Transcript of Interview with Yesoon Lee Asian American Voices in the Making of Washington, D.C.’S Cultural Landscape DC Oral History Collaborative

Yesoon Lee 1

Transcript of Interview with Yesoon Lee Asian American Voices in the Making of Washington, D.C.’s Cultural Landscape DC Oral History Collaborative

Narrator: Yesoon Lee Date of Interview: August 20, 2018 Location: Mandu (453 K St NW, Washington, DC 20001) Interviewer: Crystal HyunJung Rie Audio Specialist: Dave Walker

Biographical Information: Yesoon was born in Seoul, Korea in 1946 before the Korean War. She came to the United State for her master’s degree in music composition at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She met her husband, who also came to the U.S. as an international student at UIUC. After they got married, they moved to Virginia. In the 1980s, Yesoon ran a deli in Old Town Alexandria with her church friend while her husband worked as a CPA in D.C. After her husband passed away, she opened an American Chinese franchise restaurant in Reagan National Airport. As her Charlie Chiang Kwai lease at the airport ended, the Lee family decided to open a Korean restaurant in D.C. After the opening of Mandu in Dupont Circle in 2006, the Lee family expanded their restaurant to Mount Vernon Triangle, opening a second Mandu. In 2017, the first Mandu restaurant shut down due to fire, but the family is in the process of re- opening the first Mandu space with a new concept, Anju.

Description: Yesoon Lee discusses her childhood in Seoul, Korea during and after the Korean War. She discusses attending graduate school for music composition at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where she met and married her husband before moving to Northern Virginia and teaching at Averett College. Lee also discusses the impact the early death of her husband had on her life and her culinary career after his death. Lee discusses opening a restaurant with her son and her perspective on the chef community in Washington, D.C.

Y: Yesoon Lee (Narrator) C: Crystal Hyunjung Rie (Interviewer) D: Dave Walker (Audio Specialist)

August 20th, 2018 (Monday) 3pm at Mandu

C: Can you tell us about when and where you were born?

Yesoon Lee 2

Y: I was born in Seoul, Korea, 1946, June 11th.

C: Do you remember your childhood in Korea?

Y: all I remember is at the Korean War, we went down to Busan, about a year or so with family and then I remember we came back to Seoul, I started my elementary school in Seoul.

C: Do you remember the name of the elementary school?

Y: Yeah, Nam-dae-mun (South Gate) Elementary School, Nam-dae-mun Guk-min-hak-gyo.

C: How old were you when the Korean War started?

Y: Four.

C: So you don't really remember?

Y: Not much, but I remember we were somewhere in Busan.

C: How did the war change your family's experience?

Y: [unintelligible] I was too young to remember all the details, but cause my father was working for government, so we came back to Seoul, I don't remember those horrible in a times during War, but everybody struggled including all family and after the War, but I remember I had a good childhood and elementary school, and then middle school and college.

C: Do you remember the neighborhood that you grew up in Seoul?

Y: You mean when I was in elementary school? In near now Namdaemun, the big, one of the treasure in Korea, that area. Yes, that where school was and that where we lived near that area.

C: Did you also wear uniform to school?

Y: Not during elementary school, but from Junior High School to High School.

C: Was it female high school?

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Y: Yeah, I went to female-only high school.

C: Do you remember the name of the high school?

Y: Yeah, Sudo Girls High School. It's in Yongsan nowadays.

C: What kind of food did you eat at home?

Y: Typical Korean food like rice, soup, jjigae, like a stew, and some meat. Meat was expensive that time, but still you know, special occasion, like bulgogi, and mainly fish, a lot of fish our family ate.

C: Did your mom did most of the cooking?

Y: My grandma was in a home too, so they both cooked simple Korean family meals.

C: Did you help them out cooking in the kitchen?

Y: No, not at all. We didn't know. I think in Korea, kids don't step into kitchen. They just asked to study, study, and study. That's it.

C: Did you have any other siblings?

Y: Yeah, I have my older sister and younger brother.

C: How old were [crosstalk]

Y: My sister is two years older. My brother is five years younger.

C: Oh wow, he was pretty young.

Y: Yeah, he was born in Busan after the War.

C: You came to the State for grad school?

Y: Yeah.

C: So you went to undergrad in Korea?

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Y: I went undergrad in Korea. Yonsei University. I came to the United States in 1970 for graduate school to Urbana Champaign, Illinois.

[00:05:01] C: What was your major in [crosstalk]

Y: I majored in music composition.

C: Actually my mom, she majored in music composition. My grandpa and my father went to Yonsei for undergrad and my mom went to Yonsei for MA degree, so she also played piano.

Y: Wow, that's great! Good!

C: How was it like to.. Why did you decide to come to the United State?

Y: I don't know. It's just, our family thought that was another step forward cause my sister came to the United States first for graduate school, so just everybody thought I would do the same thing. I would follow her footsteps. I just thought I had to do and then it was no doubt about it.

C: I think that was really progressive for your parents to think that, especially for women.

Y: Yeah, it was true.

C: Where did your sister go?

Y: She actually came to the same school, for graduate school, too. Illinois. But after she married, they ended up Detroit, Michigan, so she finished her degree in Wayne State University.

C: What was her major?

Y: Economics.

C: Did you get to leave with your sister in Illinois or has she already graduated when you [crosstalk]

Y: She moved already when I came to Urbana Champaign.

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C: What was your impression of the United States before you came here? What did you think of the U.S. when you were in Korea?

