Thanks a lot to Alice who left such a great post about who we are and what we do. I feel as if I am the Jets or that last player available for pinch-hitting (you know the one with a batting average below a buck fifty.) But just as any pinch-hitter would still step up to the box and swing away, I’ll do what I gotta do in the pitcher(Alice)’s place!

At the same time as a truck manager there are way too many things that I want to say that I haven’t been able to say on the blog. I feel like a fat kid with a box full of Halloween mix candies not knowing which one to peel off first.

Since I’m moving from the Azul to the Naranaja truck next week, I would like to send a tribute to each and everyone of you that I have served in L.A. over the past year and a half(please forgive me if I have missed some of you).

My gratitude goes out to all the customers that we served: in front of Greendoors that were saying, “what the hell? a KOREAN taco?” yet still tried our taco; in EAGLE ROCK during the summer wearing Dodger hats and jerseys and that always had a quick Dodger talk with me; in ROWLAND HEIGHTS that came out and waited 3 hours from a simple tweet (my mistake was leaving my phone number on the tweet, had 200 txt replies in 10 minutes); DIAMOND BAR, thank ya’ll for waiting on the steep a$$ slope sipping on 7-11 slurpies (thx a lot for leaving the slurpies behind ); GRANADA HILLS/NORTHRIDGE, thank you all young’uns for always coming out (stay out of trouble ya’ll); SHERMAN OAKS, thank you for coming out with your kids; CARSON, you guys are AMAZING the SAME LINE every week in SAME ORDER (my thumbs up goes to Austin, Berlyn, Jackie, Rain, and Paul); MONROVIA, I know I haven’t known ya’ll for all that long but I know i’ll miss ya; HOLLYWOOD@AMOEBA, yes I’m gonna miss all you my regulars (thumbs up to Natalie, Art, Will, Neil, Mike, and many others that I can’t remember at the moment); and last but not the least thank all of you drunk people at the BRIG!

*whew* out of breathe.

I know there are way more locations that Kogi goes to and been to, I apologize if I may have missed a lot of you regulars, just remember we do remember you when you come back to the truck. And since I’m a night manager sorry I couldn’t mention the day locations but trust me your morning managers remember ya’ll. That’s right some people think we’re a trend but we’re just like your local family-owned coffee shop who remembers you when you walk in through the door, and because we are Kogi familia there will be another family member to serve you the Kogi way. We value the relationship we have with ya’ll, and believe me when I say, “I will miss you guys.”

So with that ending note for my L.A. trucking career, here’s som’n for L.A.

Dodger Tribute

In case the post has gotten you down

Love and tacos,
Young Hizzie

And now for some blue from my favorite Contemporary Jazz fusion band, Tokyo Jihen.

Now, onto the topic of the day: ESS NOT FUSION.

I can see the confusion over the fusion labeL — there are a lot of Korean fLavors.  There are a lot of Mexican fLavors.  And sometimes some trashy American fLavors mixed with some SaLvadorean infLuences.  It’s confusing.  But just know that our food is not confused: it knows EXACTLY what it is.  And I’ll expLain it via a recent correspondence with an intrepid undergrad reporter:

Hi, my name is Diana B. and I’m a reporter for UCLA’s newspaper, the Daily Bruin. I’m doing a trend piece on Asian/Mexican fusion food and I was hoping I could speak to someone from Kogi about their food and its popularity. My deadline is this weekend, so the soon I could talk to someone, the better.

Thank you!

Diana B.

She’s courteous, she’s friendLy — a littLe lazy, with waiting untiL the last minute for a story, but then again, who’s not when one’s stiLL sLugging through 12 other credits in coLLege?  Much love to Diana B.!  (( H U G ))  You reminded me to address something that’s been bugging me since day 1.

It wasn’t super aggravating to be caLLed fusion and trendy, it came with the territory — but when it’s been a year and a haLf and just about everyone’s caLLing you something you’re not, there’s this compuLsion to set the record straight.  PeopLe can stiLL caLL it fusion if they want to, but I just wanted to say my piece and leave it at that.

