Fine Dining - Korean BBQ's Fascinating History and the Rise of Gen KBBQ House

Episode Date: May 13, 2026

🥩🔥 Gen Korean BBQ House: Meat Deets, Costco Gift Cards, and KBBQ History 🔥🥩 This week, Jon Durnell (@jon024durnell) joins me to break down the history of Gen Korean BBQ House, one of the fastest-growing Korean BBQ chains in America. From SoCal beginnings to a nationwide expansion strategy powered in part by Costco gift cards, Gen's rise is surprisingly fascinating. Plus, we debut a brand-new segment called Meat Deets, where we dig into the broader history of Korean BBQ itself. 🥩 Gen's California Origins and Expansion to Nearly 60 Locations 🛒 The Surprisingly Effective Costco Gift Card Strategy 🤝 The Founders Were in a Proverbial Commonlaw Marriage 🔥 MEAT DEETS: The Centuries-Long History of Korean BBQ 🌎 Why Los Angeles Koreatown Became America's KBBQ Capital 🍖 The "LA Style" of Galbi That Korea Adopted Back 🥬 How Korea Perfected Pickling Before Mastering Meat 🔥 The Heat Lamp: Jon Declares IHOP A Superior Fighting Arena Than Waffle House 📞 Yelp from Strangers: A Furious Late-Night Wake-Up Call from Gen Management 💬 COMMENT BELOW: Is LA the true capital of Korean BBQ outside Korea itself? 📢 SUPPORT THE SHOW & JOIN THE COMMUNITY: 🎉 Patreon (Bonus episodes, extended Yelp segments & more): patreon.com/finediningpodcast 💬 Discord (Food talk, memes, cursed Yelp): discord.gg/6a2YqrtWV4 🎥 Watch full episodes: youtube.com/channel/UCLbraNhL6KhDPkdSWt2yiuw 🔗 All links: linktree.com/finediningpodcast 🎤 Guest: Jon Durnell | IG: @jon024durnell Patreon Producers:Sue Ornelas, Joyce Van, & Robert McLaughlin Patreon Subscribers:David Ornelas, Kellie Baldwin, Jeremy Horwitz, Herbert Amaya, Simone Davalos, Scott Bennett, Amy Reinhart, Josef Castaneda-Liles, & Travis Langley Free Patreon Followers:Joe Warszalek, Lauren Cummings, Grace Krainak, Keri Estes, Robert Duran, Patrick Elliott, Michelle Elmer, Dave Plummer, Nicholas Volney, Michael Gerard, Tracy Molino, Phuong Duong, Tyler Robinson, Brandon Gully, Mason Cruz, Michael Milito, Mez, Aaron Hubbard, Steff, Jewell Hermann, Renae Michael, Crystal C. 👉 NEXT WEEK: We head to Gen Korean BBQ House to review the food and put it to the Chili's Test.

Is America's obsession with K-pop and Korean culture responsible for the success of Gen Korean Barbecue House? Founded in Los Angeles County only 15 years ago, Jen Korean Barbecue House has grown its national foothold quite impressively by offering massive beer towers, cuts of both marinated and unmarinated beef, pork, and chicken that you grill at your table yourself, and enough smoke inhalation to simulate a commercial airplane flight in the 1970s. This go-gig-gui style of cooking your own order is basically, like if the melting pot entrusted you with the responsibility of not burning the place down, which they would never do because they're cowards.

Jen's brand recognition has grown not because of your standard marketing, but because of the strategically chosen warehouse-style stores in which you can purchase their gift cards. If the partnership went the other way and Jen had Costco hot dogs that you could cook at your own table, I'd have to be forcibly removed by security because I'd never leave willingly. This week on the show, I'll set my grill top. of knowledge directly onto your open flame of curiosity so that you two may know everything I've learned about Gen Korean Barbecue House and Korean Barbecue in general. Then we'll direct our attention to the people of Yelp to see what they're saying about the

very Gen KBBQ we dined at. This is the Fine Dining Podcast. I mean, I really want to comment on the beer tower, you know, mainly because I didn't get a chance to have one, but I... We also didn't see it in the menu, but like my experience, with this place. I went a decade ago, maybe. And it was like the thing that my friend was like, yo, I'm getting a beer tower. And I was like, okay. I mean, we did go in the middle of the day, so I saw no beer towers. But yet I did, you'd think there'd be like one degenerate having a beer tower in the middle of the day, right? Like there was none to be seen at 1.30 p.m.

Well, you know, some people don't have anything to do on a Friday there. This is LA. Some people only work like Tuesday through Thursday. So like someone could be drinking on a Friday afternoon. So, So where was the drinking? I didn't see any drinking. I wanted drinking. Not for me, but just so I could see the tower. You wanted to witness someone's low. Right.

