Anthony Bourdain Parts Unknown S01E02 2013 1080p WEB DL H264 AAC DDHDTV

for korean-americans according to the stereotype anyway it used to be that you grew up to be a doctor a lawyer an engineer there were a specific set of rules and expectations are you asking me to be in a porno is that what you're asking me thanks to some remarkably bad Koreans though things are beginning to change I went to one year of law school and I walked out so you're a bad Korean yeah I'm a bad Ker any final advice for someone who's actually about to marry a Korean woman the answer don't do [Music] it walk through this beautiful world felt the Rain on My [Applause] Shoulder found something good in this [Music] beautiful I felt the rain getting CER [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] sh all I knew was that this town was going down and no one was showing up and so we as Koreans figured that out really quickly there's a point where you and I look at each other and say they're not coming they're not coming Tony you don't like it the Choppers will not be here anytime soon so that's when all the stuff started to go down Roy Choy is a second generation korean-american he lives in Los Angeles he's the owner operator of four groundbreaking and much-loved food trucks among the first to harness the strange and terrible powers of social media to alert customers to where to find delicious [Music] food this was the command post from here you know you could look and you could see if fires were going on when the Los Angeles riots happened in 1992 Roy was 22 years old and this Plaza's rooftop played a central role for Koreans defending their town but let's back up a bit after the Immigration Act of 1965 thousands of Koreans began arriving in La the first to arrive were mostly middle class college educated hoping to make a lateral move into American society but unless you had a medical or engineering degree that turned out to be tough they found work as Merchants store owners open liquor stores groceries massage Studios dry cleaners they did that in an area that was as it's called underserved where major chains feared To Tread where others prefer to abandon Koreans moved in so [Music] 1992 four LA police officers are on trial for what sure as hell looked to me like a VY excessive and prolonged beating of an unarmed Rodney King in April of that year they were acquitted for me it was a holy [ __ ] I never saw that Comm in moment for African-Americans it was a somewhat Rudder surprise to say people were angry would be an understate they don't represent the people no more south sanal is out way so you could almost feel it like a Title Wave coming the LAPD were completely unprepared for what happened next everything you see right here all this was being Ed chairs and rocks and everything being thrown through walls if you go straight down Western on Venice the whole Plaza burned on fire we're calling 911 and there was no response did the cops come at all I was here all 3 days I didn't see any cops well where did they set up their front line r Drive where did the forces of Law and Order set up their perimeter not here Korea Town was left to its own devices the official borders are Third Street on the North End Olympic Boulevard to the South Vermont Avenue on the East and Western Avenue to the West that's 3 square miles left pretty much to burn or fend for itself this rooftop quickly became the command post for rapidly improvised Korean Defense Forces they armed themselves set up crude but effective command and control communication and patrols we weren't going around just slugging and and capping people all that was was happening was just don't break down my store making sure our parents our uncles our families these stores this town stays alive 58 people were killed only a quarter of korean-owned businesses survived either destroyed outright during the riots or abandoned afterwards by owners who felt the entire underpinning of their contract with America had shifted yet today Korea Town is bigger and better and forever changed by what happened in 1992 dongil Jang however is as unwaveringly old school as you get Roy and I sit down with Roy Kim whose grandfather opened the place in 1978 like most Korean restaurants at the time you didn't mess with the original ever and like most Korean father son relationships you obey dad's wishes no matter what my father put all this you know Redwood in and all this chair all this booth to this day I can't touch certain things here I can see he doesn't like you change the uniforms either no he still controls a restaurant you just do the work I just do the work as a Korean he knows we start with bonchan all those delicious little freebie plates of pickles preserves kimchi a spicy squid snack or two no bonchan no meal you know what this restaurant has that a lot of restaurants are going away from is the um is the chair rooms you the feet under knees forward feet under the tea ceremon seting that was punishment for Korean that's that's a punishment and with a book over your head for hours what would a crime be what got you into that uh position I mean it could be as as minimal as a 94 on the test Korean parents well let's just say they Veer towards the strict moms and dads were not shall we say conflicted about corporal punishment I love that you both immediately recognize this is the roast [ __ ] this is what we're known as thinly sliced redby marble R it's beautiful