Anyway, it was like naiLs on a chaLkboard when she put KoGi in the context of fusion, trendy and popuLar.

Now I know what hipsters feLt circa 2003: “No, Mom.  I’m NOT emo.  I am Cory Kennedy.  I am Cobrasnake.  I am American-AppareL-meets-IKEA — I am NOT EMO.  There is a DIFFERENCE.” UnfortunateLy for them, it took a good 5 years or so for most peopLe to catch onto that very difference.

So I get it: “If it waLks like a duck and it taLks like a duck…”

BUT WE’RE NOT THAT DUCK.  We’re more of that goose that comes after the “duck, duck, duck…”

HopefuLLy my response expLains what I mean a bit better:

Hi Diana,
Sorry to hear about the deadline, as we’re declining all press requests for the next few weeks since all of our energies are being poured into our new restaurant.  That’ll open…. hopefully SOON.

As for our food, it is definitely not fusion and it’s not a trendy thing.

It HAPPENS to borrow a lot from Korean and Mexican ingredients or execution and, for some reason — good and bad — it’s got caught up in a lot of public attention.

Here’s why I think fusion or trend doesn’t fit us:

TRENDS come and go, they’re for people who are pop culturally A.D.D. and trendy food caters to that really short attention span.  A short attention span doesn’t necessarily care about what the food quality is, as long as what it’s tasting is really popular at the moment.

The way we approach KoGi — we’re in it for the long haul.  We’ve put everything on the line in the interests of bringing really great food from excellent sources and price it so that it’s affordable to just about anybody.  We’re not using crap meat — we KNOW where our meats come from.  We don’t just put meat and sauce on a tortilla and call it a taco.  We actually CARE about how it’s structured in terms of texture and how the flavors come together.

We want it to be the best thing you’ve ever tasted.  Whether or not that happens, is up to you — but in the meantime, we are going to bust our asses day and night to get it right as much and as often as a mom and pop operation can.

FUSION implies you take 2 disparate things and FUSE them together.  You join two things together with duct tape, you can see where one thing ends and the other begins.  It’s fascinating, and yet it’s not natural. Like French Japanese or Korean Italian. Those cuisines didn’t come together through a natural affinity, a natural progression over time. For example: Mexican Italian. I’ve seen it done and done well — but it’s that European element that’s usually utilized to “elevate” a food and make it more marketable as a “serious” cuisine. Moreover, the intention behind fusion is usually to catch someone’s attention, to spark or speak to a trend.

We didn’t go in here thinking, “Let’s bring Mexican and Korean together because it’ll be weird and cool.”

The thing is, Mexican Korean flavors coming together is only a natural progression.  For generations, Chicanos and Koreans have lived side by side in K-town. Tortillas are commonly found in supermarkets around here — and it wasn’t uncommon to bring a bag of those Mission tortillas to a Korean barbecue in the height of summer. What do you think happened when those Korean peoples ran out of rice?

That’s why we don’t call it fusion.

But what we do call it is Angeleno.

The thing is, THIS is what Los Angeles tastes like.  To us 2nd and 1.5 generation Asians living in LA County anyway.

And look, it’s not like it was hard to make the flavors get along in a taco. Koreans and Mexicans like to use a lot of chillies and garlic and onions and similar cuts of meat.  We both eat rice.  We both eat beans.  They just happen to come together in different forms.

Now, we don’t use rice or beans (it’s cheap filler!!!), but we do use that kind of flavor profile and execute it with the same kind of heart and family-oriented spirit that we both happen to share.

I don’t know if you can use any of this, but I just wanted to explain why I’m not comfortable with the label “trend” or “fusion.”  Because it’s not what we are.

All the best on your piece, though!

Love and tacos,
Aliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice

Yah. So hopefuLLy that expLains it aLL in a nutsheLL!

KOGI — NOT FUSION. But we wiLL gLadLy accept “AngeLeno.”

