About Me

I’m venturing out to the unknown.  Kinda like a sports fanatic, a car enthusiast, gambler, or a straight-up drug addict, I have this sickness.  I love everything about food.  I can read (that’s right, read) recipes in a book/magazine like I’m reading a novel all day long.  I love the delicate and complex melange of how all the flavors can artfully come together but overdue it and it can become bastardized and overpowered.  I love the crashing and melting of different cultures and flavors, the always adventurous search for great and different food.  I love the challenges of wanting good food with great flavors but keeping it healthy and simple.  I love the quiet few moments of silence when plating your labor of love.  And most of all, I love the look on everyone’s face, the ymmmms and the smiles when they’re nourished with something good all the while surrounded by white noise of people chattering away, enjoying food, catching up and just having a good time.

A former corporate employee by weekdays, an aspiring chef , I’d like to think I’ve taken the first steps of getting on that ride, and journey of taking me to my sickness:)

First Ride – By chance, I came across what is now one of my favorite restaurant, a vegetarian restaurant by the name of Happy Veggie in Redondo Beach.  I was so shockingly surprised how good vegetarian food could be, mock chicken et killer Pho soup that I asked her if I could work there couple nites a week.  She said she was looking for a bus boy and I wouldn’t qualify since I needed to lift lots of heavy things:(.  But she asked me what I wanted to do.  I said, “cook”.  She’s had this idea lingering in her head to be open for brunch at Happy Veggie and asked if I wanted to work with her.  I said, “YES!” and the rest unfolds.

Happy Veggie & Pam gave me complete freedom to play, to create and put together brunch menus that’s local, seasonal, organic (when possible), vegetarian and most importantly, yummy.  Two big  invitation-only 4-course brunch were executed, without much flaw and importantly, everyone thought the food was awesome and very tasty.  I even had one person convert from an oatmeal hater to oatmeal lover:)  That’s saying a lot! And those were some crazy highs of working in the kitchen!  Sunday brunch became no longer as I was running around like a mad woman during weekdays after Corporate Work buying ingredients  and it just wasn’t profitable.

Blip – Went to a casting call for the Next Foodnetwork Star.  Think they already had someone in mind.  Didn’t even get a rejection letter or email.  But they were sure to add me to their magazine subscription list.

Second Ride – Just enrolled at UCLA Extension class for a Restaurant Industry class where I will be learning about everything to open a restaurant.  Yup – that’s what I want. I going want to open a restaurant. Nothing fancy but genuinely good food serving the locals.   Good food can mean different things.  To me – this means – it tastes good, it came from good places (farmers market, grass-fed protein, fresh, organic, etc), and thus it nourishes your body without making you feel guilty about eating something “good” but “bad”.

Third Ride – Just “killed” my first cooking class sponsored by bulthaup and let me just say, it.was.a.blast!  Thinking of writing a book, food book of course, and think that I may have some more cooking classes my way!

Continuous journey…

Made with 2 tablespoons of Love; love for food and love for life~

Chef Kelly Kim