Born February 24, 1970, in Seoul, South Korea, Roy Choi immigrated to the United States as a child and was raised in Los Angeles, California, spending his adolescence working at his parents' family restaurant, Silver Garden, in nearby Anaheim. He received classical culinary training without formal culinary school attendance, though accepted to the Culinary Institute of America, leading to an externship at the prestigious Le Bernardin in Manhattan and subsequent roles at the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles, Embassy Suites in Sacramento, and Rock Sugar Pan Asian Kitchen in Los Angeles. Transitioning to food trucks stationed initially on Abbot Kinney Boulevard in Venice, Choi launched Kogi BBQ in 2008, pioneering gourmet Korean-Mexican tacos that propelled the modern food truck revolution and established him as the creator of the gourmet food truck movement. Choi's influence extends to media, co-presenting the Netflix cooking series 'The Chef Show' with Jon Favreau starting in 2019. As a chef-businessperson, he emphasizes 'food that isn't fancy,' blending high-end techniques with street accessibility, and continues operations through Kogi BBQ trucks and catering.