Hey everyone, it’s Julie Young from Korean American Story and Not Your Average
Today I’m sitting down with the ever-dapper Simon Kim, owner of Cote
Thank you Did I say that right?
Cote! Yes
So our family kind of evolved around food
cause there’s no other real common ground that
you know, kids can share with father or parents
You know, I’m going to high school in Long Island,
and Long Island kid seeing her mother open a restaurant in Tribeca,
Tribeca back then was like the coolest place
and when she was going to open that restaurant I was like,
‘My mom’s gonna open up a restaurant in Tribeca?’
And, yeah, it was really successful at that time
and I definitely do see my mother as um- definitely one of the pioneers
The biggest thing that I’ve enjoyed the most was
the fact that I was serving my mom’s, like, food
You know, this is like what I grew up eating
And like, complete non-Koreans- I’m talking about Tribecans
You know like Meryl Streep, Gwyneth Paltrow
like these people that I saw in Hollywood movies were coming into my parents’ restaurant and eating that and
To be part of that and to witness that was just utterly… Special
Yeah
So Simon, tell me what we have here
First of all let’s start with this- this is a…
Block of dry-aged beef fats
So this is our Butcher’s Feast
Generally, it always has four different cuts
So first is kind of like a leaner, succulent cut
This is hanger steak
Sometimes it’s skirt steak and other leaner, succulent meat
And then we go to dry-aged meat
It’s got that funky, blue cheese-y smell to it
Yeah, so after we go from clean and lean,
you get to that kinda funky, like nuanced flavor of a dry-aged
And then you go to American wagyu
So this is basically a cross between Japanese wagyu
it’s got that kind of like, toothiness of American steak,
as well as the super well-marbled of wagyu
And then once you finish that, we go to our Korean gem
Korean kalbi
It’s been marinated with sweet soy with like seven different citrus and fruits
So I guess what I wanted to really create through Butcher’s Feast is
kind of fool-proof way of enjoying authentic Korean barbecue
So you can’t go wrong
So hanger steak is super fun
Hanger is located literally, physically closer to the liver
So liver has that kind of like irony flavor,
so hanger steak also has that hint of that irony flavor
That is amazing!
Even Simon’s like, ‘Holy shit that is so good’
The flavor lingers, you know?
That is so good, oh my god
So you get a Michelin Star pretty quickly,
and I know we’ve had this conversation before,
and I don’t know if either one has ever found out,
but I feel like you’re one of the youngest restaurateurs to get a Michelin Star
We still have to fact-check that!
I think so, yes Remember when we had that conversation?
You were what when you got it? You were like thirty-two…?
I believe I was thirty-one Thirty-one, okay
So you were even younger Yeah
I think you were probably one of the youngest people to get a Michelin Star
Yeah, I’m extremely extremely grateful for that
You know, I feel like Michelin Star is something that
everyone really dreams of, right?
Never in a million years, had I thought that I would get a Michelin Star
Yeah, what was that like when you found out?
It was actually pretty cool
So Piora first opened, and Piora was an immediately popular restaurant
We were always busy from the get-go
which was really a shocker to us
But I really had no idea how to make money
Because managing a restaurant, all you have to do is please guests
and make sure the guests and the staff don’t necessarily have to worry about the bottom line
So although we’re really really busy, we’re making no money
To a point where I didn’t take home any money for like, eight months
Like checks were about to bounce for my employees,
so I was incurring personal debt to like,
you know, lots of money in personal debt
What? I’m so glad that you’re sharing that because I think, you know,
a lot of times especially in New York City,
where you see these sexy, very popular restaurants that open up,
people just immediately think it’s this very glamorous,
you know, huge money-making industry and that- it’s really hard
Even when you’re that successful, you may not see money for years
One-hundred percent Yeah
So thank you for sharing that
Oh, my pleasure
It was actually like, very very difficult
To a point where I would go to where a bunch of my friends are
and they would be like, ‘Oh my god, Simon Kim the restaurateur is here!’
‘The drinks are on Simon!’
And I’m literally- I have a negative account on my checking account
And we’re one year in, summer’s tough, I just can’t go on anymore
For some reason, somehow, I knew Michelin Guide was announcing
So we’re sitting in front of a computer
chef on the other side, I’m here, and manager’s on this side,
we’re all just kind of like, ‘refresh, refresh, refresh’
They finally announced, and I refresh and I skim through,
I don’t see our name on it,
I was in despair,
and all of a sudden my chef is like,
‘Holy fuck, we’re here’
And then we hugged, we cried and like…
and then from then on, business really picked up
It was really like day and night
It was like, you know, like a higher power answering to your prayers
So now we have ribeye that’s been dry-aged for about 45 days
A) when you dry-age, the flavor gets intensified,
and B) it actually becomes much more tender as well
So now you have more flavorful, more tender meat
but thirdly, most importantly,
it also develops just a really distinctive flavor
Let’s give it a shot Alright
So now we’re going to go into American wagyu Okay
So this is going to be that super well-marbled,
melt-in-your-mouth with like, the unctuous marbling content
I don’t know much about all this steak stuff,
but I know marbling is important and I mean you just look at this
I mean, isn’t it just beautiful?
I think they’re ready - you ready?
It’s like one is better than the next, oh my god
What do you want your legacy to be?
Being successful is being able to do what you love to do
and make positive impacts to you know,
your family, your customers, your teammates, and you know
and broader, and broader, and broader
So I happen to love food
So the legacy that I would love to leave behind is
I wanna change how people look at food as a whole,
not about Korean or American,
but just as humans, how we view food
Yeah. How do you want them to view it?
I feel like food is a very physical thing,
but I think there is a complete metaphysical thing (element) to food
Like the intention
Like I can cook this meat with the intention of nourishing you,
or I can cook this meat with like,
‘Fuck, I hate Julie. I hope she doesn’t get healthy with it’
I genuinely believe the two same foods,
same physical food, has a completely different impact on how the food impacts you
Oh I love that
That applies to life too, right?
Absolutely
Tell me something that everybody knows about Simon Kim
Simon Kim loves to have a good time
And what does nobody know?
Woah that’s uh… you’re good, Julie
What no one knows about Simon Kim is
a very introverted person
When?
Good question. I still have to answer that question
But I grew up seeing my father, who’s a very introvert,
and I feel like I always wanted to be not-introvert
but you know, the duality always exists, right?
Like my wife knows that I can be like that,
but all my friends
Cause I’ll be the first one to say, ‘Hey, bottoms up’
That’s amazing
Alright, so we’re doing the kalbi
This is seven different fruits and
Sweet soy
Can’t tell you all the ingredients
If I tell you I would have to, you know… whack you
I’ve literally never met anyone,
when I’ve introduced non-Korean food eaters to kalbi,
like I’ve never met anybody who has not liked kalbi
Alright, should we give it a go? Yes, let’s do it
I’ll pick you the best piece
Oh my god, like I almost don’t wanna be on camera eating this because it’s so good
Oh my god!
I’m sorry- you think you’ve has kalbi before at other Korean barbecue places… wow
Simon this was absolutely amazing, thank you so much for having us
Cheers
Julie, it’s been a pleasure
and I’m glad that at noon, we get to finish half a bottle of Valentine
Don’t tell them it’s noon!
Cheers