- Welcome to Atlanta, where the city's diversity is celebrated through its unique culinary landscape.

Today our talented SCAD students join host Jennifer Zyman to try some famously flavorful Korean barbecue at heirloom market with Chef Jiyeon Lee.

After letting colors fly at the Paint splatter studio, our students will discover the joy of cooking as they prepare a meal.

To remember side by side with Chef Lee from the first bite to the last.

We're discovering the soul of the city one dish at a time.

This is chefATL.

- So this is where the chefing happens.

- I mean, as a student said, but it looks so real.

I know.

I want to just - Get cooking with the pots and pans already.

Jennifer.

Hey, welcome to scad.

Yes, thank you.

It's so nice to meet you.

- Nice to meet you too.

- So nice to meet you, Jennifer.

Looks amazing.

- Thank you very much.

This space is really cool.

I need that in my house.

- I would hope that it would make me cook more.

- I hope that for you.

- Same, Thank you.

- We'll take - It off the wall.

- Speaking of Atlanta, speaking of chefs, I have one I want you guys to meet.

- Okay.

- Who is it?

Good.

Her name is Chef Jiyeon Lee of Heirloom Market She's also an artist, so it's very fitting.

Do you guys wanna meet her?

- Wait, the barbecue place?

- The barbecue place.

- Oh my God, yes.

So good.

Alright.

I'm from Texas so I'll never turn down some good barbecue.

Okay.

So - You know.

Okay, let's go now.

Okay, let's go.

- My philosophy on cooking, it's just creating food with my life, my character, my heritage, my root just never goes away.

People say, oh, fusion is confusion to me.

It's not negative word.

Fusion is beautiful thing.

It's not like, oh, if I mix this and mix this, maybe create something new.

I never cook something like that.

When I'm using ingredients, it's important finding the connection naturally.

- Oh - Jiyeon - Over there - I brought some students to come eat your food.

So nice to meet you.

Meet too.

Hey - Guys, come on in.

- Thank you.

Let's go.

- Smells delicious.

This is southern barbecue with Korean Pantry.

West Mid East.

Okay, love it.

Kind of like you guys.

Yeah.

Right, right.

That's how we start this cooking journey.

- Made a barbecue restaurant that represents ourselves really.

So, you know, of course you get the long cooked smoked meats the, the brisket, the ribs from the south.

But one thing that we added to it was really adding the, the side dishes I think really kind of helps change the flavor.

Now whether we marinate the ribs and gochujang or we ferment, you know, kimchi pickles instead of your regular dill pickles, - What is the sauce that like makes this red - That is a kimchi base.

So basically we take what you would do with fermented kimchi with, and we add a little bit more rice, wine vinegar.

It's kind of like a vinegar red slaw.

You don't really see red coleslaw anywhere outside of North Carolina.

They make 'em red 'cause of ketchup.

- Oh.

- So this is Gochugaru, which is a Korean red pepper flake.

We actually get from Mexico.

- There was a huge snowstorm, the beginning of heirloom, the cabbage.

We prepared for the next day, the service, it was completely frozen.

And Cody asked me, oh this we do, we have to dump this one.

I said, you know what, this in Korea we make kimchi and we bury the kimchi and sometimes they freeze too.

So maybe I can make some kimchi out of this frozen cabbage.

- You had to sort of go through this whole journey of starting a business together.

I, I imagine there was, you know, a learning curve there from working in kitchens, you know, for, for larger corporations to then sort of having to trust and embrace that you know, you've got a partner that can help you open a whole business yourself.

- I've always been in restaurants since I was 15.

I wanted to do barbecue for a long time, but until I met her I never kind of knew how to do it.

- We met at that restaurant named re past.

I met him and also our pit master and then we started cooking together.

Mean his heritage, my heritage.

So it's just naturally becomes our recipe.

- Just so you guys know, when heirloom opened, like barbecue in Atlanta was like really weird.

It didn't have a very specific point of view.

People used to say we were a southern town without barbecue.

