- When I knew that there was this American
barbecue place with a true Korean influence,
I was like, I must go there.
I honestly have been wanting to come here for years.
(southern style rock music)
Tell me about like, how did this place come together?
- We kind of connected when we started dating, you know?
She would take me to Korean restaurants.
So she really brought it to my attention,
all the variety of flavors of Korean food
and actually what the banchan
and all the balance of the cuisine was.
- And my favorite American food is barbecue.
And meat in three concepts.
So he introduced me more than the barbecue
places here and there.
- Yeah, a lot of people didn't think it made sense
until it does make sense, because if you go to Korea,
it looks just like north Georgia,
the Smokey Mountains where I grew up.
It's very much...
- Yeah I've never thought about that but it kind of does.
- It's a different kind of peasant cuisine,
which is southern food, based on peasant cuisine.
It's pickling, you're smoking cause that was before
refrigeration, so it's really just a way to prolong
the life of the product, the food.
Our smokers are aptly named Zelda and Links,
you know the video game?
- Yeah, oh that's cute.
- But right now we go the ribs coming off.
- [Matthew] Oh man.
- That's the ham, we're doing the smoked ham and rab today,
kind of a nod to Philadelphia.
You see that gochujang kind of catches that smoke?
And it actually adds a lot of flavor to that meat 'cause
the gochujang acts as a glue for the rub and the smoke.
So when the smoke comes through, it hits it and stays on it.
- How long have they been smoking in there, the ribs?
- The ribs have been on for about five hours.
This is Links our brisket smoker.
- [Matthew] How long have these been in there?
- Five o'clock yesterday.
- Wow.
- I like toast oak for brisket cause
it doesn't over-smoke it.
You get that natural kind of Texas,
you know, white oak, post oak.
But this is the miso injected brisket here.
We just make a miso soup base,
like a liquid, and just inject it.
We're gonna wheel this inside and make you
a nice little sample platter.
I guess you wanna try one of these sandwiches too?
- Yeah, oh yeah.
(southern style rock)
- Understand culture is really important to making food.
You're not just throwing things, 'hey let's make a fusion'.
This is our life, this is our life experience.
You wanna try collard greens with the doenjang?
- Dude, that's like kimchi good.
It's so good.
The temperature of it and the balance of it,
it's immediately Korean.
- And the sauce is like a kimchi
yum yum sauce, gochugaru.
- You're like amping up the gochugaru flavor here.
It's like super spicy and it sizzles,
the long wonderful heat.
- [Cody] The spicy Korean pork, it's mixed with a little
kimchi slaw, this is our KB sauce.
It's the sauce that we do the most different,
it's gochujang based.
- [Jiyeon] With the kimchi slaw together.
- [Cody] Yeah, it's kind of riff on the pork
and slaw sandwich.
- What cut of pork is this?
- That is, we take a whole pork butt and we debone it.
We smoke it...
- [Mark] Is this the Korean...
- [Cody] About four or six hours.
- [Jiyeon] Similar like a chojang.
- Yeah, also the kimchi pickles.
It's the sandwich that really put us on the map
for people recognizes our mix
was kimchi pickles, the spicy Korean pork,
and the slaw all mixed together.
- This is distinctly Korean
because of the way you seasoned it.
But that smoke just reminds me, like, this is barbecue.
This is a real barbecue, this is not table-top
grilled and then it's just barely a little whiff
of wood or if you have charcoal, no.
This is imbued with amazing flavor.
- [Cody] Yeah one of my favorite things too
is the sweet and sour chicken wings that we do.
- This is the best Korean chicken wing that I've ever had.
- You know, when we eat chicken in Korea,
you eat the daikon radish, eat this one.
- Oh.
- So you get that balance.
- Right here, chicken and radish just wanna be together.
- [Matthew] I'm gonna try it without sauce.
- [Jiyeon] You will taste the gochujang.
- Yeah, and that gochujang helps catch all that smoke.
- I love it because you've got that texture down.
That gochujang on the outside really captures
a kind of a different smokiness 'cause the sauce
also kind of gives that smoke flavor.
This is glorious.
- This brisket by the way is amazing.
It is as good as anything I've had in Texas.
- [Cody] Oh, thank you.
You take the miso soup and you inject it in,
it really tenderizes it.
It's wonderful cause it's not mealy,
it's got a nice bite to it, but it's still tender.
I mean I could chew it four times and then just go for it.
I'm just gonna shut up and eat for a second.
- [Cody] Yeah this is a Carolina Heritage Farms ham
that we citrus brined for 56 hours
and then smoked it for 20, then add a little bit
of broccoli rabe that's been cooked in sesame oil,
pickled okra, fried garlic, and gochugaru
with a little bit of creole remoulade.
So that's the special for today.
- [Jiyeon] You can try with the kimchi mayo.
- That's truly wonderful.
The bread really just hugs it all together.
The meat itself, you've got so many different
varieties of texture in there.
- [Cody] Pickled okra.
- It's everything you want from a sandwich.
This is kind of like a Korean meal, right?
'Cause you have all the banchan and everything laid out
and you're just supposed to like, ahh, like this.
And every bite's a little bit different,
you don't get bored, you don't just eat one thing.
This is the most Korean American
feast I could ever think of.
I hope everyone copies you, because this is amazing stop.
(laughing)
This should be the new Korean barbecue.
Thanks so much for watching and if you like this
K-Town video and you wanna see more of my adventures
in Atlanta, click right here.