years a slave." he had to pick because he's nominated for both. who do you love? >> lupita nyong'o killed it. claire danes and cate blanchett look really great tonight. >> and that's the last word. have a great evening. 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, things are beginning to change. >> i went to one year of law school and walked out. >> so you're a bad korean. >> i'm a bad korean. >> any advice to someone about to marry a korean woman? the answer -- don't do it. ♪

♪ i took a walk through this beautiful world ♪ ♪ felt the cool rain on my shoulder ♪ ♪ found something good in this beautiful world ♪ ♪ i felt the rain getting colder ♪ ♪ sha la la la ♪ sha la la la la la ♪ sha la la la la la la ♪ sha la la la la la la all i knew was that this town was going down, and no one was showing up. 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. >> the choppers will not be here anytime soon.

>> that's when all the stuff started to go down. >> roy choi 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 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. let's back up a bit. after the immigration act of 1965, thousands of koreans began arriving in l.a. the first to arrive were mostly middle-class, college-educated, hoping to make a lateral move into american society. but unless you have a medical or engineering degree, that turned out to be tough.

they found work as merchants, store owners, opened 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 preferred to abandon, koreans moved in. so 1992 -- four l.a. police officers are on trial for what sure as hell looked to me like a wildly excessive and prolonged beating of an unarmed rodney king. in april of that year, they were acquitted. >> for me, it was a holy shit, i never saw that coming moment. for african-americans it was a somewhat ruder surprise. to say people were angry would be an understatement. >> they don't represent the people no more. >> south central was that way. so you could almost feel it like a tidal wave coming. >> the lapd were completely unprepared for what happened next. >> everything you see here, all this was being looted.

chairs, rocks, everything being thrown through walls. if you go straight down western on venice, the whole plaza burned on fire. we were calling 911, and there was no response. >> did the cops come at all? >> i was here all three days. i didn't see any cops. >> where did they set up their front line? >> rodeo drive. >> where did the forces of law and order set up their perimeter? not here. koreatown was left to its own devices. the official borders are third street on the north end, olympic boulevard to the south, vermont avenue in the east, and western avenue to the west. that's three 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 capping people. all that 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 koreatown is bigger and better and forever changed by what happened in 1992. dong il 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, you didn't mess with the original, and like most

korean father listen son relationships, you oboy dad's wishes, no matter what. >> my father opened put all this redwood and cherry, to this day i can't touch certain things here. >> he doesn't let you change the uniforms, either. >> no. he still controls the restaurant. >> you just do the work. >> i just do the work. as a korean, he knows. we start with the delicious freebie plates of pickles, preserves, kim chi, a spicy squid. no bonchon. no meal. >> you know what this restaurant has that a lot of restaurants are going away from are the chairless rooms. >> the feet under, knees forward? >> the tea ceremony. no can do. >> that was punishment for koreans. that's a punishment. >> and with a book over your head. >> for hours. >> what would a crime -- what got you into that position? >> could be as minimal as a 94 on the test. >> korean parents? well, let's just say they veer

toward the strict. moms and dads were not conflicted about corporal punishment. i love that you both immediately recognize it. >> this is what we're known as. thinly sliced ribeye marbled. >> beautiful. >> thin sliced rib eye. and bulgogi, thinly sliced fat-marbled beef, barbecued tableside. >> for us koreans, it's kind of funny that barbecue has become the gateway to our food. >> could be worse. at least its delicious. >> it's delicious and we're like, okay, this is the portal, and we're cool with that. >> and in this. basically kimchi fried rice, so many great rice dishes with that outer layer of crispy stuff is just the best. >> a tableside cooking, i think people overlook that a lot. this is like crepes suzette, filleting a dover sole. >> ridiculously delicious.

will you be doing this in 20 years? >> if we did change, tonight i would get a complaint. >> and you'd have to talk to your dad. >> oh, yeah. >> that's a problem. >> what do you do if you're a locavore in l.a.? you look around. what's local and delicious? artisanal and authentic. and iconically l.a. as it gets? if you're roy choi, you see tacos. with the kogi truck, he 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, kogi was only one truck in my mind. but then the lines got big and it evolved. [ speaking foreign language ] roy trained at the culinary