Right.

I mean they used to make fun of us the way that the customers responded 'cause it was like the most unlikely concept and then its success was, you know, exceedingly unlikely and, and just everyone was like so excited about this place.

You were slammed at the beginning - There definitely we confused other people, but when they come and try food and the flavor, it has to make sense, right?

When you taste the food, everything kind of balance and makes sense.

So people embrace that and they love our stories and it's a new flavor, but it's familiar too.

It's not like completely, you know, so that's why I think people really loved heirloom market.

- Why did you call it heirloom market?

It's the first name I ever wrote down.

- He explained to me about heirloom, but I didn't quite like deeply understand.

But the heirloom sounds like in Korean, like a he helum.

Heirloom is sunrise sun.

Sun rising, sun rising.

So I thought like that's kind of cute, you know?

Yep.

- Every day that this restaurant opens, there's at least four people here when the sun rises.

But market comes from like central Texas, which is kinda like a lot of my heritage.

So the old German czech, Jewish meat markets, they, during the Dust Bowl they had to switch over and start smoking meats and sausage and brisket.

So there was no barbecue restaurant in Georgia at the time with the name market in it.

So that's where market comes from.

- And Korean sweet potatoes, this is, it's just free food in Korea.

It's really, really good and crispy tofu, even vegetarians, they come to Ellum for this.

This is a very unique dish and this is color green and this is really linked to memory with my grandmother.

- It sounds amazing.

So if you could pass 'em over pretty you please.

I mean, yeah, yeah.

- Oh, can I get 'em first?

- Yeah, yeah, I got you.

Sure you can actually, - They're a little drippy.

They're a little drippy.

I need your plug.

- The story about your grandma really reminds me of barbecue for me in general is a very family thing.

'cause the way I got into cooking was my dad would always, every time he was happy, he would pull out the, the grill and grill for me and my mom.

- Yeah.

- And so barbecue for me became this whole family process of me cooking with my dad, learning how to cook.

And so every time I grill I'm reminded of my family and my parents.

So it's just so interesting how, you know, you're mixing your culture and your family into this new style of grilling that also goes with coding, you know, heritage and family and it's just, it's so beautiful.

- Can you actually talk about your creative process?

Is your art informing the way that you're cooking?

I mean cooking is art, but how did the two meet?

I - Think it's a, it's a, it's my nature.

It's from my journey of life and I'm so happy that I have ability to express myself through food and through drawings there's a place you can express yourself wild.

You can throw the colors and you can throw at you and you can express your anger or love or joy or celebrate.

So your emotions to motion that place name is a splatter studio You guys should try, right?

Splatter - Studio sounds perfect because I'm not necessarily the best fine artist, but I can splatter some paint.

I can pain.

That's awesome.

I can do that.

Little, little something, something.

- My art started as a diary.

I was writing first and then add some little illustration and then later on as some more colors and it becomes like my hobby and habit too.

But grew up in poor family, I didn't have any chance to get trained and I never thought I could be really good.

So I never really pushed myself to go that path as a singer, become a chef.

I thought I found myself, but I was always kinda try to please someone else.

Could be audience, customers or relationships.

But doing art, I feel myself with the art.

I want to be very organic, very honest.

Art is a part that I, adding all the memories from my childhood and all the experience I have through my life.

There's a lot of dark side, but it doesn't make me dark or depressed.

I use it as a flavor.

So instead of cooking collard green, you know I'm painting.

- So it seems like this is just part of where you wanna express yourself right now.

It's just to be completely honest and raw.

What made you come to Atlanta and go to culinary school in Atlanta?

- First thing I, I was thinking is the job something that I can do for long time, maybe rest of my life.

Something that I really, really enjoy, passionate about.

And so I started culinary school and immediate I fell in love.

And always there's something new, especially in the cooking with culinary with food, there's, oh god, - There's never an, and that's why people say why food never ending there.

You never, there's, you can keep learning for the rest of your life 'cause there's somebody who really like made you love food.