Y: It was kind of, of course, kind of a dream. Yeah, the America was kind of my dream. [thinking] I was coming to study, I didn't expect any other world, another part of lifestyle or whatever, just came, I thought I would just come to the United States and then study, and then go back to Korea, yeah, that's what I thought, but didn't work like that [laughing].

C: What made you to stay in the United States?

Y: I met my husband there [laughing] and then we got married there, we moved, he got a job in D.C., so how we moved to D.C. area.

C: What was his job in D.C.?

Y: He was CPA.

C: Did you guys, you guys moved to Arlington?

Y: No, we lived in McLean first and then Vienna. That's it.

C: What was it like living in McLean and Vienna?

Y: It is nice area. We still live there, that's why my kids all born there, then they all grew up there, just love it. just love it.

C: Were there other Korean family living there?

Y: Hmm, not in our, of course, there are some, but we didn't know them well, but we met a lot of Koreans through church, Korean church, we started going to Korean church.

C: Before you came here, in Korea, you didn't go to church?

Y: I did, I went to church whole my life.

C: What's the name of the church that you went?

Y: The first Korean church I went, Korean Baptist Church.

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C: And you went there for how many years?

Y: I went there until my husband passed away. That was 1996.

C: Then after he passed away, did you [crosstalk]

Y: I was busy to work, to bring bread on table, so I, emotionally too much attached to the church, you know, after my husband died, so I just couldn't handle that.

[00:10:08] C: And Danny told us about Pica-deli. How did that happen?

Y: I met my best friend now at the church, so we, one day we were talking about do something together, and we got this small deli in Alexandria. Just it happened so quickly.

C: Did you want to make Korean food back then?

Y: We didn't, but we put some bulgogi sandwich there. We made some bulgogi and then for our customers, we introduced Korean food, bulgogi, we made some bulgogi sandwich there. It was popular.

C: What was the neighborhood like around Pica-deli?

Y: It's a [unintelligible] beautiful area, old town, right off King Street. It is beautiful, lots of shops, restaurants, water right there, yeah.

C: Who were the customers?

Y: There are some small offices there, so lots of office people came for lunch, just for lunch.

C: Yeah, he was telling us about it started around 10 or 10:30am and then lasted until 3pm.

Y: two, three o'clock. Yeah, it was fun place.

C: After you got married, did your priority became taking care of children and being a mother?

Y: Yes, that was it.

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C: Did you feel like you wanted to do something related to your degree?

Y: Yes, I actually taught at some schools.

C: In Virginia?

Y: One of the Baptist college there, there is kind of a branch school called Averett College, so I taught there.

C: What did you teach?

Y: I taught music history and music theory there until my husband got sick and then I quit.

C: If you don't mind me asking, why did he, what was the thing your husband had, why did he became sick?

Y: He got cancer.

C: How did your husband's death affected your life?

Y: He was a great guy. He was, first of all he was [unintelligible] and gave me two kids and he taught me indirectly how important family in a life and family should be, so I learned him a lot, I learned a lot, you know, how to [unintelligible] not only your immediate family, but even with extended family.

C: Was he also an international student?

Y: Yeah, he came as a student, too.

C: Then how were you guys able to stay, cause, in terms to visa and immigration?

Y: Yeah, that time was so easy, it's not like these days, you know, that time, if you apply, my father was here too, he got the green card, he was here with a green card and then I just apply, and then even I was a student, they just gave me green card. Yeah, that is that time. It took just a month or two months, I even don't remember.

C: so it was like 1970s?

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Y: Yes, I got the green card in 1973. I applied 1973 and I got the green card in the same year in two months.

C: Oh really?

Y: Yeah, it was so easy, you know even the social security card, as soon as you got into this country, you landed the next day, my brother-in-law took the social security up-to-date, they just issued that number.

[00:15:01] C: Wow, it's so different these days.

Y: Yeah, I know. [inaudible]

C: [laughing]

Y: Yeah, even I think before if you got the advanced degree, they just offer you a green card. Not anymore though.

C: Wow, these days, we have to go through lottery system, only one third of people applying for job permit, that gets granted their work permit, and it's really hard. (This refers to an employment-based visa, H1-B, not green card process.)

Y: Yeah, I heard that. It's sad. It's [unintelligible] country [laughing]. Accept more. I don't know that's my opinion, It's such a great country, and big, big country. If you drive highways, there are lots of land still need to be cultivated. I don't know, that's my opinion.

C: What was, How was D.C. like when you first came here?

Y: Actually, we didn't come to D.C. a lot unless for a sightseeing. When you have friends or relatives visit you, you just took them to the city and showed them around. But we didn't come to D.C. to eat or to see.

C: Danny told us about, you guys went to Woo Lae Oak a lot. How was it?

Y: Yeah yeah. We loved it when they were in Pentagon city. It was a great place. I still miss it.

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C: What kind of food did you like?

Y: like barbecue, and naengmyeon (cold noodle), that's their best.

C: Do you miss those food?

Y: Yes.

C: If you went to restaurants a lot, did you also cook at home?

Y: Oh yes, we entertained a lot at home.

C: Did you also teach Korean food or Korean language to your children?

Y: Yeah, I tried to speak Korean with my kids, they were good until they started their school. [laughing] Yeah, that's too bad. [laughing] I couldn't keep it [laughing] with them. Cause their good excuse, nobody understands Korean at school. That's how, but I had to push more. [laughing]

C: Did you send them to Korean language school at church?

Y: I did, when they were young, but it's just like once a week, you know just half-day on Saturday, so it didn't help them a lot and they didn't enjoy much at all. You know, couldn't keep it up with it.

