that’s my strategy is that I don’t have a strategy.

It’s so easy to produce food, throw it away, and watch people starve. It’s so hard to produce food mindfully and to feed and to reduce waste.

Kogi changed what a generation eats, introducing people to fermentation and different vegetables and flavors.

Cooking is not a craft to get into for money. The money may come, or it may not. But you must get into it for the craft and the culture.

I knew of the ‘Gilmore Girls’ – I wasn’t a rabid fan, but I watched it sporadically when it was first on.

When I was around 25 years old, I lost everything and was a complete dirtbag.

What if every high-caliber chef told our investors that for every fancy restaurant we build, it would be a requirement to build one in the hood as well?

I’ve always wanted a straight-up cooking show since I was a child.

Animals have been talking to me. And any shaman will say that that’s not that weird.

There is something timeless and beautiful about cooking straight to camera.

I don’t go for average.

Go out one day and treat yourself. Go out and have the best sushi you can find, or go to the best barista in your city and have just a cup of cappuccino, and tell yourself that you deserve this. I think that is very empowering.

When you never see yourself in the mainstream format, you are stripped of the strength of your identity.

I’m not a get-off-my-lawn guy. I embrace the new generation.

I make milkshakes at home, but the two best are at at Gulfstream and Disney’s Soda Fountain on Hollywood Boulevard.

I think that a lot of times, we all want to help each other and be a part of each other’s lives. It’s just – we don’t allow ourselves into each other’s lives.

I typically like Sicilian pizza.

Cooking is one of the most zen things – you have to be there.

My parents and friends, they’re Ph.D.s that worked as custodians, that owned their own businesses, that went bankrupt, that moved seven times, that sent their kid to Harvard, that don’t have any money for retirement. Highs and lows of life.

I went to high school in Orange County.

If you look at my life, I wasn’t just poor; I was rich and poor.

I really think I cook good Korean food. I really do, just straight up.

Public television is a very important thing for our human race, and it allows us the ability to discuss the elephants in the room and understand stories beyond the headlines.

A-Frame was a real, pivotal moment because that’s where I really got to channel a lot of emotions.

Why can I cook for tourists that come and visit L.A. and are so excited to see the Kogi truck? Because I cooked at country clubs and Embassy Suites hotels.

When you come out of the ocean after surfing all day, loco moco is the best thing you ever tasted.

I make milkshakes at home, but the two best are at at Gulfstream and Disney’s Soda Fountain on Hollywood Boulevard.

A lot of times in television, you don’t get the opportunity to show real life because we’re brainwashed to believe the propaganda that these things aren’t marketable, that these things don’t sell.

When you come out of the ocean after surfing all day, loco moco is the best thing you ever tasted.

Straight up, Oreos, sodas, chips, salsa dips, egg white omelets, yogurts, breads, ketchups, mustards, barbecue sauce, frozen pizzas, hot pockets, ice cream, all these things that you eat in your normal life – I think if chefs got more involved in that, then it could be better. Because we’re the ones that know flavor.

I realized why I can cook for different environments. Because of everything I’ve gone through growing up. Why can I cook for a Hollywood event without blinking an eye? Because I cooked at the Beverly Hilton and because I moved to Villa Park. Why can I cook for kids on Hollywood Boulevard at night? Because I went through it.

I’ve been through a lot of things in my life.

A-Frame became an expression of creating a place where everyone would feel comfortable, even if you were made to feel uncomfortable in restaurants before. It’s a place where I explored my own insecurities as far as being mistreated in restaurants or being given the worst table.

I kind of feel for the vegetable world – the vegetarian world. It’s almost as if people look at them like aliens or foreigners.

My parents and friends, they’re Ph.D.s that worked as custodians, that owned their own businesses, that went bankrupt, that moved seven times, that sent their kid to Harvard, that don’t have any money for retirement. Highs and lows of life.

When I was around 25 years old, I lost everything and was a complete dirtbag.

The Korean taco was a phenomenon… It just came out of us. We didn’t really think about it.

Oh yeah, the ‘Chef’ movie was awesome.

I was a latchkey kid, from 4 or 5 years old.

I’m in a place where I feel comfortable not being a chef anymore. That’s taboo in our industry. ‘Chef’ is supposed to be the ultimate end of the road.

I grew up around so many different people in so many different neighborhoods, but the Latino heritage, the neighborhoods, and people have always been a part of my life, ever since I was a kid.

I’ll never be able to outlive Kogi. Kogi is a beast.

I don’t really care about job security.

What was important for ‘Broken Bread’ to do was show real life.

I used to be a chef.

As a young manager, I had no idea what it meant to be a chef.

There is no typical day, not when there are so many people out there that I care about that can’t access good food in their neighborhoods.

I don’t have many hobbies or talents other than cooking, but I’ve always been good at figuring out a city.

Food trucks are an essential part of people’s days. They are important to the fabric of feeding people, like hotel chefs cooking breakfasts or for weddings.

I don’t go for average.

Only if you’re from L.A. do you know Elysian Park.

I’ve always wanted a straight-up cooking show since I was a child.

I have a fun side and a serious side.

I know all about Orange County.

I grew up on Julia Child, Paul Prudhomme, Sara Moulton – and obviously, Emeril’s first show had a huge impact on my life.

I’ve got a lot of experience under my belt, but I still have a very naive and idealistic outlook on life.

Food trucks are an essential part of people’s days. They are important to the fabric of feeding people, like hotel chefs cooking breakfasts or for weddings.

I make food as affordable as possible.

I was a salary man for so many years. I never had to worry about the ins and outs of business or entrepreneurship or funding. I just had to show up and do my job. And then, all of a sudden, I was having to be responsible for my own business.

Chefs have always been leaders, but now, because of social media and the evolution of the chef identity, we have a voice that expands beyond cooking.