- So, 4:30 right now.
In 30 minutes, we're gonna open our doors
for the first time.
I got $10 million riding on this.
I better sell a lot of fried chicken.
This is our second concept.
So, there was huge pressure
because COTE was such a big hit.
It was a lot bigger than I can ever imagine,
and I'm so humbled by it.
(soft pulsating music)
- Two steak and eggs, table 22.
- But now, opening a brand new restaurant,
seven years after COTE opens,
and it was really nerve-racking.
I think the huge risk that we're taking
is, I raised a bunch of money
to create a fried chicken restaurant
and I think a lot of my investors were like,
"Simon, you're nuts." But I believe in it.
I believe to create something that is truly
outside of box, you need investment of capital,
of mind, man hours, commitment.
- This is not so pretty.
It's not so pretty,
but I'm gonna make it prettier.
- Pour that in and we're ready now.
So first up is, we went around
eating many different fried chickens.
- So once we get the fresh chicken every day in the morning,
we lay it out on the full sheet tray
like this, with the rack on.
We dry this overnight.
- And then my partner and my chef, SK,
basically, I got him to fry chicken
from 9:00 AM to 7:00 PM, six days a week for 14 months.
We've been cooking with this chicken
for about a year, I think, so far,
butchered over a thousand chickens.
We're gonna brine this into our perfect solution
and we're gonna serve it tomorrow,
but then we also have our chicken
that's been brined from yesterday
and we're gonna fry some.
So as you can see over here,
it's got enough brine over here
and then it's very juicy.
So the initial fry is pretty quick, a low temperature,
and it cooks slowly with longer time.
It makes flesh of the chicken super tender.
After we fry two more times,
it's gonna be fully cooked.
So we're dipping our chicken into our batter.
Always drumsticks first, because
this is the biggest piece that we have.
It takes longer time to cook.
- When we started cooking, we were not getting it.
- The very tricky part is, when we drop them
in different timing, but pull out
everything at the same time.
- And there came a point where, I put Chef SK aside
and said, "Hey Chef, if this fried chicken
is not your thing, step out."
This, we need to make it successful.
- So this is what we call COQODAQ.
That's our name of the restaurant, COQODAQ.
- And of course, we stuck to it and together,
trial after trial, truly testing ourselves,
resulted in a product that I'm truly proud of.
- When I first fried chickens,
I thought I was good at cooking.
It was pretty miserable, I would say.
- [Producer] Hardest thing of your culinary career?
- So far, yes.
- How are you? - Hi.
- Yeah, what's up?
Both of these guys, they've been here
literally frying chicken every single day.
Every day you're making incremental,
almost unnoticeable gains, and I'm so proud of them.
Our investor, partner, mentor,
and the holy grail of our business,
Thomas Keller is coming in.
(bright upbeat music)
A little nervous.
Are you ready? - Yeah.
- So this is our chicken nugget
that has been made with a lot of chicken breast
and we're gonna simply dry-dredge it.
These chicken nuggets are super badass.
Chef Keller is trying this for the first time.
I can't wait to see his reaction.
- So the breakthrough was a wet batter
and it's using a different type of flour
so it absorbs about 50% less
fat than conventional flour.
- To achieve the perfect golden-brown color
for our fried chicken, we added some spices
that actually enhance the flavor
and the color of the chicken.
When we fry the chicken with turmeric,
it makes the chicken a little bit more golden-brown.
So it is a secret hack for us.
So we have two different batters for frying chicken.
The original flavor already has special spices
into the batter, but our glazed one has different spices.
So, as you can see, a little bit lighter in color.
And there we go.
How much of the secret recipe that we have
do you wanna share with Chef Keller?
- I don't think we need to share anything.
(chefs laughs)
The goal is, ask him how he likes it.
- Thanks so much for coming. - Hi Chef, how are you?
- So Chef Keller, we're doing our final fry right now
and it's about one minute left.
- Are you telling anybody what the spices are?
We're gonna keep that secret.
- Keep the secret, Chef.
- Absolutely.
(SK laughs) - Like Colonel Sanders. Okay.
- So right now we're serving Chef Keller
and Simon with original fried chicken.