Yeah. Hello, and welcome to the fine dining podcast, the quest to compare all restaurants to Chili's. I am your host, Michael Ornellis, and this is the podcast where we dive deep into the history of your favorite restaurant chains and then thoroughly review them a week later by comparing them to Chili's. This week, we're doing the history of Jen Korean Barbecue House. And joining me is a comedian and improviser who you can see him regularly. at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater.

He's a delight of a human being, and he strikes me as the type who has saved a choking stranger's life at a cafe by dislodging the cakepox stuck in their throat with a bear hug. It's John Dernel. Hello, thank you. Yes, and I would save a life, you know,

because I would assume that if I save someone's life in a restaurant, I could dine there for free for lifetime. Like a hero's benefit. Yeah, exactly. Don't you get that? I also love that it doesn't even have to be an employee. Just anyone's life. You save anyone's life, the restaurant stepping in and being like, this is a good karma.

Well, I mean, it's good press. You know, if a life was saved in said restaurant versus a life was tragically lost, I mean, that's terrible. Like, if I had a nickel for every time I read the headline, man dies at macaroni grill. Yeah, you're like, well, I don't think I'll eat at a macaroni grill. But if a man saved another man's life at a macaroni grill, you're getting that bread. Right. And hopefully I'll see a hero. Yeah.

Yeah. Thanks so much for coming on. Yeah, no problem. Thanks for having me. I'm eating a meal that was less intense than I expected it to be. Yeah, I mean, Korean barbecue can be intense if you're there late at night and you're really just trying to see how far you can go before they kick you out. But we were doing it more responsibly today.

We were not making an attempt to be on Ripley's, believe it or not. No, no, not like I've done once with a red lobster. And they're bringing back the all you can eat shrimp. Did you see that, the endless shrimp? see that. Yeah. The thing that like lost them what 11 million dollars last time they had it? Yeah, it did. It did. And I was part of that. There was one time I was there and you could clearly see that like the waitress was happy to see that like she could tell we were trying to see how much shrimp we could eat. And I beat my friend. I think I had maybe like 200 pieces and he was like yeah. Yeah. He tapped out like

It's the really little ones, right? We went with variety because we were competing with each other and I was trying to like make sure I beat them. So I started bringing in some of the fried, which are the smaller ones. But then we had like the big like jumbo ones and everything. Like I was like, we got to go across the board. We even did like the fetuccini Alfredo, which it was kind of cheating because it's pasta and right too. But we did all of them. So I'm impressed. Let me ask you, what is your history with, well, with Jen Korean barbecue, you have nothing. Today was your first time. This was my first time. But I brought you on this show because I vividly remember. a night a few months ago where we were at a show and you were just talking about like,

it was like a 9.30 p.m. start time of the show. And you were like, I haven't eaten anything today. I'm about to pass out, but I'm saving myself for Korean barbecue tonight. Yeah. And I was like, that's the kind of spirit that I need on this show. Well, I take my Korean barbecue very seriously. I don't know what it is with my family and Korea. My little sister loves everything Korea. Yeah. me, it's just mainly the barbecue. And I take it seriously. I take it very seriously. I'm like, look, no food is going into this mouth until it's Korean barbecues out of it. If I know I'm having it that day. Because, like, I mean, you just have to save space. There's so much variety, so many cuts of meat, you know. In some places, you know, have really good stuff. And you might want to get seconds or thirds of it.

Sure. And some places, like this place won't let you on certain things, but that's fine. Oh, yeah. Yeah. It's probably so that they, can stay in business. They're no red lobster. Right, exactly. They learned from red lobster. They don't have what it takes to be like, oh, I'll take the, what was it, the premium skirt steak?

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I could have done that till the end of time. I could have to. Right. I could have as well. My history with Jen Korean barbecue specifically was it was my first Korean barbecue ever.

Okay. Probably nine or ten years ago, just like a couple of friends took me there. Like I mentioned, one of them got the beer. I just remember being stressed out by having to like manage the cook times. And so they were like, okay, we'll do it. And I was like, thank you so much. And today was no different. I just was less on the brink of tears today.

Well, that's good. I mean, they would have added a little salt to it. If you cried all over the meat. I'm just the saddest salt bay. Sprinkling a tear. Yeah. I remember the first time I went to Korean barbecue. it had that kind of like same stress.

But I had other friends there and they were like kind of like teaching me. And I was like, oh, it is kind of like grilling, but just like here. Because my parents had me grill stuff when I was little like, they'd be like, here,

go outside and cook the burgers and the hot dogs. And like, my mom's like, make sure they're burnt. And then she only meant the hot dogs, not the burgers. So then I got to ruin the burgers. I was like,

you have to be specific. I am a child. I was like, I've only been on earth for so long, you know, and you know, you gave birth to me. Experience is literally the thing I don't have. Right. So, but then over time, like, you know, I was trusted with more meats, like the chickens, the pork chops, you know, roasts, things like that. So they're like, all right, well, you're cooking everything.

