24 Facts About Roy Choi

In 2019, Roy Choi began presenting a cooking series on Netflix with Jon Favreau titled The Chef Show.

Roy Choi's parents met in the US but after marrying moved back to Korea.

Roy Choi's parents owned a Korean restaurant called Silver Garden in Anaheim, California for three years when he was young.

Roy Choi's mother made kimchi that was so popular within their community that they packaged it and sold it locally.

Roy Choi's family moved many times while he was young.

Roy Choi attended a gifted-students program, but changed schools in his early teens when his parents achieved prosperity in the jewelry business and moved their family into a neighborhood in Orange County called Villa Park, Roy Choi began getting into trouble, with his marks slipping as he began taking drugs and hanging out with a different crowd.

At age 15, Roy Choi's parents sent him to Southern California Military Academy in Signal Hill, California.

Roy Choi then attended California State University, Fullerton, graduating with a bachelor's degree in philosophy.

Roy Choi attended Western State University law school, and dropped out after one semester.

At 24, Roy Choi said he became obsessed with Emeril Lagasse's "Essence of Emeril" show.

In 1996, Roy Choi began studying at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York.

Roy Choi gained experience as a journeyman hotel chef, and in 2001, started working for Hilton Hotels.

Roy Choi worked at the Embassy Suites in Sacramento and the Rock Sugar Pan Asian Kitchen in Los Angeles.

Roy Choi was named one of the top ten "Best New Chefs" of 2010 by Food and Wine magazine, and is the first food truck operator to win that distinction.

In December, 2018, Roy Choi opened a restaurant named Best Friend in Las Vegas, NV.

Roy Choi's cooking style fuses Mexican and Korean flavors and dishes.

Roy Choi said he didn't start out to write a book, but that he kept getting asked the same questions about his food, its flavors, and how it is prepared.

Roy Choi worked as a technical advisor to Favreau on cooking and restaurant scenes and appears in the end credits.

In 2019, Favreau and Roy Choi collaborated on a cooking show on Netflix: The Chef Show.

In 2019, Roy Choi produced and hosted a TV series, Broken Bread on Tastemade and KCET in Los Angeles.

Roy Choi teaches cooking when he volunteers at A Place Called Home in South Los Angeles.

Roy Choi is a supporter of 3 Worlds Cafe, a South Central community coffee and smoothie shop that is a collaboration between Roy Choi, the neighborhood-based Coalition for Responsible Community Development, fruit conglomerate Dole Packaged Foods and nearby Jefferson High School.

Roy Choi maintains a blog on which he posts recipes and rants.

Roy Choi was addicted to crack for a short time, marijuana and gambling, which lasted three years in his early 20s.