A biography for Roy Choihasn’t been written yet.
“I was watching TV and saw the 'Emeril' show, and it spoke to me. I went out and started researching the culinary world and chefs that I knew nothing about. Then I moved to New York and went to culinary school, and everything just fit like a glove. It's been on ever since.”
“I've got a lot of experience under my belt, but I still have a very naive and idealistic outlook on life.”
“I've lived through a lot of different neighborhoods.”
“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.”
“I want to reshape fast food in America.”
“I don't know if I'll ever be as good as I was when I started Kogi, but I strive for that.”
“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.”
“Everything I do is like tough love; everything I put out there in the universe is me trying to feed you. I really care.”
“I kind of feel for the vegetable world - the vegetarian world. It's almost as if people look at them like aliens or foreigners.”
“Chefs don't have a union. We don't have a Screen Actor's Guild.”
“I want to pay homage to Los Angeles.”
“I knew of the 'Gilmore Girls' - I wasn't a rabid fan, but I watched it sporadically when it was first on.”
“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.”
“Time is an illusion anyway. You can create as much time as you want.”
“Being a cook, there's always pressure - not for your ego but for people to love your food.”
“People think that being Korean is all one thing.”
“I grew up on Julia Child, Paul Prudhomme, Sara Moulton - and obviously, Emeril's first show had a huge impact on my life.”
“I don't have a boss. I don't answer to anybody. I do everything that I want to do out of the purity of making people happy.”
“Cooking is one of the most zen things - you have to be there.”
“I have a fun side and a serious side.”