roast [ __ ] thin sliced ribeye and Bogi thinly sliced fat marbled beef barbecued tableside for us Koreans it's kind of funny that barbecue has become the gateway to our food though it could be worse I mean at least it's delicious this is delicious and we're like okay this is the this is the portal and we're cool with that and this kimii B basically kimchi fried rice but it fries into the pan like paa or so many great rice dishes with that outer layer of crispy stuff is just the best the tableside cooking I think people Overlook that a lot you know this is like crepe Suzette faying a do so oh man this is ridiculously delicious will you be doing this in 20 years it wouldn't change if we did change tonight I would get a complaint and you'd have to talk to your dad oh yeah yeah that's a [Music] problem what do you do if you're a locavore in La you look around what's local and delicious artisanal and authentic and as iconically La as it gets if you're Roy Choy you see tacos and with kogi truck Roy Choy brought one of the first great mutation mashups of Korean and Mexican to the people what started as one truck became four trucks and three brick and mortar restaurants to go with them for me Ki was always one truck in my mind but then the lines got big you know and it evolved okay trained at The Culinary Institute of America and interned at leard in New York City he runs his trucks like you'd expect of someone with that background within our food media landscape we've romanticized certain compositions of what a great chef and a and and a great kitchen are supposed to look and smell and feel like but just because those are beautiful doesn't mean that this is not beautiful for me I don't see mustard plants and sheep grazing I see barb wire and telephone poles I see puddles and you know all of that stuff contribute to the flavor of the food so it's truly what I call a tera you know a regional [Music] food and they're off [Music] every lunch shift and every evening the trucks locations are sent out over Twitter the locations change every day and people flock quickly to find them as the lines can get long very long I took a run with Roy as he made his nightly rounds so how often do you make the full circuit between all of your uh various Enterprises twice a day every day unless I'm doing something crazy like this it's kind of like I have a a huge Las Vegas hotel but the hallways are the streets first stop Cho a rice bowl place in the Palms neighborhood these are my guys right here hola play kimchi spam classic yeah this is the menu right here a big bowl of rice with meat vegetables and a lots of flavor for less than 10 bucks good deal I just fun you're so sentimental about the business of feeding people it's a Trippy state of romanism like I'm very hard ass too like you pack your own [ __ ] you get what you get if you complain I take the food out of your hands I give you your money back but within those rules there's a lot of love there's there's a lot of care across town in Venice is A-frame Roy's first brick and mortar this used to be a IHOP so oh yeah everything's really it's the uh the shape it's heavily influenced by local takes on Hawaiian cooking not that you'd necessarily notice every dish designed to be eaten with the hands what's good the baby back ribs are air dried brazed then breaded and fried Ling Cod tacos treated like Shawarma beer caned crackling chicken it's brine rotisserie then air dried like Pickin duck then fried [Music] meanwhile not too far away on sautel a Ki truck pulls up stops reverses back to the corner before the awning is even up there's already a line hungry people have been waiting in cars around the corner ever since the Twitter announcement 30 minutes ago this is I feel guilty of jumping the line right wow what's the longest line you ever had 600 600 people for one truck yeah the kogi taco double caramelized Korean barbecue short rib on fresh corn tortilla with salsa Roa cilantro onion lime relish and a Napa cabbage Roma SLO in a chili soy vinegret oh yeah the the rep for kogi is that we go everywhere we go to every single corner of the county and the city we're not just going to the hip areas what about fantastically bit what about belir can you pull up like at a corner in a residential area in belir what happens then do you get roused or no no they come out in the Versace robe and uh that I got to think yeah yeah Beverly Hills Beverly Hills at lunch is crazy czy why should you be excited about food trucks because they allow creative chefs like Roy without a lot of money to start creating and selling their stuff introducing themselves to the world without having to gather up a million dollars or credulous partners and they're affordable they're Democratic and they are faster better and infinitely preferable to fast food like the king and the clown and the [Music] colonel stereotyping coming look how do I put this good Korean kids grow up to be doctors lawyers or Engineers goes the story there are expectations but what if you're a bad Korean what if you were Korean American and you just didn't give them what if you looked around asked yourself Who Am I who am I supposed to be where do I fit in society and were unsatisfied with the answers you were getting what if you were an insanely talented artist and a small startup company called Facebook asked you to do some murals in their offices and they paid you in stock and you became ridiculously wealthy