C: Did you tell them about your life back in Korea or your families who are living in Korea a lot? Y: Yeah, we used to visit Korea a lot with them. Almost every year once, when Danny was about five, six years, and Jean was 10, 11, they used to meet grandparents, their grandparents every year in summer.

C: [pause] Can you tell us about your Charlie Chiang Kwai?

Y: Yeah, Charlie Chiang Kwai. Yeah, after I lost my husband, I didn't know what to do, and then somebody introduced Charlie. We found out he went to same school in Illinois, so we became good friends, so he introduced me to the airport. He helped me a lot with restaurant business, so I started Charlie Chiang Kwai under his name and then.

[00:19:50]

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C: How was it? Was it hard to start that business?

Y: Of course, in the beginning. But it was a good start cause he helped us a lot. He supplied lots of ingredients and then all basic stuffs. After about half a year, like four or five months later, I found out that I could do, maybe some food better than he did [laughing], so I added my own stuff there, and of course, he said okay. I got approval from him.

C: Were the food you created selling better than his stuff?

Y: Even his stuff, I started making all by myself at the airport. Cause it came frozen and then sauce of course pre-made, but after I looked, and then I tasted, and then I thought I could make it fresh at the spot and I asked him to taste what I made, and then he said "your food is better than mine," so he okayed. So I started making everything there.

C: What was the Reagan airport like?

Y: That was when they totally renovated 1998. They got all the food court, so that's where I got my Charlie chain spot.

C: Do you remember other restaurants?

Y: Oh, there're a lot. California Pizza Kitchen was right next to me, TGI Friday was the other end, there are so many restaurants, even Regal Seafood was there when I was there, you know.

C: What about the customers?

Y: Customers are, of course, a lot of passengers and airport employees.

C: After Charlie, you made transition to Mandu.

Y: Yeah, after Charlie Chiang's, you know, I didn't know exactly what I was gonna do, but my manager at Charlie Chiang Kwai, he told me about the Mount Everest restaurant on 18th street. The owner of the restaurant was his friend, my manager's friend, and then he said that person is not interested in the business anymore, he was trying to sell, so I came and look, and the location was, I thought great, and I asked Danny and Jean, Location is good [unintelligible] there's nobody in the restaurant, no customers in the restaurant. I was, of course, curios what happened, and then I found that he was not interested in making food or the food business at all. My kids said, it's so interesting, "No Korean restaurants in D.C., so we could start." I never

Yesoon Lee 11 operated a Korean restaurant, I didn't know what to do, and then they said, cause we used to entertain a lot at home, so let's make the food we used to eat, we used to make at home, so I thought it and maybe we could do that. That's how we started.

C: What kind of food did you start, like make when you first started?

Y: It's not as long as the menus we have now, but we started basically all the Korean food like bulgogi, galbi (marinated short ribs), all these grilled meat, and bibimbab, and some kimchi jjigae (kimchi stew), deonjang jjigae (soybean paste stew), some [inaudible], typical Korean food, we start with.

C: How did the neighbors and customers respond to the food?

Y: Yeah at the beginning, they were kind of shocked or happy. I didn't know exactly how they felt, but I think they were really happy that we came in the spot, but some customers worried about us cause no restaurant in that spot was successful, so they were worried. We didn't know, lucky, we didn't know. We were kind of positive people, our family, so Danny and I never worried about what if this goes bad or wrong, we just do our best, then we will see, and then it happened.

[00:25:12] C: Were there a lot Korean people coming?

Y: You know, there were not many Korean populations in D.C., so we had to introduce our food to our neighbor, they started coming over and over.

C: What was it like to cook Korean food in D.C., outside of Koreatown and not to Korean people.

Y: It was exciting, it was kind of an introduction to Korean food to other people who are not familiar with Korean food, so it was exciting.

C: What was it like to open this location, Mount Vernon Triangle?

Y: So that proves that we were successful in 18th Street cause we were contacted by management group of this location, so we thought it over, and after five years of the first restaurant, we started this one, of course that time, it was not as good as, not as many people as we see now, but we knew this was gonna be a good location, so that's how we decided to open an another one.

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C: Did you see some differences between customers who are coming to Dupont Circle one and this one.

Y: Yeah, we thought maybe it was too close, but just about two miles away, we thought maybe one of the restaurant get hurt, but we found that even two miles, within two miles, it's like a total different group of people, customers. In D.C., two miles means long-distance [laughing].

C: How were they different?

Y: It's more like a neighborhood in 18th Street. It's neighborhood restaurant and here now it becomes like a more neighborhood, but when we opened this one, there were not many apartments like this at all. There are a lot of offices in this area.

C: [pause] Have you ever thought about opening a restaurant in Koreatown?

Y: No.

C: Why not?

Y: I'm not that kind of competitive person. [laughing] Yeah, I don't wanna compete with other Korean restaurants or restaurateurs. I don't know, I'm more interested in introducing our food to other ethnic culture.

C: Do you remember first day at Mandu? how was it like?

Y: Yes, I remember. It was chaos cause we talked to a lot of neighbors and never had Korean food before, so we didn't expect a lot of people will show up, but it was packed. So mentally, I wasn't prepared, so it was great, but was hard to handle that many people in the beginning. It was exciting, but I couldn't enjoy. Simply just too many people showed up.

C: What was it like working with your children? opening this restaurant, working with Danny, especially, running the restaurant together.