So we have chicken nuggets, wings, thighs, and drums.
I want you to start from chicken nuggets,
original flavor first.
- This is whole breast? - It's a mixture
of breast and thigh.
- Is there any other fat that you're putting in there?
- Just the chicken skin.
- All very good, right?
One one thing I would maybe recommend,
getting some more fat in there
so it gets a little creamier.
- Yes, Chef. - Right?
- And then we're gonna give you a glazed fried chicken
which has garlic-soy sauce glaze and a gochujang glaze.
- The chicken coating itself is less forward
in terms of spice, right? - Yes, Chef.
- For Americans you have the condiments
that are gonna add the spiciness for the guests.
So he or she controls that.
I think that's an important thing.
Our primary focus is to make people happy.
- Yes, Chef. - That's it.
You've accomplished it. I'm excited.
Thank you. - Thank you, Chef.
- Thank you.
- We've got a lot of work to do right now
and then right now is a crunch time, thank you.
- We obsessed over every single detail of fried chicken.
Now with the design, we wanted to obviously make it
the sexiest restaurant to house a fried chicken.
So we're about three weeks out
until we finish our construction,
and we're checking in on our
most important design feature.
We got the arch light.
(hammer clacks)
We just got this shipment this week,
and these are the beautiful features.
These are all custom-made.
Honestly, when I wanted a big S arch,
I had no idea how they were gonna bring it.
What do I know about arches?
I'm not a designer, I'm a restaurant guy.
I had no idea how complex this build is.
So each shape is not the same.
So obviously there are tons of these shapes,
but you see that there's a slight angle.
So they all have a unique angle, each piece.
So it creates this beautiful arch.
This arch was supposed to be done a few days ago,
but again, when they arrive,
you realize how complex they are.
You can't just be like, "Hey, why wasn't that done?"
Once again, you have to pivot.
And the piece at the top, we have to fly that in,
that last piece, because it wasn't fitting.
So once again, my construction site
is always filled with action.
It's just gotta be there.
I want the golden arch because every restaurant
that really creates the best value proposition
and high quality, should have a golden arch.
I still haven't seen this thing turned on.
So, I think we can bribe our electrician
to give us a little light.
After two years, finally we get
to see this thing light up.
- I almost feel like- - We hope so.
- It's like Rockefeller Center, like a tree lighting.
- It's something we've never done before.
And there's a lot of lighting circuits in there.
There are 220 pieces of glass in each arch thing.
- It seems like David is trying to set my expectations low,
but my expectation's always so high.
- Only for that. - Especially working with you.
Let's light it up, guys!
Woo!
Wow.
I had a high expectation to have this gold arch,
but honestly it's so much more beautiful
than I ever anticipated, you know?
When the vision that you had and the actual reality
is more beautiful than your vision itself,
I think that's the true driving force,
and that is what I'm most grateful for as a restaurateur.
David, you think we created the sexiest
fried chicken restaurant in the world?
- There's no question we did that.
I actually think we created one
of the sexier restaurants in general.
(soft mellow music)
- Okay, turning on the Rolls-Royce.
(fryers beep)
- If you go downstairs, we have an amazingly
newly-built kitchen and that is the size
of a multi-Michelin star restaurant.
It's big and that is fully dedicated
in producing the best fried chicken.
- Yesterday we served our friends and family
and today's the first day that we're doing the soft opening.
I'm excited, at the same time I'm very stressful.
And then I see why not a lot
of restaurants are doing this. (laughs)
Eight in the morning, Paulino, our butcher
is starting to butcher the chicken this morning.
- We've been in the kitchen for four days
or five days, training our staff.
It's just taking a little bit
more time than what we expected.
- So our cooking technique
and batter, we changed a little bit.
Butchering technique is the same as before.
Every day, at least we're getting
50 chickens for the soft opening,
and then when we grand-open, it's gonna be 10 cases,
which is a hundred birds, every day.
To make this process super quick,
he's breaking all the chicken into parts
and then he's even going to the detailed cuts right now.
So legs, to thighs, to drums,
and then the wings, to flap, to the drumettes.
It's completely different than the test kitchen
just because the volume is very different.
