Midtown Lunch

ESPN Zone might be closing in Times Square, but they’re apparently bringing Kogi to NYC at the end of the week!  On Friday morning, ESPN will be launching a “Match Truck” that will travel around New York City during the World Cup, playing games on a flatscreen TV while serving a breakfast and lunch menu that was designed by Roy Choi- chef of the famous L.A. based Kogi Trucks.  The menu, which Grub Street posted yesterday, isn’t typical Kogi stuff (there are foods representing a bunch of the participating World Cup nations) but some of the dishes clearly have a Kogi twist (like the sliders and carne asada burrito.)  These trucks are going to be appearing all over the country (including L.A.) so it’s doubtful that Roy himself will ever be on the truck… but it will hopefully still be good.

The truck launches Friday morning from 9 to 11am in Columbus Circle, and then you can follow it on Twitter (naturally) through the end of the World Cup.   (We’ve also added it to the Midtown Lunch Twitter Tracker for those of you who have twitter blocked by your work, or don’t want to sign up for an account.)  Last time Kogi came to NYC it was grass roots, and complete insanity. It’ll be interesting to see if this ESPN branded truck attracts the same interest…

Photos Courtesy of OC Mexican Food Blog

It looks like the battle between Baja Fresh and LA’s Kogi BBQ truck is just starting to heat up.  A quick recap for those who haven’t been following it closely… at the end of last month the OC Mexican food blog first reported that Baja Fresh had added “Kogi Tacos” to one of their locations in Irvine, CA, a seemingly blatant rip off of the LA Korean taco truck with the same name.  Readers were outraged, although some commenters on various blogs pointed out that “kogi” is just the Korean term for “meat”, so it’s probably legal.  On Thursday, NRN confirmed that Baja Fresh was in fact going ahead with their Kogi named line of Korean tacos, although the owners of the NYC Baja Fresh said it wasn’t going to be coming to New York.  (And in a double whammy, neither is the Kogi BBQ Truck we were promised a few months ago!)  Well, the Wall Street Journal blog is the latest to chime in, shining some added light on the legality of the name, and whether or not Baja Fresh can use it:

[Baja Fresh] chose to call the dish “kogi” because that is a transliteration of the Korean word for meat. Although it says now a Korean-language expert is investigating whether “gogi” might be a more accurate spelling and if Baja should use that instead.

“It speaks to our non-desire to rip off the Kogi name,” Mr. Rink says. Research and development staff from the chain did sample the tacos at the Kogi truck, but didn’t copy the recipe, Mr. Rink says. It created its own Korean taco using steak and chicken.”

So it seems like the word “kogi” is not really the commonly used phonetic spelling of “meat” that we thought it was.  Which begs the question… doesn’t the Kogi BBQ Truck have a trademark!?!

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Roy Choi & Lee Anne Wong During Last Month’s Midtown Kogi Invasion

A rumor that had been floating around for a bit was finally confirmed at last night’s Eater panel at the 92YTribeca: Lee Anne Wong is no longer working as the East coast rep for the LA based Kogi BBQ Truck.  According to the former Top Chef contestant “Kogi will be focusing on their West Coast operations” while she moves on to “some very exciting projects down the line.”

So does this mean Kogi in NYC is dead?  Kogi’s Chef Roy Choi had this to say: “I love NYC! We are doing our best but my energies right now are trying to keep the food fresh to def! 55th and Lex….it will go down in history :)” History?  That doesn’t sound too promising.

Could Baja Fresh be our best chance of getting “Kogi” to NYC?

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It looks like my hope of having knock off “kogi tacos” come to Baja Fresh here in New York is not just a pipe dream.  One of the reps from the NYC Baja Fresh location responded to our Tuesday story with this info:  “[The Kogi Menu is] currently being tested in one corporate location in Irvine, CA. However, this location is actually our prototype, same menu style, etc… So it is possible that we could be serving them soon, but I cannot confirm. I am looking into a more definite time frame, etc. Also, I highly doubt the word kogi is trademarked, just as Long John Silver’s is now selling Baja Tacos…”  Yeah, but Baja Fresh didn’t invent the baja style taco.  The Kogi BBQ Truck did invent this.  Either way, I hope it happens.  KOREAN TACOS IN MIDTOWN OR BUST!!!

Related:
Is Baja Fresh Ripping Off Kogi? (And More Importantly How Soon Will The Midtown Branch be on Board?)