And I was like, well, I do enjoy it because I, I mean, there's something like fun about, like, making the meal. And then, like, afterwards, being like, this is good. and everyone's like, this is good. And you're like, yeah. It's validating. Right, for sure. Yeah. Amazing.

Well, that's our histories with Korean Barbecue. Do you want to hear the history of Gen Korean Barbecue House? I'd love to hear the history. I mean, there's only 15 years of it, so it can't be too much. It's not too much. Okay. All right. We're going to jump into this week's Eat Deets.

Eatery Deets. Gen Korean Barbecue House opened in Tustin, California in September of 2011 by its founders Jay Chang and David Kim, the latter. of whom was a former CEO of La Salsa and Baja Fresh. The founders of Jen are, in fact, Korean immigrants to the United States, giving Jen a background of authenticity. That's good. Yeah.

I was hoping it wasn't like, you know, Bill Smith and Tom Garrison. I was like, oh, I don't know if you guys should be starting this. Yeah. And I will say, in eating and experiencing it, it felt authentic enough. Like I genuinely did get the, I didn't get the vibe that like two mid-40s white women with Capitol were like, should we? I mean, there was a lot of Michael Jackson played. So maybe so. Okay.

There was a little bit of Gen Xers. Which I had no problem with. I loved the Michael Jackson that was playing. And it might be because of the movie, but it might also be because whoever's running that place really loves Michael Jackson. They really like Michael Jackson. We'll talk about it more next week when we review it, but it was a prominent part of this experience. It really was. And I mean, like, you know, really getting into the deep cuts. So I like that. But again, I'm happy that it's not something where I have to be offended that I ate there. And you just told me about it now. So fair. Yeah. Well, I mean, the guy who started Taco Bell literally just like saw people across the street from his hot dog place and was like, I'm going to steal that. And he like went over and like deconstructed their tacos. Also his last name is Bell. Well, well, yeah. But like, but the fact that like he like went over and was like, well, that's doing well. I'm going to steal it.

I want it. Yeah. And he did it successfully. It's a very colonialist attitude. Very much so. Yeah. Gen Korean Barbecue's own filings describe a menu of traditional Korean and Korean American food served in a space with modern decor and embedded tabletop grills with K-pop in the background while guests cook much of the food themselves. One of those things was untrue. Yeah, they're. I don't remember any K-pop.

Yeah. Didn't hear any... Pop yes. Pop yes, Midnight K. That makes Jen less a replica of old sole barbecue houses and more a deliberately standardized Korean-American joint built for broad mainstream appeal. Very mainstream in that. This felt like a chain. Oh, definitely.

Not in like a overly kitschy way. No, I mean, it didn't feel like I walked into a Ruby Tuesdays or a Chili's or something of that nature where it's just like it looks this way because. every one of them you're ever going to walk into will look this way. Right. You know, like that, I didn't have that feel. Now, again, I could go to another one, and it might look pretty similar. But it doesn't, you know, like, I guess the idea of, like, you know, an Applebee's has all the little stuff fall over everything.

And you're just like, any Applebee's you go to, it will have stuff. It won't be the same jerseys or whatever else. But, like, they all do the same idea. Whereas this one is just like, you could tell us. just it's a restaurant you know it's a place where you're going to sit down you're going to dine and they might look similar in a way but i really don't feel like any two is probably going to look the same on the inside like completely the same well it also wasn't like so remarkably designed that you're even really going to notice that's also true yeah i mean the blue vents might be

something that's like a standard thing where they're like oh we always have the blue vets that's how you know it's us that's the gen way right yeah it's like you see black Vince, you're at a knockoff. Wouldn't sit down. Right. Jen Korean barbecue had 31 restaurants at the end of 2022, 37 at the end of 23, 43 by the end of 24,

and 57 by years end 2025, making the mid-2020s its documented peak so far. The first international unit opened in South Korea in June of 2025, and six company-owned locations there were opened by September of that year. They've already opened. opened two more locations this year, bringing the total up to 59 American locations, spread across 11 states, plus the international eateries in South Korea and one in the Philippines. I guess that really shows that it's pretty good if it's doing well in Korea. Enough to be around.

Like, having the fact that they're even there, you know, like, you know, because just think about it. If it wasn't any good, they'd open one and it immediately would be shut down. They'd be like, this is bullshit. it and we want nothing to do with it, you know? I do think that there's a novelty. Like, if an Italian came to America and opened their idea of American food as a chain, I'd be like, well, I'm curious what they think of us. And this is like Korean American going to Korea.