and you still didn't give a well then you might be David Cho hi I'm Dave [Music] Cho you like me is that an AK pinata that is a AK-47 Piñata wow so I mean this place is in Downtown LA so I try to have as many weapons like hidden throughout I got ninja swords and ninja stars and stuff you need you need a puppy man you need a puppy I do need a puppy I'm going to paint you today is that cool yeah sure all right so just sit right there and sorry don't usually paint this early in the morning [Music] okay I'm going to go more expressionistic so you don't [Music] mind I want know you were on record you said you young people are looking to follow your road to success your advice is whatever you do don't date a carean grow oh okay I try to be open-minded about things right but well I'm racist you know for me I've given it a shot and then I end up in this situation where I feel like I'm dating my mom so what characteristics in common were were overbearing overbearing uh jealous unreasonable like unrealistic about life demanding like it's I mean I could go on and on but also the men too like if you're a woman I wouldn't never recommend dating a Korean guy for the very few women out there that are into Asian guys if you are going to go that route definitely go [Music] [Applause] [Music] Chinese yeah come check it out oh yeah W [Music] awesome wow I don't know what do you think dude I'm honored I've never had my portrait done before thank you man hey man you're wel and this [ __ ] got to be worth some money on eBay for [Music] sure now I'm definitely ready for Sizzler nice Standing Tall and prominent amongst the many Asian and Central American restaurants in the community one place holds an unexpectedly cherished position in the collective memories of many second generation korean-americans I am personally unfamiliar with the Sizzler brand oh I know it by name but never have I managed to actually cross its doors thank you wow how you doing today I'm doing fantastic I got my Sizzler outfit on so here's the thing you can get like a steak and then add the salad bar with it get the best bang for your buck or you could just get the salad bar I got to have a little bit of steak I am going to go traditional and just get just the salad B SE anywhere you like excellent oh yeah or for your erss oh now you're getting all Korean yeah super embarrassed right now cuz we're in Korea Town and I'm taking to eat at Sizzler which for a lot of Koreans is the best food in Korea Town um if you're eating non- Korean this was it we never ate out ever and if we did it was McDonald's and if it was a birthday in a special celebration you want to kick it up a notch and go a little bit more special than it was [Music] Sizzler this is a judgment free zone where there are no mistakes a world to explore in congruous combinations without shame or guilt free of criticism from snar lists because there are no snar lists at sizler obviously here's all the AC crants for making a nice nacho taco salad and here's all the stuff for like pasta pasta spaghetti whatever the move is you get a hard taco shell and you put meatballs in it this is Italian Mexican dining and you make a meatball taco and there's nowhere else in the world where you can have this you put three meatballs in the taco some guacamole and then you put all this nacho cheese all this other stuff I I know what I'm going I'm going for the full south of the water experience here all right oh there you go oh no no I'm not getting around here oh yeah now we're talking my friend it's a little bit nicer than I remember there it is that's the best bread that you can get so you tell me if you like that oh no wait a minute are you saying that the cheese toast is complimentary it's complimentary and once we found that out we would order stacks of it so it was our favorite part of Sizzler and we're like we need to figure out how to manufacture this at home so were you good Sizzler customers your family do you think they were happy to see you when you come in I mean I love this dish man I might when I go back I might have to have a meat full Taco um so we did we like gu the system a little bit but not like completely abused it there would be the guilt associated with we never eat out but now we're going out to eat so you better eat you got to put down at least three plates so what do you think of the bread it's delicious yeah I totally get why this would be a Wonderland everything's really good for you scissor a happy place still lots of memories it's satisfying we need more of this cheese [Music] bread something Dave Cho and Roy Choy have in common is that they may be korean-american but they are also very much creatur of LA and what is la la is Mexican Central American Filipino Vietnamese Tai Samoan Bangladeshi everybody has left their Mark continues to shape the town determine its character K Town exists right upside its Latino neighbors and I guess it's natural that both Cho and Choy identify very much with Mexican Street culture few things embody that particularly Southern California and Latino Street culture more than low riding Estavan orol is a photographer go on the other side chronicler of everything iconic at the crossroads of hip-hop design tattooing fashion and low riding the old-timers that used to cut the coils or put bricks or sandbags in their trunk to make them lower and then around the ' 70s is when it got popular why these particular models of cars it's