institute of america, and interned at la bernardin in new york city. he runs his trucks like someone you'd expect from someone with that background. >> within our food media landscape we've romanticized certain compositions of what a great chef and great kitchen are supposed to look, smell and feel like. just because those are beautiful doesn't mean this is not beautiful. for me, i don't see mustard plants and sheep grazing. i see barbed 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 terroir, a regional food. right here. and they're off. ♪ every lunch shift and every evening, the trucks' locations are sent out over twitter. the locations change every day. 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 various enterprises. >> twice a day, every day, unless i'm doing something crazy like this. it's kind of like i have a huge las vegas hotel, but the hallways are the streets. >> first stop, chego! a rice bowl place in the palms neighborhood. >> these are my guys right here. hola. [ speaking foreign language ] >> kimchi, spam, classic. >> this is the menu, right here. >> a big bowl of rice with meat, vegetables and lots of flavor for less than ten bucks. good deal. >> i just want to know why you're so cent mental about the business of feeding people. >> it's a trippy state of romanticism. i'm very hard-assed.

you pack your own shit. you get what you get. if you complain, i give you your money back. but within those rules, there's a lot of love, 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 everything is really new. >> hence the shape. it's heavily influenced by local takes on hawaiian cooking, not that you would necessarily notice. every dish designed to be eaten with the hand. what's good? the baby back ribs are air dried, braised, then breaded and fried. ling cod tacos treated like shawarma, beer can crackling chicken, dried like duck, then fried. meanwhile not too far away on sawtell, a kogi truck pulls

up, stops, reverses back to the corner. before the awning is up, there's already a line. hungry people have been waiting in cars around the corner ever since the twitter announcement 30 minutes ago. >> i feel guilty, i'm jumping the line. wow, what's the longest line you ever had? >> 600. >> 600 people for one truck? >> yeah. >> the kogi taco, double caramelized korean short ribs on fresh corn tortilla, with salsa roja, cilantro relish, and a napa cabbage slaw, in a chile soy vinaigrette. oh, yeah. >> the rep for kogi is we go everywhere, to every single corner of the county and the city. we're not just going to the hip areas. >> what about bel air? can you pull up on a corner in a residential area in bel air? what happens there? do you get rousted? >> no, no, they come out in a versace robe. >> that i got to see.

>> in beverly hills, it's crazy. >> why should you be excited about food trucks? 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're faster, better and infinitely preferable to fast food like the king and the clown and the colonel. it can help pr for all this? natural gas. ♪ more than ever before, america's electricity is generated by it. exxonmobil uses advanced visualization and drilling technologies to produce natural gas... powering our lives... while reducing emissions by up to 60%. energy lives here. ♪

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stereotyping, look, how do i put this? good korean kids grow up to be doctors, engineers or lawyers goes the story. there are expectations. what if you're a bad korean? what if you're korean-american and you just didn't give a [ muted ] ? what if you looked around, asked yourself who am i, what am i supposed to be, what where do i fit in with society and were unsatisfied with the answers you were getting. what if you were an insanely talented artist in a small startup company facebook asks you to do some murals in their office and paid you with stock and you became ridiculously

wealthy and you still didn't give a [ muted ] well, then you might be david choe. >> hi, i'm david choe. ♪ be like me. >> is that an ak pinata? >> that's an ak-47 pinata. this place is in downtown l.a., so i try to have as many weapons hidden throughout. i have ninja swords and ninja stars. >> you need a puppy, man. >> 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, i don't usually paint this early in the morning. okay. i'm going to go more expressionistic, if you don't mind. >> i want to know, you said

young people are looking to follow your road to success, your advice is, whatever you do, don't date a korean girl? >> okay, i try to be open-minded about things, right, but i'm racist. for me, i've given it a shot and i end up with a situation where i feel like i'm dating my mom. >> what characteristics in common were you -- >> overbearing, jealous, unreasonable, like unrealistic about life, demanding. like, i mean, i could go on and on. but also the men too. if you're a woman, i would 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 chinese. ♪ yeah. come check it out. >> oh, yeah. whoa! awesome. wow. >> i don't know. what do you think?

>> dude! i'm honored. i've never had my portrait done before. >> hey, man, you're welcome. >> and this shit going to be worth some money on ebay for 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 a unexpectedly cherished position in the collective memories of many second-generation korean americans. i am personally unfamiliar with the sizzler brand. i know it by name, but never have i managed to actually cross its doors. >> after you. >> thank you. >> wow. >> how are you doing today? >> i'm doing good. thank you.