And so there's a, there's a level of novelty to it that I can see it doing. Look, they have outbacks in Australia. Yeah. Well, but I don't think it's not Australian style food. Yeah. I've never believed that. I mean, and again, from someone who's had vegamite, which, wow, that is, that's a rough thing. No shade to Australians, but the only one I could consume was like the sweet version of it, which they're like, oh, this is bastardized.

And I'm like, this is the only way I can put it down. Right. You know, like, and it was just spread on bread. I was like, there's nothing else we can do with this. Just kind of spice it up or something. Yeah, yeah. You know, they're like, just put it on bread and that's how we go. And it's like, I don't like this.

But, yeah, I don't know. I mean, I just feel like the fact that you can have it at all in Korea and have more than just the one. Like, if there was just like one that he just like was like, I just did it because I had to, you know. But like, there's a couple. So I was like, well, they're probably doing well enough. Yeah, yeah. You know. Yeah.

Or they could be the place where like a non-adventurous American on vacation in Korea is like, I feel safe going to the Americanized one. Wow. But that's probably true. They're probably both in Seoul. Yeah. But, and the one in the Philippines is in like a giant mall. Oh.

Okay. That's a fact that I found and wanted to say. All right. Well, I do think that the pace of growth was interesting because it was like six a year for like three years. And then they added like 15 last year. Well, I mean, and again, that shows. that this is working well. You know, I mean, and again, we'll give our review.

There's probably a reason why these things are popping up like crazy. And it seems like it's something that they can easily get across the nation, especially with like the rise of K-pop. Yeah. Like my sister was like so excited when we were in vacationing in Miami. She was like, there's a Korean spot. Yeah. So we went to go eat there.

But I was just like, yeah. You know, if there was like a place that you could see and know was there. And it was just like as available as a Chili's, people would probably be like, hey, we're going there tonight, you know, for sure. The founders owned Gen Korean Barbecue House location separately with 19 owned by David Kim and 12 on Jay Chang's side before they rolled it into Jen Restaurant Group Incorporated and then went public in 2023. As of 2025, Jay Chang is now just a board member after stepping back with David Kim being sole CEO now. Oh, so they had they finally had a little marriage, huh? I think that's so interesting to like go into a business, open a restaurant, but it's like, I own that one, you own that one.

It's a very strange way of doing it. It was almost as if they like started off in common law. Let's make this official. Like, okay, I love you. Fine. We have six kids. Okay, let's do this. You know, at that point, at that point I went 30 because when I had 19, when at 12.

31, yeah. Yes. So it's like, oh, they had as many flavors as baskin robins. Maybe that's what finally brought him together. They were getting ice cream and they're like, fine, I'll commit. Exactly. We have as many restaurants as they do flavors. That's love.

That's love, yeah. But yeah, that is a strange way of coming together where it's just, but maybe there was the fear that somebody didn't know how to run the restaurant as well as the other one. And so you're like, well, I'll let you fall on the sword by yourself. It's the one who had 12. He struggled to get the numbers up. He's like, I'm doing pretty good, right?

And he's like, yeah. 12. 12. Okay, 12. Talk to me when you at least get into teens. The marketing push of Gen Korean Barbecue House has been a unique one, as there haven't been celebrities and advertisements or catchy slogans. Much of their advertising comes from offering their gift cards in warehouse-style stores like

Costco and other grocery stores, catching the attention. of shoppers browsing for discounts. Those gift cards were offered in only 31 stores as of September of last year, but six months later, this past March, Gen Korean Barbecue House gift cards can be found in over 800 stores. The company attributes the growth to the wider K-culture boom. I'm loving how 31 was brought up again. Do you see that? 31 stores.

Crazy. Yeah, there's something about this 31 that they're not telling us about. And it must also be part of the... We need to remake that movie, was it 23 or whatever? Yeah, it should have been 31. Should have been 31. And then it would have made money. The higher the number, the more money it brings in.

It makes perfect six. I name my movie Infinity. Yeah. Oh, well. Licensed to print money. Yeah. I don't think you're going to have to worry about finances for the rest of you. Made man.

Yeah, but I do love that idea of like, I forgot Jen existed until I was in a cost of, last year and those gift cards that we got that we paid with today. Right. It was like, oh, 80 bucks for $100 worth of gift cards there? Sure. Yeah. It was just a $20 discount. Yeah, that makes sense.