Y: At the beginning, he was managing, he was running the business, and I was in the kitchen. I was just [unintelligible] concentrated in the food, so it was good. And then later we opened second one, this location, he started more like, showed interest in making food. Of course,

Yesoon Lee 13 sometimes, [laughs] some debates. [laughs] But it was a good debate, now I learn a lot from him.

C: What did you learn from him?

Y: He is more like, his approach to more like to contemporary, modern taste, so I learned.

[00:30:35]

C: Danny told us about you thinking American people will choke if they eat rice cake.

Y: Yeah, I know. That's the one thing, yeah. Cause I did not want to put that on menu, cause when I came to this country, 70s, we had some rice cake, somebody made it on campus, and then they didn't appreciate it at all, so. That I remember, so I said, "you know, no white would appreciate rice cake." And then Danny said, "Mom, I'm American. I love it." [laughs] "Okay." [laughs] That was his response. And then I found that they love it, so they didn't remember the name of the rice cake, tteokbokki, so they call it like a "big thick pasta." Yeah, so I think, you know, a lot of people are more exposed to other culture and other food, especially young people.

C: Even I heard, from my parents or their friends that "oh, American people, like when they say "American people," they are referring to White people, "they don't like rice cake cause it is chewy, and people don't like the texture." Yeah, so I'm familiar with that. [laughter]

Y: Yeah, not only rice cake. These days, a lot of people, they love spiced food, especially young people, they are challenging to all kinds of culture and foods. A lot of times, I'm amazed, you know, if somebody, when you get the ticket and "more spicy," so [unintelligible] of spice they are some soups like yukgaejang (spicy beef and vegetable soup), that kind of soup, already spicy cause I make them real Korean way. I check the number of the table, and it is not Korean table. They love spiced food, some people, so I get amazed a lot of times. It's becoming very cosmopolitan area, this D.C.

C: Do you think those spicy food and Korean food would have been successful 10 years ago or 20 years ago?

Y: I don't know, but, cause maybe not. 20 years ago. [pause] When we opened the restaurant 13 years ago, a lot of people already were trying spicy food, but different spices than Korean food. They are exposed to Mexican spice and, you know, other, you know, Mediterranean spices, but not the Korean spices. But you know, when we have some older people here, they avoid spiced food.

C: Do you the meaning of being Korean changed before you open Mandu and after you open Mandu?

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Y: What do you mean? another change?

C: Do you think your Korean identity and the meaning of being Korean in the US have changed as you open the restaurant?

Y: Not really, no. About the same.

C: How did you develop your recipe? Like did you learn it from your grandma?

Y: I try, I try, I'm still trying. Started with simple mandu (dumpling), but since we are in D.C., and instead of, mandu means in Korea, usually just meat mandu, but you know, okay, we should try some vegetable mandu, we should try some seafood mandu, so we came up with [inaudible] That kind of, you know, changes, I applied, that kind of change. And mainly but, the food, Danny and Jean ate at home. [laughs]

[00:35:14]

C: Did you also make mandu back in Korea? before you came here?

Y: Of course we made, yeah. We made at home. It's one of the food you always make, especially on holidays. Yes, I used to make, but not like this. [laughs]

C: Cause before I came to the States, I didn't cook as much, but like I came to the States, it was hard to get Korean food, so I started cooking more Korean food at home, and I usually look up recipes online. Did you also have similar experience?

Y: No, when I opened, the Internet wasn't that, didn't give detailed information, so I didn't use other people's recipe. Just I came up with my own, but now since my kitchen and my cooks, and staffs are all Latinos, most of them are Latinos, I made exact recipe for each dish, individual dishes.

C: You did your birthday party in 2013 with the DC community. Can you tell us about that?

Y: What birthday party?

C: I saw something online saying, like DC, like you are throwing a birthday party at Mandu in 2013, like 5 years ago.

Y: Yes, they did. All the chefs were here. Do you mean that one?

C: Yes.

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Y: Yeah, a lot of chefs. That was kind of a surprise. Danny arranged, I'm not that kind of person, but he arranged something. So a lot of chefs came, and they made fantastic food. It was really, big, good surprise [laughs]. I still remember that sometimes, nice people.

C: Did you interact with other chefs a lot?

Y: Not by myself. Always through Danny, we go see them, eat there, and then I'm so happy, when they, they used to be part of certain restaurant, and now became independently operating their own restaurant, I'm so happy.

C: Can you tell us a little bit more about who you are thinking of? who are the chefs?

Y: A lot of people. Of course Scott (Drewno at CHIKO), Kyle Bailey (The Salt Line), Haidar (Chloe), and Kyle's wife Tiffany (Macisaac), Buttercream, you know, a pastry chef.

C: What's the name of the restaurants?

Y: CHIKO, you know Scott. The Salt Line is Kyle Bailey. Chloe is Haidar (Karoum). Who else? They are the main people. I really am happy with. They are very successful.

C: What did, how do you feel about your son, making Korean food and opening Korean restaurant?

Y: I'm so proud of him cause he never thought that he's gonna do, you know, like cooking, serious cook. But he is very serious and he is very happy with what he's been doing, so I'm very happy and proud of him.

C: Do you feel like if he was working in French restaurant, or other cuisine, type of cuisine, would you feel the similar way?

Y: Of course, you know, whatever he does, as long as he is happy with what he is doing, yeah, I will feel the same thing. But I cannot picture him working in French restaurant or Italian restaurant.

C: Why not?

Y: I don't know. I cannot imagine that. I cannot picture him working that. Maybe American cuisine? like regular [crosstalk]

[00:40:10]

C: Like a burger store?

