I get asked all the time where I get my work ethic from, and it’s very clear it’s from my mother. Then she had the opportunity to franchise a local Chinese restaurant chain, and she turned that into a successful small business. She first helped my aunt at a 24/7 convenience store making deli sandwiches. My mom had to find a way to support her family, so she decided to turn her ability to cook into a way for our family to survive.
My father passed away when I was in high school and when my sister was in college. How did you get your start in the restaurant business, or going back even further, your interest in food? Below, Danny discusses working with his mother, the evolution of Korean American cuisine, and more. What started out as a desire to share his mom’s cooking became a personal journey for Danny, both in rediscovering treasured dishes of his childhood and gaining national recognition for concepts of his own. Danny has since opened two more concepts in Washington with his restaurant group, The Fried Rice Collective: Anju, offering Korean-inspired bar snacks and pub food, and Chiko, a fast-casual, Chinese-Korean restaurant and James Beard Award semifinalist. In 2006, the mother-and-son duo pooled their knowledge and passion to make a lifelong dream come true: cooking homestyle dishes at Mandu, the first full-service Korean restaurant in the city. “That is where I really learned a lot about the food industry and also about small business,” he said. After Danny’s father died, Yesoon franchised a Chinese restaurant to support the family, and Danny watched as she incorporated Korean specials on the menu. As a kid, Danny would help Yesoon feed a constant stream of family and friends by folding mandu-Korean dumplings-at the kitchen table almost every night. Danny and his mom, Yesoon, have been in business for 16 years and cooking together for much longer. As chef at Mandu, she brought Korean food to the city at a time when it was not widely embraced, her son said-challenging misconceptions of what a Korean restaurant could be.īut to chef Danny Lee, she’s actually family. area, Yesoon Lee is known as the godmother of Korean cuisine.
Hear more from the restaurant owners as we take a deeper dive into their stories.
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Anju and Mandu are among the restaurants featured on HBO Max’s series Take Out with Lisa Ling, now streaming all episodes.
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