I mean, if you're going to places where people often go and giving them discounts, they're like, they're probably more inclined to be, because especially at a Costco where you're looking for these deals, you're like, well, another deal, you know. But like to discover. the brand through that, I just think is an interesting thing to, like, rely on. Yeah, that's true. I mean, isn't it? I definitely haven't seen a commercial for it. Yeah. Yeah. Did you know it existed before? I knew it existed just because I'd seen it driving around. Okay. And then I've done comedy in that area. Yes, I saw it before. Okay. Because I was, I walked by it and I was like,

huh, there it is. But I had never stepped inside. Sure. I didn't know it was as wide of a chain as you've told me now. because I kind of just was like, yeah, there's probably like a couple in LA. Yeah. And then I'm like, oh, it's, uh, there's 57. Yeah.

Across our country or 59. Yeah. Yeah. So that's a lot more than I was expecting. Yeah. It's not bad. Yeah. No,

it's really good, especially if it's only been around for 15 years. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So kind of short, but that'll do it for this week's. Eat Diets as the road has been moderately straightforward for Jen

Korean barbecue house. But I do want to use this extra time to dive into the history of Korean barbecue itself. Okay. Is that cool with you? That works for me. Okay, we're going to jump into this week's meat deeds. Uh-huh.

Meat Deteerly details. Korean barbecue is typically defined by slices of chicken, pork, or beef, either marinated or unmarinated, that are cooked on a charcoal grill and then wrapped with rice and lettuce. Table-side grilling in Korean barbecue gained widespread popularity in the 1950s following the Korean War, driven by the introduction of thin slicing machines for Bulgogi and the rise of commercial gas grills. While Roots date back to ancient times, this dining style grew into the experience we know in love by the 1990s. Hmm. I guess something good came out of the Korean War. Caribbean barbecue in its current form. Yeah, because, you know, I tried to ask my grandfather about

that war, and he does not talk about it. Most people don't really like to talk about that more. I don't think it was a good one for us as a USA. I'm going to venture a guess that if that war had never happened, they still would have eventually figured out how to slice meat thin. Well, I mean, I'm not saying like the machinery would have come along. As you point out, it goes back to ancient times. Like, they weren't griggling meat for a while. I'm just saying like the idea of it coming over here, you know, is a part of that war. I'm assuming. Yeah, yeah.

You know, there was no meat before the Korean War. And honestly, if there wasn't, and there is now, worth it? Yeah, that's very true. I mean, for the marinated meat I've had today, I mean, no war is good. Our ancestors died for this meal. I mean, if they had to, it was pretty good. Bulgogi literally means fire meat. but today is understood as a marinated meat, and it's one of the most popular Korean barbecue cuts.

Galby short rib, which was popularized in the 1940s in Suwan before the South Korean diaspora in Los Angeles created their own style, where they cross-cut the ribs for thinner flanks that allowed for faster marinating and grilling. This L.A. style is also known as lateral or flanking short ribs, and it blew up in the 1980s before exporting back to South Korea. Ah, I see. Okay. So we got the thinner slices over here. We went. Well, we kind of got all versions of short rib because we got like the long bone. We did. And then we also got like the traditional Galby cut. But I think it's cool that LA specifically kind of pioneered cutting it that way, marinating it and cooking it that way. And then it got back to South Korea. That is pretty cool. So again, it all comes back to the war because see, you know, you had to get the meat over here. And then we had to take it back. Yeah. Worth it. I mean you're just look into that camera and say the Korean War was worth it.

The Korean War was worth it. I can't believe you did that. Oh, my grandfather wouldn't that be at. A staple of the Korean barbecue experience is the Bonchan or side dishes. Among the most popular are kimchi, which is pickled cabbage, soybean sprout salad, salad, seasoned spinach, spicy cucumber salad, savory pancakes, tofu soup, and countless others. There's a heavy focus on fermenting or pickling the sides, which is a tradition dating back literally thousands of years.

See, see, I told you. There was some history beyond the war. But yeah, I love all the little, like, dishes that they bring out to you. Yeah. It's part of the meal, it feels like, to me, to have, like, all the little samplers. And it feels like the more of them, in my mind, I feel like it's a better restaurant, but that's not necessarily true. I mean, because tonight we didn't have that many. There were five.

There was five. And they were good. But, you know, I've been to places where it felt like there's like 25, maybe 30 different things, possibly 31, different things on the table. Like just Indiana Jones style face melting. Don't look at the 31. That's what was in the thing. It was just 31 sides. But yeah, it's, I mean, like the kimchi, like pickled cucumbers, which is kind of pickled pickles pickles pickles,

pickles when you really think about it. Yeah. And, like, the radish was great, you know. And then this place had a, like, special one I've never seen. A potato salad? A potato salad that I've never seen. It was like a ball of it. And I've never, like, I've seen other ones with potato salad, but it was usually, like,

more traditional potato salad. Right. Yeah. A lot of them will have like a pasta noodle situation there, pancake that you mentioned, and the bean sprouts, which we didn't get any, which is like... I do love beans sprouts. And I feel like I see that at like each and every one I've ever been to. So like that's a weird one to not have...

