“I started making fried chicken because I saw a program on TV that was explaining how to make it. “I remember being at the Han River and contemplating suicide. It eventually sold to a couple distributors in Japan, although the result was far from what Jeong had hoped for. His first two films failed miserably, he admits, while his third and most well-known movie, a trippy erotic horror film called Hera Purple about a woman that becomes possessed by a spirit to commit a series of bizarre murders, had modest success. Ultimately, Jeong’s film career didn’t quite take off. Kil Chae Jeong, owner of Gol Tong Chicken in LA Although “gol tong” is the Korean term for stubborn and bears a negative connotation, he carries his name and gol tong spirit with pride. He was given the name “Director Gol Tong” by his film crew for being notoriously finicky. I had this lofty goal to teach the public something about life and humanity through my movies,” he explains. “I really knew nothing about making movies, but I wanted to impact how people saw the world. Entering the shop, visitors of Gol Tong Chicken will notice a row of movie posters taped on the walls of the restaurant look a little closer at the credits and you’ll realize these posters showcase films that Director Gol Tong himself directed. During this time, the Korean film industry was undergoing the New Wave, led by the boom of international cult classics and ultimately culminating with Bong Joon Ho and Parasite winning at the Oscars this year. After making a fortune opening karaoke lounges in LA in the early 1990s, he took his earnings to produce and direct three feature films in South Korea. Stick around long enough, though, and you’ll realize the local community knows him by another name: Director Gol Tong, or Gol Tong Gamdok in Korean.īefore opening his Koreatown fried chicken shop, Director Gol Tong was doing something wildly different. Someone just passing through and hearing his emphatic voice booming through the small restaurant might see him as one of the most amiable fried chicken purveyors they’ve ever met. But diners are in for a pleasant surprise when they taste the chicken and end up meeting Kil Chae Jeong, the shop’s sole owner and only employee.įrom greeting customers to preparing the chicken and packaging orders, Jeong is responsible for it all, attending to these duties with a smile hidden under his mask and his mustache. At first, the shop - flanked on each side by a Korean video store and a hair salon - seems rather unremarkable with a minimalist storefront and matte red letters on rectangular signage. On the corner of Western and 4th, Gol Tong Chicken prevails. Koreatown is no stranger to fried chicken it seems like on every corner, in every strip mall, there’s a restaurant that has one of the crispiest and juiciest versions of the poultry dish.
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