pretty much always been a late 50s all the way through the 60s and into the 7s and then the ' 80s came up they started bringing in The Cadillacs and the Regals the most classic well-known car for low riding is probably a 64 Impala how many Korean low riders are there there's a few Asian one sprinkled in the other clubs more Asians more more Koreans than 15 years ago we're seeing a crossover with the food right for the most part things are starting to get a lot more open if you're asking I think there's going to be a lot more Asian Hispanic mixed babies coming up in the future I ain't mad at that ideal low riding is about getting appreciated by the people who best appreciate the traditions and techniques the getting it right for that you head to East [Music] LA the most famous notorious Street in La is a wer Boulevard because of the history of it and then a frienda Boulevard in South Central so that's going to be your most critical audience and at at the same time most appreciative yeah the ones that you want to see your car you know it's a slow-moving piece of art and you treat the car like a piece of art acutely aware of the dangers cops for whom you were a Target potholes other cars in East LA you see people ooh and ah you see Expressions change from who is that a nice ride I was like a full-fledged gang member you know giving us like props giving us respect you know first you build a car for yourself but at the same time you're building it for the streets you know you're building it for the people you want them to appreciate it [Music] within the borders of Korea Town it's not just Koreans there are new arrivals every day there is in fact an official little Bangladesh right in the middle of K Town oh man this also so good here uh yeah this is going to work so you're not short of options around here you get tacos across the street Korean peing Bop right next door and then get goat stew you can pray to mamad or Buddha a tiny mosque next door where services are held five times a day just talking to a guy in the parking lot said this is the first little Bangladesh in America yeah and that just happened like 2 years ago like we went to sleep we woke up and it was little Bangladesh here at Sada step right in for some curried goat samosas tendery chicken oh yeah and this Lowry fish curry with with no small amount of chilies it's such fragrant aromatic delicious food what good food are you likely to find within the confines of Korea Town we have El Salvadorian Guatemala and all around Koreans all throughout Pakistani Bangladesh food uh waka takes over all of 8 Street why Waka just that's the way it worked out you know how it goes probably one guy showed up yeah Filipino fast food just behind us and then a bunch of Riff wraps in between Filipinos are very proud of their food M under represented I think they're going through kind of what we went through where the glass hasn't been broken yet to to translate it but still keep the core and soul of it but it tastes delicious a few blocks over the iconic Filipino fast food chain Jolly bees laugh all you want but ask any Filipino they love this drive-thru mutation for Specialties like this fried spam sandwich thing but it's the desserts where it gets crazy decisions decisions here we go uh we'll take one Aloha burger and then one spam Little Big Bite uh let's do a h Hollow that's it all right oh look at that what is what what is that it's uh Halo Halo oh yeah H Hollow dig deep and you hit delicious Stratos of red beans white beans and chickpeas cubes of red and green Jello young white coconut shaved ice and is that fla it makes no no godamn sense at all I love it part of every Pinoy filipino's life Hal Halo nutsy man I got to take a picture of that It's oddly beautiful all right you know I'm getting a bite of that little what what is it it's a little big bite Little Big Bite favorite thing in the world no don't say that it's actually I like that it's good right Aloha I mean it just sounds magical it like pineapp Apple in there or something yes hence the Aloha that's a very tasty burger nice Char Asian fast food it's fast food but was made by like it was just a single familyowned restaurant what family made this yeah maybe maybe not your jet like it it's actually very tasty every single thing you like here wow there's so much I don't know [Music] it's true Dad we all look the same I love it he may be a Korean gone bad but Dave Cho still tries best he can to be a good son he bought them this house in Los felis and visits for family meeting meals often in fact when we first met sensing it had been a long time without a true homecooked meal he invited me to dinner with him so guests are not unusual Jane Cho is an amazing cook it's going to be very delicious Mom Dad oh look who's here hello can you smell something oh yeah good stuff yeah all the good stuff coming maybe somebody going to hire me later [Music] okay which ones are you who you the eldest I'm the middle I'm the suicidal Pirate no already signs of trouble appear my older brother's the hip-hop Santa he was the oldest right he'd beat me up I'd beat him up and then he would just cry I'll show you my dad's painting hey Dad yeah hey come over here for a second what did you paint this Dad 30 years ago uh 73 1973 every Christmas he unrolls it um and just like Scotch tapes it to the wall my mom's the artist in the family now so this is a family of artists the CHS are devout Christians