To leave out. Yeah. But I guess they don't feel it was necessary. We know that someone in this restaurant hates bean sprouts and loves Michael Jackson. Right. Oh, so much. We'll find out here. We'll find out.

Which one of the two. that started it is little. We'll docks them. A centuries-long Buddhist influence led to a ban on meat in Korea, giving rise to a vegetable-based cuisine. But after Mongolia

invaded and took over Korea in the 13th century, that ban ended. As meat once again gained popularity, the groundwork was laid for the Korean barbecue that we see to this day. That's why they're so inventive with like the pickling and stuff like that. There was like a third century

discovery of a, I want to say like a Chinese journal that mentioned like specifically talking about Koreans and how like prevalent pickling was. And like to the point that they were like bragging about their cuisine. They were like, oh my gosh, Koreans have such good like vegetable cuisine. So it dates back so long and then meat got reintroduced and they just never got rid of that process for the vegetables. So that's why you have that mix that you have today. So it's like if Texans invaded San Francisco. You're all going to eat meat now. And then you'd get like really, really, like, you know, a thousand years from now,

you'd have really, really, really good, like, brisket over soybeans or whatever, you know. So. Wow. The future is beautiful. Yeah. That's what we're going to have. If there is one. And he said that into the camera.

The Korean War. Worth it. Yeah. Yes, it was. Yes, it was. Korean immigrants brought Bulgogi to the U.S., but L.A.'s Korea town made it visible at scale. The Los Angeles Times notes the neighborhood already had a reputed 850 places to eat and drink by 2004. And Eater now calls it the mecca of Korean cuisine in America.

That ecosystem helped turn KBQ from an immigrant community staple into one of Southern California's defining social meals. There is Korean barbecue everywhere you go in Korea. And Korea Town is huge. You know, like, it was funny when I first moved here, I thought like Chinatown would be big, but Chinatown's like a street. Whereas like in San Francisco, China Town is like a huge. Yeah. And so like it's different here where like Korea Town is like huge. humongous, you know, and I was not expecting that. Because, like, when somebody was like,

oh, yeah, yeah, I live over in Koreatown. I was like, oh, cool, cool, you know. And then, like, I was like, yo, Koreatown just, like, keeps going. I've been driving for 65 minutes. Like, what part of Korea time, man? Like, I'm really, I'm pretty far into it. And I says I still have 10 minutes to get to your place. Yeah. But, yeah. And with it being everywhere, they're all competing. Like, summer open, like, 24 hours, which. Yeah. I was like, yo, that's crazy. Can you imagine needing this at 5 a.m.? I mean, no, but if I flew back from somewhere, like maybe Korea, you know, maybe my time is off.

So then I'm like, I could go for some food. So a bunch of places are we're exclusively catering to the supremely jet lagged. Like, you don't want to go home yet, but you want to eat some meat here. Come on in. We got you. And that'll do it. For this week's meat deets. John.

You're on this podcast because you're a magnet for controversial opinions. It's true. Well, this is my newest segment, the heat lamp. Baby, set you under my heat lamp, my heat lamp. It's so hot steaks. This is where I'm giving you a platform to proselytize your truth. Okay. Is that chair getting warmer because you're in the hot seat now?

Tell the world, what is your restaurant hot? take. This might be something people don't want to hear, but I have to say it. Michael, if you're ever out late at night and you and your crew need to, I don't know, settle a beef at a diner that serves pancakes and syrup. The place to go is an I-hop over a waffle house, okay? That's where that's where the better battlegrounds are located. All right. And I know that's controversial. I know people don't feel the same way.

Because if you go online, you can find a lot of... Is this specifically about brawling? Like all the fights that break out in the Waffle House? Yes. Really. Yes. This is specifically about the brawls. The IHop is the better place to brawl.

It's the better place. I can't support this. Because not only is Waffle House number one, but Denny's is number two over IHop. Where are you? you getting this from? This is this is from supreme footage online in which you will see that IHop foolishly will leave you a canister of hot coffee on the table which can be used as a weapon in two different ways. You can toss hot coffee and you can use it to bludgeon somebody with. Now IHop is a fool for doing that. Waffle House pours the coffee and takes it away. They know not to leave that with you. The

fights are already too intense. They can't give you a weapon. So your hot take is predicated on just coffee availability? Well, and also the knives instead. The Waffle House knives that they barely cut bread. They're not trying to give you anything to start this brawl with. You know, you have to go with pure hand-to-hand combat in a Waffle House. I find it so funny. that your metric for a successful battleground is how fatal you can be. Right. And how much is provided to you before you get started? Because a Waffle House brawl, I'm not expecting anybody to die, but I'm expecting a fight.

