LA Son: My Life, My City, My Food, by Roy Choi

[rachelmanija]

I know. We covered a lot of ground. But don't sweat it. I got the wheel and a full tank of gas. All you have to do is sit back and trust. In the pages that follow, you'll see a little bit of this magical city through the lens of my life and through the food of the people who really live here. Through all of that, you'll start to understand this amazing place that I was raised in and taste the flavors of street LA.

Thank you for picking up this book. Thank you for joining me on this ride through the crooked journeys of my life. LA welcomes you, and I welcome you, with love.

Oh, by the way, are you hungry?

Let me cook for you.

I got that, too.

You're riding shotgun with Papi now.

Roy Choi was already a successful chef when he got famous by creating Kogi, the Korean taco truck. Kogi is great but better yet, it led to Chego, a hole in the wall rice bowl joint that was right by my apartment in LA. Its pork belly bowl, garnished with pickled daikon and topped with a fried egg, was one of the best things I've ever eaten - and its Sriracha chocolate bar and tres leches tapioca cake were pretty incredible too. I ate there a lot and yet not enough, as it sadly closed even though it was packed every time I went there. It's okay though, he opened other restaurants though none will ever be Chego.

As soon as I read the introduction of his book, which ends with the paragraphs above, I put it down and started the audiobook instead, which Choi reads. Papi, take the wheel.

The print and ebook versions of the book have lots of photos, but the audiobook really was like riding shotgun with Roy Choi. It's a warm, likable, casual account of growing up in LA and becoming a chef, with detours into the fall and rise of family fortunes, becoming a gangster and gambling addict, and working for Eric Ripert. You also get an excellent guided tour of LA and its food.

The book ends with the creation of Kogi, which would have been disappointing (I started it because I wanted to know more about creating and running Kogi), except how could I be disappointed when I got to spend six hours listening to Roy Choi tell stories? Listening to him is like sinking into a warm bath while eating a Chego pork belly bowl. For as long as the experience lasts, your soul is healed and all is right with the world.

The audiobook has a pdf of the recipes from the book. Alas, none from Kogi or Chego. But definitely some I'll try.