i got my sizzler outfit on. here's the thing. you can get a steak and add the salad bar with it, the best bang for your buck or just the salad bar. >> i have to have some steak. >> i'm going to go traditional and just get just the salad bar. >> thank you. >> sit wherever you like. ♪ >> excellent. >> oh, yeah. >> now you're getting korean on me. >> super-embarrassed, because we're in koreatown and i'm taking you to eat at sizzler which for a lot of koreans this is the best food in koreatown. >> in you eat non-korean, this was it. >> we never ate out ever, if we did, it was mcdonald's. if it was a birthday or special celebration and wanted to kick it up a notch, then it was sizzler. >> this is a judgment-free zone, where there are no mistakes. a world to explore incongruous combinations without shame or guilt.

free of criticism from snarkologists, because there are no snarkologists at sizzler. >> obviously here's the accoutrements for making a nacho salad and the pasta, spaghetti, whatever. the move is you get the hard taco shells and put meatballs in it. this is italian/mexican dining, and you make a meatball taco. and there's nowhere else in the world that you can have this. three meatballs in the taco, some guacamole. and then you put all this nacho cheese and all this other stuff. >> i know what i'm going for the full south of the border experience here. >> there you go. >> i'm not kidding around here. oh, yeah, now we're talking, my friend. >> a little bit nicer than i remember. >> there it is. that's the best bread that you can get. you tell me if you like that. >> now, 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. it was our favorite part. we needed to figure out how to manufacture it at home. >> so were you good sizzler customers? do you think they were happy to see you come? >> i love this dish, man. when i go back, i might have to have a meatball taco. >> so we did goose the system a little bit. but not completely abused it. there would be the guilt associated with we never eat out, but now we are, so you better [ muted ] eat. you have to put down at least three plates. what do you think of the bread? >> it's delicious. i get why it could be a wonderland. >> everything is really good. >> for you, sizzler is a happy place still? >> lots of memories. it's satisfying. get me more of this cheese bread. [ female announcer ] hands were made for playing.

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something dave choe and roy choi have in common, they are korean american but they are also very much creatures of l.a. -- and what is l.a.? l.a. is mexican, central american, filipino, vietnamese,

thai, samon -- samoan, bangladeshi. everyone has left their mark, continues to shape the town, determines its character. k-town exists upside its latino neighbors and i guess it's nature that both choe and choi identify very much with mexican street culture. few things embody that particularly southern california latino street culture more than low riding. ♪ esteban is a photographer, chronicler of everything iconic at the crossroads of hip hop, design, tattooing, fashion, and low riding. >> the old timers used to cut the coils or put sandbags in their trunks to make them lower and around the '70s they got popular. >> why these particular models? >> pretty much always been the late '50s all the way through the '60s and into the '70s and

in the '80s they brought in the cadillacs and the regales. the most classic well known car for low riding is probably the '64 impala. ♪ >> how many korean low riders are there? >> there's a few asian ones. sprinkled in the other clubs. >> more asians? 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 will 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 l.a. >> the most famous notorious street in l.a. is wilshire

-- wittier boulevard, because of the history of it. and then crenshaw boulevard in south central. >> that's going to be your most critical audience and also the most appreciative? >> the ones you want to see your car. >> it's a slow-moving piece of art. you treat the car like a piece of art, acutely aware of the dangers, cops -- for whom you are a target. potholes, other cars. in east l.a. you see people ooh and ah, you see people change the expression from what is that, to nice ride. >> hopefully gang members gives us props, giving us respect, you know. first you build a car for yourself. at the same time you're building it for the streets, for the people. you want them to appreciate it. ♪

within the border of koreatown, it's not just koreans. there are new arrivals every day. there is, in fact, a little bangladesh right in the middle of k-town. >> this is so good in here. >> so you're not short of options around here. >> no, you can get tacos across the street. korean next door and goat stew. you can pray to muhammad or buddha. >> the tiny mosque next door where services are held five times a day. >> i was talking to a guy in the parking lot who said this is the first little bangladesh in america. >> and it just happened like two years ago. it was like we went to sleep and woke up and it was little bangladesh. >> step in for curried goats, samosas, tandoori chicken, and fish curry with no small amount of chilies. >> just such aromatic, delicious food.

what good food are you likely to find within the confines of korea town? >> el salvadorian, guatemalans, all around. koreans all throughout. pakistani, bangladesh food. oaxaca takes over all of eighth street. >> is that just the way it worked out? >> yeah, you know how it goes. one guy showed up. filipino fast food just behind us, and a bunch of riffraff. >> filipinos are proud of their food. underrepresented. >> they're going through what we went through, where the glass hasn't been broken yet, to translate it, but keep the core and soul of it, but it tastes delicious. a few blocks over, the iconic filipino fast food chain jollibee. laugh all you want but ask any filipino they love the drive through mutation for specialties like this fried spam sandwich

thing. but it's the desserts that get crazy. >> decisions, decisions. we'll take one aloha burger, and one spam little big bite. let's do a halo-halo. that's it. >> oh, look at that. what is that? >> that's halo-halo. >> oh, yeah. dig deep and you hit delicious stratas of red beans, white beans and chickpeas, cubes of red and green jell-o, coconut, shaved ice, and is that flan? it makes no goddamned sense at all. i love it. >> a part of every filipino's life. >> i have to take a picture of that. it's oddly beautiful. you know i'm getting a bite of that -- what is it? >> it's a little big bite. favorite thing in the world. >> no, don't say that. >> i like that. >> it's good, right? >> aloha. it just sounds magical.