Photos Courtesy of OC Mexican Food Blog

There have been scores of Kogi BBQ Truck Korean taco imitators, both in LA (where the truck is based) and here in NYC (where we hope one day a Kogi truck will be based.)  But none are as big as this:  The OC Mexican Food blog is reporting that a Baja Fresh in Irvine is now selling something called “Baja Kogi”, a menu with a Korean style burrito and Korean tacos complete with “sesame salsa” and “kimchi slaw”.  The Kogi BBQ Truck rep I spoke too hadn’t even heard about this yet, so it’s unlikely it’s been officially licensed by the company- and right now it’s only at that one Baja Fresh location in California.  I just hope Baja Fresh adds it to their Midtown location (on Lex btw. 45+46th), before they get sued and have to scrap the whole thing! (Although technically “kogi” is just the Korean word for beef meat, so I’m not sure if it’s illegal to use it in this way.)

Ever since Momofuku Ssam Bar stopped selling their namesake dish, there has been a Korean burrito hole in my heart, and you know I’ll take Korean tacos however I can get them.  Bring it Baja Fresh! [via Food Section Twitter]

Related:
At Lunch Now: Live Coverage of the Kogi BBQ/Dessert Truck Midtown Mash-Up
New York City Baja Fresh Nails the Baja Chicken Burrito

Chef Lee Anne Wong & Chef Roy Choi

The best thing to come out of our live coverage of the Kogi BBQ truck’s invasion of Midtown today was finding out that Chef Lee Anne Wong, from Top Chef Season 1, was just named the Executive Chef of Kogi BBQ’s east coast operations.  What does that mean exactly?  Well, she is going to be spearheading their operations here on the East coast.   First order of business?  Opening a Kogi BBQ Truck here in New York City.

Once the kimchi quesadillas ran out, she told the disappointed crowd that Kogi would hopefully be opening in NYC by the end of the summer.  Then she told me, they’d be open tomorrow if they could.

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In what should be no surprise to anybody, the line at 11:40am is already stretching down the block for the Kogi BBQ truck’s first forray into NYC. For $4 you get a kimchi quesadilla from Kogi, along with the Dessert Truck’s famous chocolate mousse with peanut butter center. All proceeds benefit Citymeals-on-wheels, and there are only 200 servings. Line count right now… 65 and growing- and the truck doesn’t open until noon!

Keep checking back right here for live updates from the scene!

11:47 AM BLOCKBUSTER: Lee Anne Wong from season one of Top Chef is on hand to help dish out the food. Why you might ask? Because she is now the executive chef of east coast operations of Kogi BBQ and will be in charge of the first Kogi BBQ truck in New York.

Live updates after the jump!

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If you haven’t heard of Kogi BBQ, the twittering Korean taco truck from L.A., go educate yourself. Then come back here for the greatest news of all time. As you know from our giveaway last week, Kogi is in town for the Citymeals-on-Wheels “Global Street Food” benefit on Monday night. Well, so many Midtown Lunch’ers (who couldn’t afford the $450 for charity ticket price) called to say how bummed they were, that Kogi has decided to come to Midtown for one hour on Monday. From Noon to 1pm, they’ll be serving a limited number of kimchee quesadillas a few items TBD (but probably not tacos b/c there are too many ingredients) from inside the Dessert Truck, who plan on being parked in their normal location (on 55th just East of Lexington). Things like this can always change at the last second, so check the Dessert Truck twitter feed, or the Kogi BBQ twitter feed before heading out. See you there!  UPDATE: There will be 200 servings of a Dessert Truck/Kogi BBQ duo plate available, $4 each, with all proceeds going to benefit Citymeals-on-Wheels.

If you follow the street food scene outside of NYC you have undoubtedly heard about Kogi, the Korean BBQ taco truck in Los Angeles. (That’s right… Korean BBQ, in taco form.)  I tried (unsuccessfully) to check it out last Monday when I was in L.A. (they were closed because of rain.) I was pretty bummed. Well, great news today in the WSJ’s article about the truck: “Chef Roy Choi says he hopes Kogi will be in New York by 2010.” We already have a bulgogi cart in Midtown (on 49th btw. 6+7th), but it’s just average… and this truck looks like they’re taking deliciousness to a whole ‘nother level.

Photo courtesy of kogibbq.com