Before there was Roy, there was Youn-Jin—but you can call her "Mommy."
Roy Choi's known for Kogi, Commissary, Chego, LocoL, POT and A-Frame—whew—but Mommy Choi simply knows him as her son. Though he may be a celebrity chef now, Mommy remembers when Roy Choi was learning how to cook homestyle Korean food by her side, and fortunately for us, she wants to share the family recipes.
Last month, Mommy Choi cooked her first public meal, a sold-out Korean feast in DTLA via Feastly. This month, she's confirmed her "Mondays with Mommy Choi" dinner is turning into a monthly series—this means you've got a chance to try her cooking, as well as her sauce line, every single month. Good thing: Each dinner only offers 28 seats, and as of now, only four remain for the September installment. For between $45 and $50 each event, try the same dishes that Roy and his sister, Julie, were raised on, and do it in true Korean fashion: family-style, with course after course of bright and flavorful fare.
Expect five dishes of classics such as galbi, bulgogi, seafood pancakes and japchae, plus a dessert, and every savory course utilizes Mommy Choi's award-winning sauce line, be it of the kimchi, bulgogi, spicy bulgogi, fish-and-soy or "magic" variety. (Check out the video below to see it in action.)
Those looking to try the sauce can find it locally in H-Mart and at the Little Tokyo Marketplace, and all can find it online at Amazon (where, by the way, the sauces are currently on sale for $6.95 per bottle). Normally they retail at $12.95 apiece, but Mommy Choi's Feastly dinner guests can purchase them for $5 each, or try all five for $20 (normally $50).
"My son is so famous and I asked him to sell this sauce in his business and he never did anything because he said it's not his sauce," Mommy Choi says on the label of every bottle, "so I had to go out and sell my own sauce because he never listens." She may be just over 70, but she's as saucy as, well, her line of products.
The next "Mondays with Mommy Choi" Feastly dinner takes place September 25, with another slated for October 16.
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