which is not unusual in the Korean Community but they are unusual in that they're both artists of A Sort Jane treats the house like an ongoing art project drawing sunglasses on family pictures stapling angels to Dave's paintings that have hung in the white house getting crazy with the glue gun adorning wreaths with Happy Meal toys sticker bombing the kitchen with birds cows spaceships piloted by her three boys she is relentlessly energetically and inarguably creative she brainwashed me from the time we were kids she she was like you're the best artist in the world you're the best artist in the world you are oh thanks but now she's telling me she's going to be the best artist in the world so she's very competitive she says she's going to destroy me [Laughter] awesome food food is ready so you want to explain what everything is Mom the food I prepare tonight is a very common Korean food K Jim which is a beef ribs the stew that kimchi is looking fresh yeah kimchi is fresh today is a chestnut rice no one has this kind of rice special rice special rice for ton Ando and then stuffed peppers oh that's David's favorite chungo Muk seaweed and jelly mung bean chap vermicelli noodles with shitake mushrooms and vegetables avocado egg rolls fried squid and shrimps potato pancake often at the CH house there's a few Mexican dishes sprinkled in as well it is always a great meal I can tell you that thanks Mom this is delicious this is awesome it is indeed thank you I love it during the Riots of '92 Jim and Jane Cho worked as real estate agents and property managers so the destruction in Korea Town had a direct impact on their lives the ches watched from home as the chaos unfolded on TV after the riots Jim wrote a letter to the editor that was published in the LA Times I'm extremely angry with the LAPD for their outragous action while the cops let Luthers run wi and rape our city they somehow had a time to bother Korean shop owners guarding their stores how can the owner of business just to sit back and watch hij Life be burned to the ground David would have a very different reaction my brother stole a car and we went into like all the neighborhoods and then quickly realized it wasn't like about race it was just about people stealing stuff and but we were out looting we were causing chaos and you know I don't think we got anything good I think I got a TV stand was it life-changing for you it's like you grow up and you things are explained to you like here's police they're not doing anything they're supposed to do you're just like normal men and women of society like just acting like animals and I was like oh everything I've like been taught and and learned my whole life is just disintegrating before my eyes but in the end we're you know from great disasters come great things right I mean Korea Town burned down mhm but it's like we own la now it's like half of LA now is Korean culture K-pop and sigh all over the world influence you know the filmmakers all the all the top uh Korean filmakers what about me cartoon yeah artists right yeah accept to you sorry sorry David it's incredible or today I went into all the ways different ways you guys used to beat us when we were kids the stress positions like you know yeah but all the Korean punishments what's remarkable to me is that every kid right I mean all Korean kids yeah all Korean kids the same position holding you either hold a book oh yeah that's the way we learn from the generation to generation we don't know why to take a peek into the dark heart of the Korean psyche maybe it helps to get familiar with Han it's a concept that for non- Koreans can be difficult to fully grasp all right you want it here we go Han denotes a collective feeling of op R and isolation in the face of overwhelming odds it connotes aspects of lament and unavenged Injustice wow in some occasions anthropologists have recognized Han's cultural specific medical condition someone who dies of Han is is said to have died of Hong Hong it's a haror it's haror wow I mean it's been described to me in a way that made it sound benign this is a burning uh sense of Injustice besiegement and and desire for Revenge the Han is the reason why like we are who we are but it's also the same reason why I won't marry a Korean woman you never know no I know he's [Music] cute main drag of K toown another mini mall among many karaoke no this is the best dumpling spot in town my mom would just order all these dumplings and just like leave them on my door cuz uh she's not allowed in my house and then I just said uh where are you getting these you know my mom likes to withhold information so I finally got it out of her Yin dumplings where they serve a mix between Korean and Chinese each plate handmade to order by friends open to 2007 on Olympic Boulevard it's run by yuin a Korean by way of Shenyang Prov in China been coming here for about 2 years now there's no one ever in here every time I've ever come in I I don't understand how they're open they're the best dumplings I've ever had maybe people just get them to go right they all look like but holes actually but kind of yeah pre- prolapse Wong man D King Dumpling thick dough stuffed to the gills with pork kimchi and vegetables precisely made weighed and crimped steamed until soft eat wow that's nearly the size of your head yeah you know it's like pizza I'll eat them cold too right save two and have them for dinner and M do smaller with thinner