Even as a kid I wasn't, like, a natural entertainer, where I would gather everyone around me and then sing or something at family parties.

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

My restaurants are about community and about sharing and about warmth.

I typically like Sicilian pizza.

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

I don't really care about job security.

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

I dream like a shaman.

Pico Union is an underrated part of L.A., and not a lot of people go unless you live there.

At my lowest point, I found cooking.

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 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 have a tendency to trail off in conversations. I don't look up at people sometimes when I talk or cook, and those are all pretty bad no-no's being in front of the camera.

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 don't really do that much office work. I just go to the office, and I'm like Steve Carell in 'The Office.' You know, like, I just go around and like - I don't know what I do in the office. I look at paperwork and act like I'm understanding what's going on there, and I shake my head and put my hand on my chin and like, 'Hmm.'

I want to reshape fast food in America.

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

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

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.

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.

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

When you have parents that come from a country that you weren't raised in, you feel this weird sense of familiarity, like you've returned to something.

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.

All Korean food is not just one thing.