is there like pineapple in there? >> yes. >> hence the aloha. that's a very tasty burger. nice char. >> asian fast food, it's fast food, but it's made like just a single family-owned restaurant. >> what family made this? >> maybe not your family. >> the jetsons. >> you like it? >> it's actually very tasty. >> every single thing you like it? >> wow, there's so much i don't know. ♪ ♪ ♪

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♪ [ speaking foreign language ] that's true, dad. we all look the same. [ laughter ] >> i love it. >> he may be a korean gone bad, but dave choe still tries best he can to be a good son. he bought them this house and visits for family meals often. in fact, when we first met, sensing it had been a long time without a true home-cooked meal, he invited me to dinner with them. so guests are not unusual. jane choe is an amazing cook. >> it's going to be very delicious. >> mom, dad, 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. [ laughter ] >> okay. which ones are you? are you the oldest? >> i'm the middle. i'm the suicidal pirate. >> already signs of trouble here. >> my older brother is the hip-hop santa. he was the oldest. he beat me up, i beat him up, and then he would just cry. show you my dad's painting. hey, dad, come over here for a second. when you paint this dad? 30 years ago? >> 1973. >> every christmas he unrolls it and just scotch-tapes it to the wall. my mom's the artist in the family now. >> so this is a family of artists? the choes are devout christians, 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. adorns wreaths with happy meal toys, sticker bombing the kitchen with birds, cows space ships. she is relentlessly energetically and inarguably creative. >> she brainwashed me from the time we were kids. she was like 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 in the world. she's very competitive. she says she's going to destroy me. >> awesome. [ laughter ] >> food is ready. >> so you want to explain what everything is, mom? >> the food i prepared tonight is very common korean food. this is beef rib stew. >> kimchi is looking fresh. >> it's fresh.

>> today is chestnut rice. >> no one has this kind of rice. >> special rice. >> special rice for tony. >> and stuffed peppers. >> oh, that's david's favorite. >> seaweed and jelly mung beans noodle with shiitake mushrooms. avocado egg rolls, fried squid and shrimp. potato pancake. often 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. >> thank you. >> i love it. during the riots of '92, jim and jane choe worked as real estate agents and property managers, so the destruction in koreatown had a direct impact on their lives. the choes watched from home as the chaos unfolded on tv. after the riots, jim wrote a letter to the editor that was published in "los angeles

times." >> i'm extremely angry with the lapd, for their traitorous action. why the cops to let the looters run wild and rape our city? they somehow had time to bother korean shop owners guarding their stores. how can the owner of a business just sit back and watch his 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. but we were out looting, causing chaos. 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 things are explained. here's the police, they're not doing anything they're supposed to do, just normal men and women

of society acting like animals, and i thought oh, everything i've been taught and learned my whole life is disintegrating before my eyes. but in the end, you know, we're -- from great disasters come great things, right? koreatown burned down. it's like we own l.a. now. it's half the l.a. >> now korean culture, grow up in size, all over the world influence, you know. >> filmmakers, all the top korean film makers. >> what about me? >> yeah. >> artists, right? >> except you. >> sorry, david. [ laughter ] >> today i went into all the different ways you guys used to beat us when we were kids, you know. the stress positions, you know -- all the korean punishments. >> what's remarkable to me, every kid, i mean, all korean kids, the same position, holding a book --

>> yeah, that's the way we learned from 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 for non-koreans that can be difficult to fully grasp. >> all right. you want it? here we go. han denotes a collective feeling of oppression and isolation in the face of overwhelming odds. it connotes aspects of lament and injustice. >> wow. >> in some occasions, anthropologists had recognized it as a medical condition. someone who dies of han is said to have died of -- [ speaking foreign language ] >> it's heartburn. >> well, it's been described in a way that sounded benign. this is a burning sense of injustice, besiegement and desire for revenge. >> the han is the reason we are who we are, but also the same reason why i won't marry a korean woman.