Like my dad used to drag me when we would travel to grocery stores and eat, you know, random things and holes in the wall.

And that's why I am who I am.

I think, you know.

Who was that person for you?

Grand - Mother - Was - It?

I was born and grew up in Daegu.

It's a temperature very similar to Georgia and living in that countryside, my playground was the field to go picking up the herbs and take home and my, my grandmother scold me like, why don't you do homework and you just running around like little scroll and then picking, you know, picking herbs.

But she makes amazing da nang soup with the herbs I picked.

So my grandmother actually built my palette.

The biggest loan I, I learned from her is utilization doesn't trash anything.

That's pretty much Korean food culture.

We don't trash anything back then.

So salted fish, she grilled it and then she doesn't trash the bone and head.

She boiled it and then it becomes like thick, like a thick broth and salty and fishy.

So I'm not scared of anything.

Put it in my mouth.

First of all, you couldn't say no, no, no.

Try everything and that never goes away.

I was born in 1970, 20 years after Korean Wars.

It was bad shape.

I mean now it's, Korea is a famous for Korean barbecue.

When I grew up maybe eat meat maybe four times a year.

You know, it's very occasionally.

So there was a lot of people, you know, utilizing all the, the meat, you know, tough parts and bones and make a big pot of soup.

So whoever making something like that and they share with the neighbors, that was our culture back then.

- Something I've noticed in Atlanta is that you have slowly become part of this collective of female chefs, many of them of of Asian descent and they're all like amazing creatives who have specialties.

Like whether it's candy with her dumplings or Mia Kamayan Atlanta.

Can you tell me about what that collective is like for you and what do you do for each other and and what have you done for the Atlanta community?

'cause you've done quite a lot.

- So we started actually, you know, back then and during COVID there was the, the crime towards the Asian really like surging back then we were raising money for the victims and that's how, that's how we met.

And we created charity and as a female chefs we always kind of like under the water, but many chefs for the first time, they put their name out there too through the charity.

So we learn so much and once we gather and we hit that the boundaries and wall, it's just humanity and we can help beautifully with the beautiful food, you know, with heart.

And that's why we are still doing it and we are still chatting.

And - You still get together and have your potlucks.

- Yeah.

- But you've also like as, as you mentioned, that collective is launched a lot of careers.

You've really invested in a lot of the young culinary talent.

Young women, young Asian cooks.

And last year at the Michelin Awards it was mostly women from that group who cooked for the event.

It wasn't the fancy restaurants, it was these people.

- We can raise the voice, you know, people listen, our voice is heard beautifully.

- I know your story but I know Atlanta wants to know more about you.

Let's do some rapid fire questions.

Okay.

Okay.

Drawing or cooking, drawing.

Pulled pork or brisket?

Brisket.

Kimchi - Or coleslaw.

Wow, that's a hard question.

I'm a southern girl now.

Kimchi choice - Plane or train plane so I can go further.

Yeah.

Fame or anonymity.

No fame for sure.

- You've you've - Done that.

Been there, done that.

- It's not easy - Life.

How did you make the leap from K-pop star to acclaimed chef in Atlanta?

I mean it had to be quite the journey.

Could you speak to how you got here?

- So the back then, it's a little different story now as a K-pop is, it's a leading the trend.

But back then it was very beginning stage.

I started with the modeling with Tin Magazine first and then I had a chance to get an audition for being a singer.

And that was a quite dramatic change for my life.

I was looking for and expecting recording new songs and creativity and all the fun thing with fans.

But the reality wasn't that easy.

I felt like becoming more like puppet instead of just being whatever the, the company asked me to do.

And I do and more and more I into it.

There was some struggles mentally, but I now I know why I was so struggle mentally.

I, I had deep depression because I couldn't be me.

I couldn't be authentic or organic and cooking just honest job.

I don't have to be faking to my, my customers.

They not coming to see Jiyeon, they coming for good food.

So as long as I put good food on the table, people will be happy.

I'm gonna show you guys very, very simple recipe.