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Y: of course, [laughs] he can do that, burger store. [laughter] He can manage that. [laughter] I can picture him, but he would not stay there long.

C: Did you have any career or something that you wanted Danny to become when he was growing up?

Y: Of course, I never, as I said, I never thought that he was gonna be in food business. Everybody, not only me, everybody thought that he would be in medical business. Yeah, he was all science guy. Yeah, so before he graduated from college, the only job he had was working at Walter Reed (?) Hospital. Yeah, everybody thought around him and me, my daughter, everybody thought he would go to med-school, but he didn't like to study, so I said, "then don't try to go to medical school." and I said, "I'm fine if you drop just off from pre-med. I have no problem." And he was just so happy that I said, "okay."

C: What about when he was working as paralegal?

Y: He didn't enjoy much, I mean, I know that.

C: How do you feel about him opening CHIKO?

Y: I am so happy, yeah. His business is expanding, and especially with Scott and Andrew. They are good match, yeah, good trio.

C: He told us about you are becoming a little but competitive with CHIKO's food.

Y: No, it's fun, fun way. [laughs] Like you know, for instance, they made their CHIKO salt, and then I said, "okay, I'll make Mandu salt then." [laughter] that kind of stuff, yeah. Sometimes, I make special thing and then I give them "try to serve this and that. See the response." Trying to help.

C: What was your favorite dish at CHIKO?

Y: Oh, all of them are so good and different. I like their salad, you know, avocado salad, and their rice dishes, and a lot of times, they make specials. Like pork shank and they are awesome, yeah.

C: Last year, Dupont Mandu had fire, what happened?

Y: That's kind of an electrical fire at night time. Lucky, nobody was there. It happened in the middle of night. Nobody got hurt, so we are in the process of renovating for the restaurant.

C: You must have been really sad cause it was [crosstalk]

Y: Of course, it was.. It was kind of a hurt, yeah.

Yesoon Lee 17

C: Cause it was your first restaurant.

Y: Yeah, it was our home.

C: How do you feel about that?

Y: As I said, take it, you know, nothing you could do, so you know, you have to think positively, time to, you know, renovate [laughs]. So it's good.

C: So you are planning on opening that restaurant again?

Y: Yeah yeah, we are gonna open it, but maybe Danny will open with Anju idea. It will be called maybe Anju, I don't know they decided with the name. But I think it's gonna be called Anju. small plates.

C: So it’s gonna be little different from Mandu.

Y: Little different, but Danny said, you know, the neighbors really miss Mandu, he said he's gonna put Mandu classic, yeah.

C: Wow, are you excited for [crosstalk]

Y: Yes, of course. I'm looking forward.

C: I told Danny this, but when I first came to D.C., Mandu at Dupont was the first restaurant I had food. Cause my sister and I moved into a new place, and then after moving-in in Korea, we usually get jjajangmyeon, so we were craving Korean food. So we went there.

Y: yeah, okay, great.

[00:45:00]

C: Did you guys have close connection with other restaurant owners or other store owners nearby? Cause there is Dupont market.

Y: yeah, yeah, of course, of course. We are very close with them.

C: [pause] As Korean food is getting popular these days, do you feel like there is more opportunities opening up for Korean American community?

Y: I really hope so.

C: What was it like, what was your greatest memory about Mandu? Can you tell us a story about the best you've ever had in Mandu?

Yesoon Lee 18

Y: Of course, the opening day of the 18th street and another opening day for this location. We had a great experience when we started Anju night here, yeah, so that was really fun time. A little, a little hard when you have about four, five different chefs in the small kitchen, but very fun time, and then very exciting. And then [pause] there are a lot of occasions, like some special events, like Hooni from New York came down here, and we had special event for charity event like chef Angel for Korean orphans.

C: cheonsa (angel in Korean)? I remember the name.

Y: Yeah, cheonsa. chef angels.

C: Yori cheonsa (Korean name for chef angels)!.

Y: Oh, yori cheonsa, yes.

C: Did you know Hooni before he came here? How did you get to know him?

Y: No, actually, when he opened his first restaurant, we went up to New York, whenever there is some Korean restaurants or some nice restaurants in other cities, I tried to go and visit them. So we used to go to New York a lot.

C: What was your reaction to his first restaurant? Was it Hanjan? Danji?

Y: No, it was Danji, yeah. I went both of them.

C: How did you like the restaurant?

Y: He is, you know, another young chef, very, you know, creative, and modern, not traditional.

C: Yeah, he does tapas style, right?

Y: yeah, yeah. That's great. I like him a lot. He is very serious cook, too.

C: Danny was telling us about you taught piano to David Chang?

Y: Oh yeah, he became such a great guy, so maybe [unintelligible] he doesn't wanna remember that. I still know his parents.

C: How old was he?

Y: Maybe five or six-years-old. I don't know.

C: Was he interested in playing piano?

Yesoon Lee 19

Y: They didn't stay long. They didn't do long time, yeah. All his, you know, his brother and sister all came, too. [laughs]

C: They all learned piano from you?

Y: Yeah, I think so. I even don't remember clearly, but, you know, they all came.

C: Do you interact with his parents?

Y: Not these days. His parents a little sick now, both of them. Through our mutual friends, I hear their physical conditions now.

C: Then did you meet a lot of people through church?

Y: I did, but after since my husband died, I stopped going to Korean church, and then now I go to McLean Bible Church and then there is one small group of Bible study and I recently joined them. So I meet them before the service starts.

C: Oh, I see. Do your children go to church?