- It's connected? - Yeah, it is.
- [Chef] Yeah, this is the tumbler.
Purpose of this machine is to brine the chicken
faster and then, efficiently.
(meat thuds)
Pull the chamber.
- Here we go. Voila.
Seven minutes later, chicken is properly brined.
Last step of preparing the chicken is battering
and then, this is for the service.
So this is a special table for us, our dredging station.
As you can see, we have our special
mix for our fried chicken.
We individually dredge every single piece over here.
So we have a 24-hour marinated chicken.
We can put ice in here so that it stays
the temperature super cold,
so that our batter is ice cold as well.
Temperature of the batter is very important
because colder the batter, the crispier the chicken.
We're about an hour away from the open.
The reason that we are dredging the chicken right now
is to get ahead so that it's easier for us
to fry and then put 'em in a batter.
So far we've been working in this space
for about four days, and a lot of things
are changing and we're fine-tuning everything
so that we can get the perfect fried chicken.
But we are still figuring out the system
right now, to smooth it out.
- All right, so now, a little over 2:00 PM,
today's our first day of soft opening.
So it's moment of truth.
Tonight is the first night
where we'll actually sell food to customers.
All right, Victoria, what's up?
This is Victoria James, my business partner.
I've been working with her...how long?
- Whew, almost a decade, Simon.
So today we can announce it.
We have the largest champagne list in America.
So we'll have over 400, just champagne selection.
And that is a fried chicken restaurant.
Everybody wants to do it, but nobody can do it
because it's not easy.
But this crazy girl, she makes it happen.
Oh, how much is that stuff?
- The barnacle bottle?
This is a couple thousand dollars.
- Couple thousand dollars.
Be careful with that.
And I wanna stop by at the bar.
So we're getting ready for our cocktails.
I wanna taste it and see how that goes.
- What up? - What's going on?
- Making some drinks. (hands clap)
- We've been working on amazing, cool cocktails.
The drink has been a little too out there.
It was a very nuanced and high-touch, bespoke cocktail.
The goal is to make cocktails
that are a little more crushable
so that we can have multiple cocktails
along with the fried chicken.
So that's been our mission.
- Last time we spoke about it,
I showed you a draft of the boricha cocktail,
which is whiskey, watermelon, and coconut water.
Based on the feedback, we kind of upped the watermelon
and the coconut water to make it a little more approachable.
- And I think the important thing,
when you first sip a cocktail,
you have to take a big sip.
And that is crushable.
- Yep, there we go. (hands clap)
- That's awesome.
Finally, I feel very happy with where we are right now.
So I'm gonna go down to the kitchen,
and talk to SK and check in on him.
Here we go. How are you?
Hey, hey, hey.
- I wanted to present our trio tartare.
We have a kampachi tartare with yuzu cream
and a hint of horseradish, tartare with chives.
- [Simon] Both of them have chives as garnish?
- [SK] Right.
- Maybe for this, we can use citrus.
It's delicious. - Good?
- Spicy, soy sauce.
That's delicious, yeah.
So we need to make the portion size smaller.
Maybe keep the price down as well.
- This is 2.5 ounces of each.
We can definitely take out an extra 0.5 ounce.
- I think that's the move.
By the time the fried chicken arrives,
people are still hungry.
- Right now it's four o'clock.
So we're about to start the first fry,
and the second fry is gonna be done by 4:30.
After we fried it, we shake it really well,
make our chicken as dry as possible
to put it into our wet better.
Right now it's ugly, right?
But once we second-fry, third-fry,
it's gonna be prettier and then it's gonna get
that texture that we want, to make sure
we take out all the excess oil.
That's the color I'm looking for.
And this is not so pretty.
It's not so pretty,
but I'm gonna make it prettier.
I'm gonna show you.
- So many people have told me about value proposition.
People are not willing to pay more for batter fried chicken,
and I cannot beg to differ more.
If you make products so much better,
people are definitely gonna pay more,
whether that is Korean barbecue,
whether that is fried chicken.
- Needs to be quick, it needs to be quick.
That's why we have five line cooks
only for the frying station.
Getting there, it's getting there.