And you're here like, the knives are sharper and I hop. They can break skin. You can't break skin with a Waffle House. Come on, do that thing. You're like, whoa, ho. They're just going out of there like, you'll never going to cut that meat, sir. Like if you are a fool enough to order a steak at a waffle house, you have to pick that thing up and just chew on it. You have to just tear it with your mouth and your fingers.

That knife and fork is not getting anything done. But that's my hot take. Now, I mean, there are some great Waffle House battles. Like I saw one where a guy was, he didn't stop eating his meal throughout the whole fight. But who doesn't like a dinner and a show, you know? Right. So like he was just enjoying his time there. But yeah, like, they have to go pure, I mean, you can't remove any chairs or anything, like, because it's all booths.

It's all there. Like, you can get a chair up at IHOP and throw the chair around. Like, I mean, again, there are, it's just a better battleground is what I'm saying. Waffle House literally had a viral moment of a person throwing a chair and the server caught it. I guess that must have been a special one. Well, because most of them are crazy. That is the Waffle House that I ended up reviewing. And I was there about two weeks before that incident.

Like I was cutting it close. That's amazing. Would have loved to be there during it. If you are sitting at the like the diner bar area, those are single chairs. Yeah. Okay. So there are some chairs. Not as many.

So you might have to make someone get up out of their chair. I do think putting this all on how effective your violence can be is crazy. Okay. Well, you wanted a wild joke. Wanted a hot take. Yes, a hot take. And that's enough. I'm tapping out.

You no longer have to take all of the heat because now it's time to turn our attention to other people and hear what they thought about the Gen Korean Barbecue House that we ate at in this week's Yelp from strangers. We need a little Yelp, a little Yelp from strangers. A one star, two star, three star, four or bye, aye. So get a little yelp A little yelp A little yelp from strangers A little yelp, a little yelp Give us those complaints

Why you literally why All right, this is Yelp from Strangers Our segment where we turn to Yelp And read out our favorite One Two Three Four and five

Star Yelp reviews Yeah Of the Gen Korean Barbecue House That we went to Do you mind if I read the first one? No, not at all All right Five

This is a five-star review from Chris R from Burbank, California. All right. January 24th, 2018. Oh, M.G. What could I say about this place other than, damn, this place is the shiznit. Buy. Buy K-Town and Hello, Glendale. A crazy sentence.

That is a truly. That's a wild take. All right. Crazy take. Okay. All right. So, I mean, that tells us a lot about who wrote this review. Who Chris R is.

Yeah. Let's get a little more of Chris's review. Saying goodbye to a place with bad drivers to a place with equally bad drivers. Not only am I impressed by the quality of the food, but the service as well. The wifey and I are regulars, and we've always been welcomed with open arms and good vibes. Francis, who is one of the managers, has always been really cool and down to earth. He's half Hawaiian, so I guess that's why I like him even though I'm Filipino. Same people, different area code.

Our go to, yeah. Chris is very into race and stereotypes here. A lot of it is like, because like even with the whole like go to an area with bad drivers to another area with bad drivers. I was like, buddy, what? You put that in the review? That has nothing to do with the food. Yeah. Just like Asians and Armenians, both catching strays.

Yeah, exactly. Not even strays, direct shots. Direct shots. Like, that was, wow. All right. And finding out they are Asian themselves because they're Filipino, right? Like in. Same people, different area code.

Yeah. And they're saying they're the same as Hawaiians? All right. Our go-to is, of course, the dinner menu because of the Galby short rib. It's just so damn delicious with the right amount of marinade and sexy deliciousness. Sharrari, who served us several times, is on top of her game. No matter how crazy busy this place might get, Sharrari is never phase and always comes back

when we need something. This place is a gem, and I'll continue to come back as a loyal customer. Keep the good times coming, ladies and Jen. you see what I did there don't judge peace he's also real cool real cool

real cool guy I'm gonna just say I cringe so hard reading such a bad pun I am also so guilty of making and we're so constantly thinking in really bad puns

I suppress so many of them because I want to be likable in society. Yeah. Well, you'll eventually get to that age. No, seriously. Like, when you get to that, like, that full dad age, you know, where, like, they look and they're like, oh, that's just my. You know, like, you know, like you get to that certain age.

Yeah. You're not there yet. No. So you probably need a good 20 years of. I'm going to be 38 this year. Yeah. So. But, like, you get, when you're in your, like, mid 50s, late 50s, then you're allowed

to just say like any pun just bad puns as a dad and you're like, oh, them dad puns, you know. And then people will laugh because they're like, well, at least his brain still works. Right, yeah. Yeah. And it wasn't too misogynistic, you know.