Y: No. [laughs] I wish they did.

[00:49:56]

C: Why do you think they don't go to church anymore?

Y: I don't know. City life, maybe, yeah, that's hard. I know I understand them, but, you know, I'm sure they will come back.

C: Do you also spend a lot of time with Danny's son?

Y: yeah.

C: Do you try to teach him how to make Korean food or tell him about [crosstalk].

Y: I don't have to teach them anymore. He knows and he's been trying so hard, so he knows, all the basic stuffs. He just likes to make it better.

C: Do you think your Mandu restaurant is gonna be, continue to be successful in the future?

Y: I hope so. I hope so, really.

C: Or do you want to open other restaurant with different concept?

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Y: I don't think I would do anymore [laughter] I'm getting old. I don't think I would, but Danny will do.

C: What's your goal with your life at this point?

Y: Just, you know, do whatever you can and do your best with, just gratitude, just be grateful for your daily life. Grateful for everything.

C: Do you think your perspective in life and like your insights have changed as immigrant to a new country? Or do you think it would have been the same, do you think it's the same as if you were living in Korea?

Y: I don't think it will be same if I was in Korea. I would never be in food business if I were, if I went back to Korea. Of course not, but here they used to say this country is the land of opportunity. That's why we are here. Yeah, I studied music, but, look, in our family all diversity. My daughter is lawyer, but now still working in Korea, representing her firm in Korea. And Danny used to be a pre-med student and working for food business. I was a music student, and food business. Yeah, so this is really amazing country, you know, if you try, if you work hard, you know, the country doesn't have any limit. Yeah, this is a big country. I owe a lot to this country.

C: Do you feel like that concept have changed these days?

Y: What kind of concept?

C: the land of opportunity? or do you think it is pretty similar?

Y: Of course, it's not like old days, but still, you know, [unintelligible] wherever you are, not only America, but this is a huge country, you know, you still can achieve.

C: Over the last thirteen years running your restaurant, how has DC changed over time?

Y: A lot, a lot. I think it really diversified, and [pause] maybe population-wise, I don't know exactly that whether increased or decreased whatever, but I feel like it's really becoming bigger and bigger, yeah.

C: What do you mean bigger and bigger?

Y: As I said, number-wise I don't know, but I feel like you see more diversities. That's why I feel like the city is really growing, really growing. That's how I feel.

C: Do you think that the growth started was constant growth, or it kind of, it was steady growth and then suddenly it became really [crosstalk]

Yesoon Lee 21

Y: I don't know. If you see last 13 years, it was constantly growing, but I don't know how it's gonna be next 13 years, but I hope it keeps growing like that. Look at the apartments around this area. That means more people are coming, right? So the numbers must be growing, right? I think, I hope so, too.

[00:55:20]

C: Also, there's a strong sense of community among D.C. chefs and restaurateurs, do you feel that?

Y: Yeah, that's why, you know, if I go to restaurant with Danny, all these chefs, they all know each other. Yeah, wherever you go, so I think that's uniqueness of D.C. I met some chefs from other cities, they said, "D.C. is very unique." And also, they get along so well, they know each other. Yeah, so I like it, yeah, I really like to see that instead of competition, they all, you know, work together, they see time to time, get together. It's a really nice environment.

C: Yeah, it's really great. We also did interview with Bobby at Thip Khao. Bobby, at Thip Khao, Lao restaurant, with chef Seng, yeah. When he came here, when he met you for the first time, you yelled at him and told him to work for his mom. [laughter] Do you remember that moment?

Y: I was joking [laughs] of course.

C: Yeah, of course. Do you feel some connection with chef Seng and Bobby?

Y: Not really, we used to do a lot of work together for charity events. You know, moments like that, you know, I get along with everybody. They all nice people, they all nice chefs, yeah, here in D.C., they are so nice. They are not like strong evil, they are all down to earth, they are all, they always ready to help.

C: Do you have any questions? (asking Dave)

D: As far as the geography of D.C. goes, why did you choose this area here for Mandu # 2?

Y: As I told her, the Mandu #1 was just given to us through our, you know, manager in, who worked at the airport, and this one, actually, it came to us as a surprise cause we didn't seek for the space, they sought after us. Yeah, and then it was all parking lot in this area, but we saw the future of this area, so.

D: Danny mentioned that it was a lot of work to turn it into what it is now.

Y: Yeah, starting from the ground up. Look at this! [laughs]

D: It seems like a lot was learned along the way, too.

Yesoon Lee 22

Y: Yeah, we learned a lot. That's how they started CHIKO, so small and then [laughs] I like that, I like that. You don't need to big restaurants in D.C. anymore. There are already so many. Yes, so you need some your specialty and uniqueness, yeah. People are looking for that kind of stuff rather than expensive and huge, like formal, more casual, so you can feel free.

C: Cause a lot of big restaurants are paid by corporate money, take out customers or their clients, for the locals I think, small, family-owned restaurants are [crosstalk]

Y: [crosstalk] at bars, they come and make a friends at the bar, you can just come by yourself and make friends with our staff and then with someone sitting right next to you.

[00:59:50]

C: Do you have a hobby? or do you still play piano?

Y: Time to time, yeah. I stopped for a long time, and then now, you know, just started to, you know, maybe I just should try.

C: What do you do when you are not working in restaurant?

Y: I have a lot of work to do at home. [laughs] Yeah, but, you know, I like to go out and see and eat some other restaurants, if there is new restaurant in Vienna area, I always go and eat.

C: Do you have your favorite restaurant in D.C.?