I build for, I'm making mandu.

Mandu is a Korean dumpling.

Anyone can make it so it's not a traditional Korean dumpling though - That was good.

- But it's healthy, the ingredients and you can utilize the whatever leftover from the dumpling, the mandu.

So I'm gonna start with kale.

Yeah, we vegetables today.

It - All, it looks incredibly fresh and just delicious.

Just - Tiny bit of oil is fine.

What type of oil?

Just list of oil is fine.

Whatever available in your kitchen.

- Are there any type of specific wrappers that you should buy - For Korean dumpling?

We use a round shape, the flour.

But in locker store you can't really find that.

So I got the oiler kind.

- But those are the ones in the grocery store that you see.

- Yeah.

Okay.

One tin wrap.

- After - Any store you can have this and this is actually, that makes it very, very cute.

So the kale, you don't need to really fully, fully cook 'cause we are gonna steam it.

So I'm gonna dump this to right here.

Just pull it down.

And also the carrot, the chopped carrots.

There we go.

Just tiny bit of oil.

Same.

- And you're adding the carrots in first because they're one of the harder ingredients.

So they need more time to soften or - Cook.

Just separate.

Okay.

I don't cook.

I don't cook the same time.

'cause their cooking time is different.

- Okay, - Interesting.

So the carrot, same.

It's okay until, and let me see a little bit salt.

And so even the salt and pepper, it's your preference.

Make it everything complicated and you don't wanna cook.

That's the, that's the - Problem.

- Yeah.

- Make it simple.

- And I, I really like the way you were describing it 'cause it's kind of like it's cooking but it's freestyle.

- Exactly.

- Yeah.

- Like art.

Like art - That's right.

- In Korean, when we do mandu, we put it in a cheesecloth and squeeze all the waters.

Nowadays it's tofu.

All kinds of forms are available.

Extra form doesn't have much water.

So you don't really have to do that step for how simple it is.

So some ginger, not overpower, but this is so colorful.

And some garlic - I would put the whole bowl in love.

Some garlic, - Some salt.

You see that when I'm cooking the vegetable and season hard because you have to always think about the balanced sesame oil.

This is just, if you don't like sesame oil, you don't have to, everything is can be changed.

- How long have you been making dumplings?

- Since I was a little like, this is our culture.

I think maybe like six, seven, you know, making, oh, dumpling or making rice cake or with, with the family.

It's a beautiful memory.

Okay.

For dumpling.

I'll show you one demo and then rest of them.

You guys go let me.

Okay.

So water is a glue.

So one side, you don't have to go all the way around.

Just I'm going to fold it this way.

So just one side, just water like this and the stepping goes like this.

And just fold it in half like this to make a triangle because this shape is a square.

That's so cute.

And then here there's more water as a glue.

And then you forward it like this, like a ravioli.

Oh.

Oh.

Isn't it cute?

It's adorable.

And it's easy.

Huh?

Okay.

It's your turn.

No pressure.

- So how long do you steam them for?

- Probably already ingredients are already cooked.

So we are cooking actually the skin part.

So 15 to 20 minutes be done.

Oh, meanwhile we're gonna do the kimchi.

- I love more food.

I love that.

I know.

I was just gonna say, - You recognize which one you made?

- One that's exploded.

All of the best ones, right?

Was that one?

No, it was so - That - One's too good.

Fresh.

So fresh, - Simple.

And you can taste tofu, you can taste kale.

You can taste carrot.

That's really important.

- I love the texture of the skin.

It's so like - Soft.

- It's, it's like a soft chair.

Chewy, soft chewing.

- So you eat with kimchi salad and the dumpling together.

That balance.

- This was so good.

I'm gonna make this for my next cookout that I have to go to.

Thank you.

And thank you for teaching us everything.

I've really had the best day with you and this has been a really amazing experience.

- Thank you.

Thank you so much.

You sure?

- Thank you.

Thank you.

Everything work.

Thank - You.

Thank you guys.

We hugging like a, a.