dumpling skins served with red chili paste a dessert one that's got red wow oh these are delicious these are just like so huge what for still so would this be classically post-drinking food or pre-drinking food laid out a base of absorbent material yeah I mean there's a lot of bread here I don't really drink I'm just uh falling under peer pressure right now I'll be one of the cool guys [Music] so I like this place already good signage it's important yeah the sign's awesome if that sign does not sing to you then we cannot be friends Mari hi hi DAV how are you this is my Uncle Tony this is Mari this is uh Harry Kim AKA Guam Cruz there's more Koreans right here there more Koreans some friends of Cho seem to favor this place they are a thirsty and diverse Bunch I'm asking everybody stress position as a child did you have to do the uh you know they went right into right in to dress positions did the speed with which they assume the position the bucket over your head with the water water wow what if your arms get tired they make you do it again another 45 minutes in an hour you know the whole thing is doing it again look I'm not Korean I'm not Asian I'm a white boy from the suburb but I noticed something over time in my K Town Adventure similar anecdotes you might say you know they've done this quite a bit so they came up with a new one I was very aware that all my Korean friends no matter how creative or successful seems strangely haunted by something but I never knew this how do you do it oh the it goes It goes up the ass like this and then it's like opening up an umbrella inside someone do this to your friends oh colleag oh College they think it's hilarious and adults do that Sho each other what the hell that's about I can only guess Che by way Che korean's going bad you're Korean now officially [Music] pretty much any Korean you meet anywhere you can take it for granted they like food that they're passionate about food particularly their food which of all the Immigrant Cuisines is probably been messed with the least unlike many other new arrivals Koreans seem to have been the most unwilling to accommodate Western taste maybe that's why it took us so much time to love the stuff Beverly Tofu House like so many of K Town's finer establishments is tucked away in the corner of a strip mall this is one of my favorite spots where I've been coming for almost 20 years this is a soup that's just like it's kind of Korean but it's really more LA and so this is not a direct transplant from Korea it became what we're about to have here in La interesting they're different because of the ingredients we couldn't find right but never thinking about pleasing the American palet just to make ourselves happy sunnd duu is the thing to get a fiery tongue searing ass burning tofu soup that'll make you forget every bad thing you ever thought about tofu a spicy spicy red broth and tofu are the base we're we're talking soft tofu here with the texture of like Bata and from there you got a handful of variations but the most common is with kimchi and a bit of everything beef oysters muscles clams oh and tableside they crack an egg in there wow right in there cool that looks completely awesome well we better wait for this to cool I'm guessing so how do we eat this what you spoon it over yeah spoon it over right just mix it in that's good yeah all tofu should be spicy by my way of thinking so good yeah really good Koreans can well remember when nobody was in interested in their food now it's confusingly okur must be strange for the owners who just been doing what they've been doing for years like for example like us sitting here like this the questions a lot of people are asking me in Korean like I'm telling them we're filming you know we're trying to show a piece of Korea Talent the number one question is they're not mad or vindictive is why it's still why it's like why why would we be interested why would you be interested why would you waste your time there's other things to do it's an extraordinarily beautiful a delicious thing but see that's the thing is the beauty is just already a given it's already part of the fabric so it's like why congratulate you you know there's no reason to congratulate you because this is like what we do that sounds awful honestly that sounds totally totally joyless yeah uh what did your parents want you to be when you grew up for me uh dror lawyer right obviously you're not a doctor lawyer did you finish college I finished college and I went to one year law school and I walked out right so you're a bad Korean yeah I'm a bad if I was a mediocre accountant it'd be better than being a Top Chef according to who according to Korean culture according to Korean uncles and aunts and it's just it doesn't register that that is a profession you know I wouldn't have to explain myself if I just said I was a CPA right never you know that's that's that's weird [ __ ] you know you still got some explaining to do still to just get it across that I that I cook and that there was this phenomenon that happened on the streets of LA that changed and opened up Korean culture to to the world what does it mean to be korean-american does one create one's own world I don't know that I'm any smarter about that now than when I first came to K toown in the middle of the night and discovered a strange and fabulous and delicious slice of America I'd never known was there but I'm trying to figure it out [Music]