Y: Used to go to The Source a lot, but now Scott is team at CHIKO.

C: So you just go to CHIKO?

Y: And then, you know, a lot of good restaurants I went to, you know, Chloe is good, The Salt Line is good. Those are one of my favorites. Last week, we went to Rake's progress, that's a really good one. There are quite a lot.

C: Do you also go to Annandale or Koreatown for food?

Y: I don't [unintelligible] anymore. I used to go, you know, I love to go out and eat other Korean restaurant food. I feel like, okay, if I have to go out Korea, cause I usually go out with my sister- in-law, she wanted to go out cause, you know, she really likes to eat Korean food. But I keep, now making it home for her, you know, I will just make it at home. So other food like American food and other restaurants, I will go out, but not with Korean person.

C: Do you have any particular Korean dish that you really crave?

Yesoon Lee 23

Y: I like naengmyeon at Woo Lae Oak, still make good naegnmyeon. Other than that, you change, one day you like to eat some jjigae (stew), the other day, something different, you know.

C: Cause I really crave haejangguk (hangover stew), that's hard, I don't know if I can make at home, so that's one of the food that I really crave.

Y: I like soup [unintelligible]. There is a big difference if you make just one for yourself, it's not as tasty as the ones, cause we make a lot in big pot.

C: Yeah, you have to boil it for hours

Y: That makes a huge difference. You have to make a lot.

C: Have you considered moving to D.C.?

Y: I might. I've lived here back and forth cause we have one apartment across from here, so I used to stay there during week days and then go home for the weekend. But I stopped doing that [laughs] cause I didn't feel at home there. And then when I go back home, you know, I don't feel like [laughs] my place either, so I told, we better rent out this place and I just take [unintelligible] and then I come here, just three, four days a week.

D: Which neighborhood was that? that you used to stay at?

Y: Mass avenue. 400 Mass avenue, just across, one block away, so, it's a good location.

D: How long ago was that?

Y: Just like 4-5 years ago? yeah, or even more than that, yeah.

D: So you've seen this area change quite a bit.

Y: Yeah, that was, I think first condominium built in this area. My daughter bought one unit there, so she told me, "you should stay there." then I decided not to. And then Danny stay there.

C: When you opened Mandu for the first time, was it easy to get some ingredients that you needed to cook?

Y: Oh yeah, oh yeah, H-mart, we have a lot of wholesalers, you know, who deals with only Korean restaurants. H-mart delivers us twice a week. That's great.

[01:05:00]

Yesoon Lee 24

D: For the Pica-deli restaurant, as far as the ingredients, but with that, was is accommodation of things you prepared and things you sourced locally or

Y: Yeah, that was a very interesting place, cause we bought the place through, you know, previous owners, who are British guys, two British. That's why they named it Pica-deli. And so we made sandwiches, yeah, we didn't buy bread through, vendors. There is a bread and chocolate, nice bakery there in Old Town, so we got there bread, fresh bread every morning, like hard-crust breads, so the bread was different and we got all these nice ham, we made our roast beef, even there, we started making our own, that was fun. We made our own salad. Funny thing, chicken and ham salad, things like that.

C: How did you learn how to make roast beef? like did you look at cookbooks?

Y: No, [unintelligible] you know it. You just, you know, marinate or season them and [unintelligible].

C: I think you have really great talent.

Y: Hmm, of course, not talent, but after you fail, you try one more time, and then you get to the point that you like.

D: Was there ever a dish that you started out making and didn't turn out too well, and then took a long time to get better at?

Y: Of course, I don't remember. We used to make stuffing for turkey and stuffing sandwich. It's not the stuffing you make for Thanksgiving, you make like stuffing log, so that kind of, sometimes it came out, you know, like hard edges, or sometime, you know, too soft. We had to try few times and adjust temperatures, and then you set that recipes. Of course, you know, fail and success. Of course, you have to fail first [laughs].

C: For like holidays like Thanksgiving or Christmas, did you make like half-American style and half-Korean style?

Y: No, Thanksgiving, totally American Thanksgiving. Oh yeah. That's what I've been doing since 1974. I don't wanna give it to anybody else. [laughs] I still insist Thanksgiving is on me. [laughs]

C: What do you make on Thanksgiving?

Y: Everything. like turkey, brine turkey first, and then, you know, everything. Mashed potato and then, sweet potato, some greens, it's fun. The best time of the year. Thanksgiving is my best holiday. All my relatives in this area come.

C: How many people gather?

Yesoon Lee 25

Y: Usually 20. yeah, easily.

C: Do you also celebrate some Korean holidays?

Y: Not anymore, not anymore.

C: Did you use to?

Y: Yeah, like Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving), but we do New Year's.

C: What do you make?

Y: Ddukguk (rice cake soup), dduk-man-du-guk (rice cake and dumpling soup), yeah. And then some jeon (pancakes), and some japchae (glass-noodle with vegetable and meat), traditional Korean food.

C: Do you think your idea about America or the U.S. have changed? now that you've been living here for 40 something years?

Y: 45? 48 years now. Yeah, of course. It changed a lot. You know, of course, I came to the school, so it wasn't, there wasn't big change, cause I came from school to another school in another country, so school environment is same. But that time, I thought everybody was friendly. They cared for foreigners, like for instance, I had a host family when I came to Illinois. Yeah, so they invite me every weekend, at least special occasions, they cook for us cause they felt like we are lonely there. There was very good old days. Yeah, such a great school life I had. But now, you know, so many foreigners here, they don't care anymore, right? [laughs] especially in the city. Even in a huge school like there, when I was the only 50 Korean students there, out of 30,000 or 40,000 student body. So they assigned host family for each foreign student. It was great. Even I married actually at one of my professor's house. They did the reception at their house. Yeah, there was so nice. That's great old days.