Almost, almost. (fryer beeping)
- I feel like the market is always there.
Question is, are you prepared to create,
truly and genuinely, a better product?
- Yeah, this is why we want.
- [Producer] Are you tired of fried chicken yet?
- Not yet, thank God. Not yet.
- The kitchen looks good.
We're gonna go upstairs.
It's time for our pre-shift, the first one ever.
Come on, come on, let's go.
- Is everybody here?
- Yes. - Yes.
- Good, deep breath in.
Deep breath out (exhales).
Opening night, how are you all feeling tonight?
- [Staff] Good!
- So four-and-a-half year years in the making,
finally we start to sell some food tonight.
The entire reservation got scooped up in less than seconds.
It was like a Taylor Swift concert.
People are truly excited to see what we prepared for them.
Let's be hospitable.
Let's enjoy each other's company.
Let's enjoy the first day of our customers coming,
walking through the door.
I'm truly grateful and honored to be embarking
on this journey with you guys.
Thank you. - [Staff] Thank you.
(staff claps)
- [Simon] SK, SK, SK, SK!
- Our first day of soft opening.
Let's f----ng crush it.
- Woo. - [Staff] Woo!
- I've known SK for a very, very long time
and we always dreamed of opening a restaurant
together as SK at the head.
And finally, after 15 years, I feel like it's finally here.
I'll go upstairs and make people happy.
You make people happy through your food,
and let's have some fun.
- Okay, let's do it.
- It's 20 minutes before service.
We're gonna open our doors.
We're doing final fries, getting everything ready.
I feel good. I'm super excited.
Definitely nervous as well, but I'm ready.
Chef Jun was Korean Marine Corps,
so he's the man that holds down
the discipline and the power.
So, how are you doing, Chef? - Doing great.
- If it doesn't work, make it work.
- Yeah, make it work, yes.
- In Korean we say, "if you can't bite it off
with your teeth, bite it off with your gums."
Ready to do this?
- F--k yeah! - Let's do it.
Thank you, Chef. - Thank you.
- All right, chefs.
Good luck, good luck.
- Order fire two bucket.
First ever Bucket List.
Can't wait for more, like hundreds, thousands.
A hundred thousand.
Bucket for two, away.
The reason that we have all these perforated things
over here is just because I want our chicken to breathe.
Can I get a scallion salad, please?
Team runner!
Guys, first ever Bucket List is sold.
Table 52, please.
So the Bucket List is consists of two different types
of sauce, three different types,
but tonight we're only going for two.
One is the OG, which is our secret spice,
non-glazed chicken, and then, followed by
our soy sauce and garlic-glazed chicken.
(percussive jazz music)
Simon and our chef Jun is eating upstairs,
but I don't know which table it is.
Everything better be perfect.
So team garde-mo, right now you're giving me
two of each oyster, two fennel,
Caesar, tuna and a kampachi.
- So it's not a success or failure on the day one.
It's actually how to make it successful
by all-hands-on-deck, adjusting and adapting.
And that is the pathway to success.
- [SK] That's too dark. Yeah, that's very dark.
I want a golden-brown, guys, okay?
- It's not like a coin toss.
It's actually, we're gonna all lift the coin
and then make sure it's in the direction
that we want it to go.
- [SK] These are our glazed soy sauce,
garlic-glazed fried chicken.
And this will follow after the OG.
- Chef, what's up? How are you?
- Good, hey.
Good stuff. - Yes, Chef.
- The sequence was good,
because you got the OG down,
and then there was enough time for us to focus on that.
And then the sauces, and then it arrived the second.
That was really good.
- Was it hot enough or no?
- See, I was satisfied.
Chef Jun was like, "This should be hotter."
- Yeah, yeah. Hotter, yeah.
We just set the time so it's gonna be even hotter,
So yeah. - That's awesome.
Still D7, we're about eight days away from opening.
So we've got a long way to go,
but ultimately I'm extremely happy
and extremely grateful for all of
what all of these guys have achieved.
So thank you very much, chef.
- Thank you, Simon. - Let's crush it.
Crush it. - Let's go, let's go!
- Lets go. - Let's go, yeah!
(orchestral music)