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♪ main drag of k-town. another mini mall among many. karaoke, no.

>> this is the best dumpling spot in town. my mom would just order all these dumplings and leave them on my door, because she's not allowed in my house. i just said, where are you getting these? my mom likes to withhold information. i finally got it out of her. >> myung in dumplings. where they serve a mix between korean and chinese. each plate handmade to order by friends. opened in 2007 on olympic boulevard, it's run by yu jin, a korean by way of shenyang province in china. >> been coming here for about two years now. there's no one ever in here. i don't understand how they're open. they're the best dumplings i ever had. maybe just people get them to go. >> right. they all look like -- butt holes actually. >> kind of, yeah, pre-prolapse. >> king dumpling. thick dough, stuffed to the

gills with pork, kimchi, vegetables, precisely made, weighed and crimped. steam until soft, eat. >> wow, nearly the size of your head. >> yeah, it's like pizza. i'll eat them cold, too. save two and have them for dinner. >> and many do. smaller, with thinner skins, served with chile paste. >> these are delicious. >> they're so huge. >> would this be post drinking food or predrinking food? >> there's a lot of bread here. don't really drink. i'm just falling into pier pressure now.

>> i like this place already. good signage, that's important. >> if that sign does not sing to you, then we cannot be friends. >> hi. >> how are you. this is my uncle tony. this is mari. and this is harry kim. a/k/a juan cruz. more koreans are here. >> some friends of joe seem to favor this place. >> right into it? >> stress positions. >> the speed with which they assume the position. water. what if your arms get tired? >> they make you do it again. >> the whole thing is doing it again. >> look, i'm not korean, i'm not

asian, i'm a white boy. but i notice similar anecdotes. >> they did this quite a bit. so they came up with a new one. all my korean friends seem strangely haunted by something. but i never knew this. >> it's like opening an umbrella inside someone. >> what that's about, i can only guess. >> cheers. >> you're korean now, officially. >> road trip, buddy. let's put some music on. man: gr. driver & passenger: gracias. passenger: trece horas en el carro sin parar y no traes musica. driver: mira entra y comprame unas papitas. vo: get up to 795 miles per tank in the tdi clean diesel.

the volkswagen passat. recipient of the j.d. power appeal award, two years in a row.

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pretty much any korean you meet anywhere, can you take it for granted they like food, they're passionate about food, particularly their food. which of all the immigrant cuisines has probably been messes 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 long to love the stuff. beverly tofu house 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.

it's a soup that's kind of korean but really more l.a. >> this is not a direct transplant from korean. >> it became what we're about to have here in l.a. it's different because of the ingredients we couldn't find. but never thinking about pleasing the american pallet, just to make ourselves happy. >> a fiery tongue searing soup that will make you forget every bad thing you ever thought about tofu. a spicy, spicy red broth tofu with a base, with a tech tu of veratta. the most common is with kim chi and a bit of everything. at tableside, they crack an egg in there. >> right in there. cool. >> that looks completely awesome. >> well, we better wait for this to cool, i guess? how do we eat this. spoon it over rice?

>> yeah. mix it in. let's do it. >> all tofu should be spicy. it's so good. >> koreans can well remember when nobody was interested in their food. now, it's confusingly great. must be strange for the owners who have just been doing what they've been doing for years. >> like, for example, us sitting here like this, questions a lot of people are asking me in korean, i'm telling them we're filming a piece of korea town. they're not mad or vindictive. but why? still 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 and delicious thing. >> that's the thing, the beauty is just already a given. it's already part of the fabric, so it's like why congratulate you? there's no reason to

congratulate you, this is what we do. >> i'm totally enjoying this. >> what did your parents want you to be when you grew up? >> dr./lawyer. >> you're obviously not a doctor or a lawyer? >> i finished college and went to one year of law school and walked out. >> if i was a mediocre accountant, it would be better than being a top chef. >> according to who? >> korean culture, korean uncles and aunts. it's just -- it doesn't register that that is a profession. i wouldn't have to explain myself if i said i was a cpa, never. >> you still got some explaining to do. >> to just get it across that i cook and there was this phenomenon that happened on the streets of l.a. that changed and opened up korean culture to the world. >> what does it mine 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-town in the middle of the night and experienced a strange and delicious slice of america i never knew was there, but i'm trying to figure it out. 5191 crashed this morning shortly after takeoff. >> the tragic end of ending. >> there were no survivors, then they found mohammed crying but alive. the 2-year-old lay -- >> george lambson junior lived to tell -- >> maya