“We knew there would be a market for this sort of business since Korean food is so unique and no one was doing it yet," MJ says. "We are the first at-home Korean cuisine experience in Colorado.”
The budding business was inspired by the family's mission to improve the quality of home-cooked food for the patriarch of their family after a cancer diagnosis. MJ and his mom mastered their traditional Korean recipes during that process, and now they're sharing their passion with Colorado.
MJ was born in Korea and moved to the United States when he was a boy. Luckily, generations of his family's recipes followed. When he was a bit older, he traveled around Europe and Asia, honing his culinary skills and picking up valuable home-cooking methods along the way. With this new culinary repertoire, he went on to manage two of the best Korean and Japanese BBQ restaurants in New York City.
MJ Hong launched the business with his mother, Sunny.
The Korean BBQ Chef
MJ’s food career was blossoming when he learned that his father has been diagnosed with colon cancer. Eventually, the cancer metastasized to his father's lungs, at which point doctors advised him to improve his diet through healthy home-cooked meals. Using the family's generations-old recipes, MJ perfected many of the items now offered on his menu with guidance from Sunny.
Unlike the modern American diet, "traditional Korean recipes are inherently healthier, which is what my father needed at the time,” MJ notes.
With its array of fermented foods, a focal shift from meat to vegetables, and a solid nutritional report card, Korean food is often recommended for people suffering from digestive issues. The most well-known fermented ingredient from Korea, kimchi, is fermented cabbage or radish that is chock-full of beneficial microbes to help digestion.
Fermented foods have exploded in popularity in recent years, with kombucha shelves progressively taking over the beverage section at stores and Michelin-star restaurants hiring fermentation scientists. Meanwhile, Korean chefs are using fermentation recipes that are thousands of years old.
Ingredients like kimchi, with it’s slightly acidic profile, allows chefs like MJ to incorporate unique flavors into complex dishes that are novel to many people in Colorado. Although there are health benefits to Korean food, MJ’s menu is first and foremost flavorful. One of his most popular appetizers, Korean fried chicken wings, have a crispness that only rice flour can provide. Tossed in a gochujang-honey sauce, the wings are accompanied by a seasonal rotating menu of traditional Korean sides, or banchan.
Like most farm-to-table chefs, MJ prioritizes sourcing locally when possible. “Without the immense overhead of running a restaurant, I’m able to put more money into buying the best ingredients possible for each private event," he explains. "Instead of paying a fleet of employees, I’m able to buy organic meat and fresh local produce.”
One of MJ's most popular entrees is bulgogi, which is thinly sliced prime beef with vegetables and noodles. The marinated beef is pan-fried in the center of the dinner table, creating the social center for a family gathering or private event. For vegetarians, MJ whips up dwenjjang, a spicy Korean soybean paste soup with immense depth of flavor coupled with mushrooms, fresh vegetables and tofu.
Along with a full-service meal (which is customizable), MJ offers a variety of traditional Korean alcoholic drinks such as soju and makgulli to enhance the experience. Soju is the national drink of Korea and is the best-selling liquor in the world, according to Drinks International. It is usually consumed neat, but also mixes well with MJ’s homemade Korean sparkling soda.
Makgulli is another alcohol derived from rice, but with a lower alcohol volume. This slightly effervescent liquor lost some popularity in Korean, as it was deemed a peasant’s drink, but it is now making a bold resurgence in the global beverage community. Its slight acidity and carbonation pairs perfectly with the menu that MJ offers.
The Korean BBQ Chef offers in-home dining experiences as well as catering and meal prep in northern Colorado and the Denver metro area. For more information, visit thekoreanbbqchef.com.