Love and tacos,
Aliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice

And I know my sister, aLiiice is going to kill me for this, but I thought I’d post up some music vids that really let me forget about all my worries This one is for Jae and Young Ho working their butts off on Azul and Naranja

And yes, if any group of 5 girls can do any of these dances in their entirety for Jae or Young Ho on one of the night Azul or Naranja stops this week will get a free taco (not guaranteed, but we at Kogi reward die hard fans). Boom box to play music not provided

edit: Hell, I’ve yet to hear any reports of anyone attempting these dances. Time to up the ante. Free cut in line next week for the first group of girls to do one of these dances at Azul or Naranja night shifts. Now if that isn’t incentive, I don’t know what is! Now get to it and show us your moves!

I’ve been meaning to answer this pregunta for a whiLe now…

What do the different colors of the week mean? Diffrent types of food depending on the day?

Thank you

Elizabeth G.

That’s a super cute and very good question!  But no, it doesn’t mean different types of food depending on the day.

AHAHAHAHA.  Y’aLL thought I was gonna be a punk this time, huh?  No worries, I onLy save being a douche for stupid questions and ridicuLous requests from peopLe who want to be coddLed aLL the time.  The thing is, I don’t like to coddLe — but I DO like to cuddLe every once in a whiLe.

ActuaLLy, that sounds like a good idea.

Why DON’T we snuggLe up and just cuddLe?

So lean in, listen good and I’ll teLL you the story behind the trocas and aLL those crazy coLores.

Once upon a time, we onLy had one taco truck, one shift and no managers.  Just a bunch of hooLigans taking turns at the griLL.  But then something magicaL happened, and for some reason, business just reaLLy picked up.  So much so that we got to the point where we needed a second truck.

But I thought it wouLd be confusing to Twitter out 2 different scheduLes for the same time sLot, so I thought it wouLd be a lot more fun and a lot more easier to figure out that there was more than one truck by naming the trucks.

I put up a bLog, asked for our fans to name them and the rest is history.  Papi reaLLy dug Roja and Verde as the names and later on deveLoped our saLsa verde at the height of summer.  SaLsas naranja and azuL soon foLLowed.

But every time we got a new truck, we decided to stay with the same coLor scheme.

AzuL got its name because when we first got it, the entire truck was painted bLue and had the words “BIG BLUE” tattooed over its metaL fLesh.

Naranja got its name cuz, weLL, it’s our speciaL truck for Orange County.

Each truck has its own fLavor in terms of personaLity, which is largeLy driven by its managers.  I was actuaLLy going to do a run-down of each truck’s managers, but as it turns out, we’re going to pLay a game of musicaL chairs next month, meaning that AzuL’s YoungHo and Roja’s Luis are probabLy moving down south to take over Naranja’s lunch and dinner shifts.

The current manager of Naranja is good oLe Jae who is in the process of being kidnapped for our new restaurant that we’re HOPING to open within a month.  HOPING.

But here’s a good marker for teLLing the trucks apart — the oLder they are, the more battLe scars they’ve got.  So Roja’s the one that got bombed, Verde’s got its sticker partiaLLy peeLing off, AzuL’s huge and with a light-up board menu and bumping ALpine sound system and Naranja’s even huger with a naveL orange sunset on its side sticker.

Here’s a question for our die-hard KoGi fans: Can you teLL the brothers apart???  Oh, and I’ll do you one better: Who’s the manager for each truck, lunch and dinner shifts???

Let’s see who can name the most correctLy!!!!11one

I hope you find a fLavorite troca to caLL your own.

Love and tacos,
Aliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice

P.S. Massive apoLogies for not bLogging as much as usuaL.  I’m in the midst of doing KoGi work and work for… our new restaurant.  ALSO, I’m hopping on a pLane to Peru (perfect timing –__–;;) for 11 days next week, but no worries.  My littLe cousin and current AzuL night manager YoungHo is going to take over the bLogging in my very temporary absence.

P.P.S.  You know my fLavorite truck name suggestions to this DAY are stiLL “KoGi Juan Kenobi” and “Numba JUAN” — but thankfuLLy they were both VETOED.