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What do you look for when you go to a restaurant? What is important to you?

I look for everything. I do look for decoration, how it’s presented, the color, taste, and then how much they can explain about the food. I go to a lot of restaurants.

What have been a couple that have really impressed you?

SLS Hotel, Jose Andres’ restaurant. Mozza, every time I go there it’s impressive. And then I like Matsuhisa, Nobu’s restaurant. Mr. Nobu and Nancy, they always come to my restaurants. We go back and forth. I like Walter’s food. I shouldn’t forget that. Church & State is good. It was always good, but Walter [Manzke] had Test Kitchen in West L.A. Pico. It was really interesting, because Walter uses a lot of Asian seasoning. One time he asked me for some kimchi because he wanted to do something with kimchi. You know what kimchi is?

Oh yeah. I eat a lot of Korean food.

Walter’s food, that I had there, was really interesting, a lot of good sauces.

What do you look for when you hire someone to work in your kitchen?

I always ask if they like to cook. A kitchen is someplace you have to really enjoy. It’s not like you work because of the money, because we don’t make a lot of money. The people that work in the kitchen, I don’t know if you know, but we don’t make a lot of money. We work because we love to cook, we love to feed people. That’s the most important thing. Everyone who works with me, I always ask, do you like cooking? Do you enjoy cooking?

Do you feel like you’ve ever made a dish that you could not have improved?

I made a dish, it’s a recent one, it’s spaghetti with kimchi and pollock roe.

Is that on the menu here?

It’s not on the menu, but it’s going to be our special, because I just did it last week. It’s really good. People like it. It’s kind of spicy. It’s just spaghetti. Everybody knows spaghetti. It’s kimchi, pollock roe and spaghetti. Does it sound strange?

It sounds interesting…If you could only cook using one more animal, which one would it be?

One more animal? Chicken.

Oh really? How come?

People love chicken, they like it more than beef or pork, but there are not very many things in Korean cuisine to do with chicken, so that one I’ll study more. Duck, I don’t eat so I don’t want to do it.

Can you imagine ever opening a chicken restaurant?

No. I don’t like chicken either, but I want to try something with chicken. Walter and everybody else, they try to use a lot of foie gras. Those things I could never do. Maybe I can learn from Walter, but right now, no. That’s something really new to me. I don’t even know what to do with it, and I don’t eat it.

Do you ever cook at home at this point?

Right now, no. Right now, I’m alone, so I cook here for my manager. I try new things and want my staff to try first.

Things that may or may not go on the menu?

Yeah. We try a lot of things, a lot of different things. Today’s jeon – jeon means things that are fried in an egg batter – so we could do so many things with this. I try so many things, shrimp, meat, vegetables.

When I was here, it was halibut, with vegetables.

Halibut, yeah, but yesterday, I tried to make it with shitake mushrooms and meatloaf inside it. There are a lot things that you can do with jeon.

What do you like to drink?

Water. Water is the only thing I drink. No wine, no beer.

Do you have any favorite outdoor activities?

Right now, no. [laughs] Yoga.

Why do you like that?

It’s good for your health. People work in the kitchen, you get a lot of sore shoulders, back. Yoga is something that can keep me healthy. If I hurt my back, I stand there and do yoga. I learned how to release it. You should do yoga too.

I probably should…Are there any dishes from Korea that you can’t find here, that you miss?

Some, there are some vegetables from Korea that we can’t get here. Some fishes, we can’t get here. So we just use others. If it’s a white fish, we can change the fish, that they recommend in Korea.

What are a couple other restaurants in Koreatown that you really like, that people might not know about?

Koreatown, I like a Chinese restaurant in Koreatown.

Which one?

It’s really small, it’s really small. It’s called Yong-Koong. It’s on Vermont. It’s a really small Chinese restaurant, but there noodle is really good. Korean restaurants, I don’t really go too much. Yongsusan, that’s one place. It’s right across from Park’s Barbeque. They serve Korean cuisine. Have you been there?

A long time ago.

They have courses of a lot of things that I do, like kung jung yuri. That’s a place that’s really good, and Michelin guide recommended it, with Park’s Barbeque.