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L.A. Son

My Life, My City, My Food

Read by Roy Choi
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The maverick chef and co-founder of the wildly popular Kogi BBQ taco trucks, pays homage to the city he loves with this cookbook that captures the inventive, creative, and border crossing spirit of Los Angeles

“Spaghetti Junction” is the bittersweet nickname native Angelenos use to describe the famously tangled freeway interchanges that define L.A. For Roy Choi, the neighborhoods in the shadow of these overpasses are emblematic of all that he loves about the city: its sense of invention, its resourcefulness, the way disparate cultures come together to form their own patois, street food, music, insults—and the energy that results.

A gritty, charming, and flavorful love letter to Los Angeles, L.A. Son is the story of Choi’s love of food and his evolution as a chef. Choi returns to his childhood afternoons at his parents’ Korean restaurant, his nights in L.A.’s gambling halls, and his pizza-fueled studying at the Culinary Institute of America before making his way into some of the best restaurants in America.

It is a transporting, multifaceted story that tells the unlikely tale of how a Korean-American kid went from lowriding in the streets of L.A. to becoming an acclaimed chef.


* This audiobook edition includes a downloadable PDF with recipes and tools from the book.
Roy Choi was born in Seoul, Korea and raised in Los Angeles, California. He graduated from the Culinary Institute of America and went on to cook at the internationally acclaimed Le Bernadin. He was named Best New Chef by Food & Wine in 2010 and he and his Kogi BBQ team are the recipient sof a 2009 Bon Appetit award for excellence in culinary innovation. Choi is the co-owner, co-founder, and chef of Kogi BBQ, as well as the restaurants A-Frame, Chego, and Sunny Spot. He lives in Los Angeles, California.

About

The maverick chef and co-founder of the wildly popular Kogi BBQ taco trucks, pays homage to the city he loves with this cookbook that captures the inventive, creative, and border crossing spirit of Los Angeles

“Spaghetti Junction” is the bittersweet nickname native Angelenos use to describe the famously tangled freeway interchanges that define L.A. For Roy Choi, the neighborhoods in the shadow of these overpasses are emblematic of all that he loves about the city: its sense of invention, its resourcefulness, the way disparate cultures come together to form their own patois, street food, music, insults—and the energy that results.

A gritty, charming, and flavorful love letter to Los Angeles, L.A. Son is the story of Choi’s love of food and his evolution as a chef. Choi returns to his childhood afternoons at his parents’ Korean restaurant, his nights in L.A.’s gambling halls, and his pizza-fueled studying at the Culinary Institute of America before making his way into some of the best restaurants in America.

It is a transporting, multifaceted story that tells the unlikely tale of how a Korean-American kid went from lowriding in the streets of L.A. to becoming an acclaimed chef.


* This audiobook edition includes a downloadable PDF with recipes and tools from the book.

Author

Roy Choi was born in Seoul, Korea and raised in Los Angeles, California. He graduated from the Culinary Institute of America and went on to cook at the internationally acclaimed Le Bernadin. He was named Best New Chef by Food & Wine in 2010 and he and his Kogi BBQ team are the recipient sof a 2009 Bon Appetit award for excellence in culinary innovation. Choi is the co-owner, co-founder, and chef of Kogi BBQ, as well as the restaurants A-Frame, Chego, and Sunny Spot. He lives in Los Angeles, California.