Boy. Yeah. Hey, you know, the standards have changed. The standards of change. Yeah. I stayed the same. I was progressive for my time. Right, right.

Yeah. One star review. This is from Alicia. are from Glendale, California. So she's a local. She's local. This is her backyard. I went to eat here and their credit card system crashed.

The manager told us it would be five to eight minutes until the system could reboot. We needed up waiting for, we ended up. I guess so. People on Yelp can't write. I guess so. I was like, what do I mean you need it up? Okay. So we ended up waiting 45 minutes, but no one came to our table.

We asked if we could get our parking validation or validated. They said they didn't do parking validation. They kept asking for our credit card information and our ID information. We did not feel comfortable leaving that information with strangers. I agree with this take. I mean, that's true. You don't need to give too much information, especially not your ID with it. We asked if we could leave our phone number or email, but they did not want to compromise.

after more than an hour of waiting, they finally let us go. It's like his prison. It's like a hostage situation. The manager got our phone number. Hey, got them digits. And we were set free. After I was already home and sleeping, the manager has the nerve to call me at 1145 to charge me for the food.

Well, you ate the food. What the fuck? Yeah. It is also 1145. Like, if you left the restaurant at. 8 p.m. Yeah, and you get called in the... Look, none of this will say when they left. So like, this could have been 14 minutes later. You live in Glendale. You might not be that far away,

and you just could have jumped right into bed for all we know. Yeah. Anyway, back to what the fuck. I have work at 6.30 in the fucking morning. I wake up at 4.30 a.m. These managers have no respect or consideration. And those are all caps, so she really meant it. And a lot of exclamation points. Yes. Because of their mistakes, now I'm awake. Still? Okay.

This place has great food and staff, but the managers are horrible and have no work ethic. If you're going to eat here, ask if their credit card system is working or you'll be harassed by the managers. That's such a specific. Hi, excuse me, before you eat here? Do your credit card machine working? Yeah. Or maybe bring cash. Like, you know how you could fix all of this if you had cash?

I do find it funny that you are not at all on this person's side. I actually think it's so reasonable to be, one, upset that you're leaving an hour later because their credit card machine wasn't working. No, that part, I mean, that is frustrating. But, like, still to some degree, it's just like, I think you're a little, you're going a little too hard in the paint for the credit card system. Yeah. Like, yeah, you're like, great food. Everything was amazing. Managers have bad work ethic because they charge me.

They charged me. They charged me. It was like, well, they were going to have to charge you at some point. Did you want them to charge you first thing in the morning? I think they're just upset about being woken up. And then they took straight to their computer because this, this review was not typed on a phone. Oh, no, no, no. This is somebody who's like, let me open my laptop.

Oh, yes. And they. No, she definitely mentioned, I'm awake now. And it's just like, as if you're like still going to be awake for all of time. Yeah. She's holding like a candle and has a nightcap. She's like a. old-timey awake person.

First I'll do this in Quill, ink, and then I'll type it up. Yeah. Hey there, it's me, Michael. And now that we're in season four, I'm adding more content to my Patreon. Not only can you hear the extended Yelp from Stranger segment with three more reviews, and not only can you get an exclusive full episode covering an extra chain restaurant on the last day of each month, but I've added an extra chat with my guests where we discussed their go-to fast food and chain restaurants and talk about why they love them so much.

I hope you'll come check it out and you can get your first week completely free of charge. That's patreon.com slash fine dining podcast. I appreciate and love you all. Back to the episode. And that is part one. John, thanks so much for coming on. Oh, of course. Thank you for having me.

Yeah. You want to tell people where they can find you on social media insta? Well, yeah, you can find me. on social media by typing in John J-O-N-024-Durnell. You'll find me on Instagram and Twitter that way. Or you can just type in John Dernel. It's pretty much just me and a guy who does country music in Texas. So I think you'll be able to tell the difference between the two of us.

I don't want to say anything. I don't want to be like that guy who reviewed earlier. But I think you can tell the difference between the two of us. And soon I'm going to be doing some. I'm improv in New York, which I'm excited about it. DCM. I'm going to be at DCM. Amazing. And you can follow this show on Instagram and TikTok at Fine Dining Podcast.

You can join my Discord server. You can go to Patreon, get the full Yelp from Stranger's segment, an interview with my guests where I asked them about what's their rotation of restaurants. And an exclusive episode every single month at the end of the month. So please do that because this is a listener-supported show. We will be back next week to discuss our meal at Gen Korean Barbecue House. We'll just be sitting here waiting on our table until then. Thanks so much for watching. Have a fine day.

This step is done and we have some fun. Now we're waiting our table. Wait next time we're stuck in line. Waiting our table and continue our search for mediocrity.