[01:10:52]

C: So you did your wedding in Illinois? What was it like? How did you guys

Y: We were, the wedding was very small, all students together was like 50. Wedding at the church and the reception at my professor's house. They prepared food there.

C: Did you wear white wedding dress?

Y: Just, traditional American wedding, and then, you know, reception, I had this Korean dress.

C: Actually, I just did my wedding in D.C. last month, and my mom and father, they live in Korea, but they came. And my mom bought Korean hanbok (traditional clothing). She was so excited

Yesoon Lee 26 to get her new hanbok, and like, she was like choosing dahonsaek chima (coral color skirt). I think that is meant for bride, and she chose that color. So she got really excited.

Y: You married here in D.C.? wow, congratulations!

C: So your son is married and your daughter is married, how did you feel about your children getting married and starting their new family.

Y: Happy? I'm happy, they're married. They didn't stay single, so they have their family now. So I'm happy.

C: Did you like, a lot of Asian parents, they want their kids to marry with the same ethnicity. Did you also have that kind of idea?

Y: You know, even I could had a chance to meet another ethnicity, so why, after 40-50 years later, you expect your kids marry only to Korean people. My daughter married a white guy. They have one beautiful son, my grandson. I'm so happy with him. As long as they are happy, you know, and I eventually [unintelligible] they want, you know. all globalization now, I don't know. I'm too open for Korean mom? I don't know. I know, whenever I get together with my friend, they always ask, just like the question you ask, "how do you feel like having an American son-in-law?" "What do you mean how do I feel? Just another guy!"

C: When I first came here, my father told me, not to meet a blond guy, a blond hair with blue eyes, and I married blue eyes and pretty blond hair.

Y: Wow, so they disappointed?

C: Well, when I first dated like, I think my father was a little bit disappointed, and then as they met him in person, and then like, they realized that it's just another human being, he's a great person, so they are now really happy about it. Because they didn't grow up in the States, they grew up in South Korea, so it was a little bit harder for them to accept this, but yeah.

Y: Yeah, we have to, Korean people are very timid, you know. Because you know, small country and all in one blood for 5,000 years, so they don't see other parts of the world, they have hard time accepting other culture. They should be more open.

[01:15:01]

C: How do you feel about your Korean identity and American identity? Do you feel American how or do you feel?

Yesoon Lee 27

Y: I still feel like I'm Korean. But you know, [pause] that's very interesting. If I visit Korea, I don't feel like Korean there, so I don't feel like I belong there. But here same sometimes. [laughs] I don't belong to this society totally either. [laughs] like lost identity or no identity? in between? [laughs] But you know, that doesn't trouble me at all, yeah. Because, you know,

C: You just accept it?

Y: Yeah, you just, because I'm Korean, I don't feel like I'm mistreated here at all.

C: Do you go back to Korea occasionally?

Y: Yeah, I used to go every year cause my daughter was there, stay there long time like three months, four months sometimes. It's actually harder to be there, even I go there every year.

C: What do you mean?

Y: I like it, but to accept the way they live there. Cause it changed so much, yeah, so at the beginning, "wow, it looks so good!" and then [pause] not everybody, but some of the life, the focus they, you know, to put their focus on their life, you know, it's just so different from the way I look at. So, you know,

C: How is it different?

Y: Everywhere is the same. But they all concentrate on superficial things. Yeah, that's what Korea is. Just a small country, there is so much care for what other people do and what other people will think of you, yeah, so that, you know, was a little difficult to accept, that's true identity. They don't have your own identity! Yeah, your identity is determined by what other people, you know, look at you. And then you have to, you cannot be yourself, I don't know. You just have to make yourself to please other people. I don't know that's what I, when I see their lives there. That's why it was little difficult. [laughs] Here, you feel so free, yeah, they don't care, right? People don't care about you. You just do whatever you want it, and then, you know, I don't know. Here, it's more freedom here.

C: What kind of questions do you get asked when you are in Korea that made you realize that people are superficial.

Y: All they care is, you know, what are you doing? what your kids doing? Yeah, that kind of questions, you know, They never ask what, They don't know what they really wanna ask, you know, they don't care about individual's life or their, you know, I don't know. Their, you know, philosophy or whatever they are. They just care what they eat, what they wear, what they do, or where you live. All these superficial things.

C: How do they feel about Mandu?

Yesoon Lee 28

Y: A lot of people, you know, the people I meet, of course, they know, so they are so proud of us. Of course, they are happy with what we are doing.

C: Until when do you want to continue to work at Mandu?

Y: I don't know. Good question [laughs]. I don't know. As long as Danny needs me. [laughs]

C: Or do you wanna retire sometime soon?

Y: Sure, of course, of course.

D: It's been really great. Thank you.

Y: Thanks for coming and hope it was helpful.

D: Absolutely, thank you so much.

C: It was really good to hear how you came to the States and how things have changed over time.

D: Also the relationship with your son and, I mean, this is such a great thing that you guys are doing.

Y: It's fun to work with him. He's a fun guy. [laughs]

C: I really respect you and Danny cause you guys kind of paved the way of Korean restaurants in D.C. and that's a lot of risk taking and it is really challenging.

Y: I like it here. It was fun.

C: Thank you so much for your good work.

[01:21:33]