Chef Roy Choi to bring ‘Best Friend’ to OCVibe
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It has been over five years since chef Roy Choi’s Kogi BBQ food trucks eliminated Orange County from their regular route.
“All the years we spent with Kogi in O.C. were very special,” Choi said. “There was a lot of love there and we never forgot them.”
Since then, locals have clamored for Choi’s return. Now it seems O.C. residents will get their wish. On Monday, OCVibe announced the James Beard Award-winning chef and author will bring his Las Vegas restaurant concept, Best Friend, to Orange County.
Choi’s restaurant will open in fall 2027 and will be the first of OCVibe’s collection of chef-driven signature restaurants at the100-acre mixed-use district in Anaheim.
For local fans, the announcement means renewed access to the bold, Korean and Mexican fusion flavors Choi is known for. For the celebrity chef, it means a return to his Orange County roots.
Choi came to the United States from Seoul, South Korea, in 1972 and lived in Los Angeles with his family and later Villa Park in northern Orange County, where he attended Villa Park High School. His family owned Silver Garden, an Anaheim Korean restaurant for three years, and Choi graduated from Cal State Fullerton with a bachelor’s degree in philosophy in 1994.
An obsession with Emeril Lagasse’s “Essence of Emeril,” along with formative culinary experiences in Orange County, inspired him to pursue the culinary arts.
“I used to go to South Coast Plaza, right around when I was 16 or 17 and the Armani Cafe had just opened up. Back then, we used to watch a lot of Hong Kong gangster movies and the dream was to have an Armani suit and a tooth pick in your mouth,” Choi said. “I couldn’t buy the suit, but I thought if I could eat at the cafe, it would be like wearing the suit. I ordered the arugula salad with shaved parmesan and balsamic vinegar and olive oil. That, I have to admit, was probably 1-mile marker in my journey to becoming a chef.”
After working in some of New York’s best kitchens, Choi launched gourmet Korean Mexican taco truck, Kogi BBQ, in 2008, which changed the narrative around food trucks. Over the years, Choi leveraged his culinary success into a career that celebrates food, culture and community.
“From the beginning, our vision for OCVibe has been to partner with chefs whose restaurants represent more than great dining experiences, they tell authentic stories, celebrate the communities they serve and create places where people genuinely want to gather,” Anthony Olheiser, senior vice president of hospitality at OCVibe, said in a statement. “Best Friend embodies that philosophy, and we’re incredibly proud to welcome Roy as the first chef to join our signature restaurant collection.”
In 2024, Choi received an honorary doctor of Fine Arts degree from Cal State Fullerton during the university’s College of Business and Economics commencement ceremony at Titan Stadium, where he also served as the guest speaker. He has written multiple books, including New York Times best-selling cookbook and memoir, “L.A. Son,” with Rancho Santa Margarita Library holding a book signing event with Choi for its release.
He consulted on actor and director Jon Favreau’s 2014 film, “Chef” which led to a 12-year friendship and the Netflix series “The Chef Show.” He opened a “Chef Food Truck” parked at the Park MGM in Las Vegas. Choi also hosted the Emmy Award-winning PBS SoCal series “Broken Bread,” co-produced by KCET and Tastemade.
Best Friend opened in Las Vegas in 2018, a mash-up of bodega, bar and restaurant known for creative cocktails and a Korean-Mexican fusion menu.
“Best Friend has always been my poem to the Southern California and L.A. area. There have always been Easter eggs of Orange County there, especially North Orange County like Anaheim, Garden Grove and Orange where I specifically spent a lot of time,” Choi said.
The menu in Las Vegas features some of Choi’s signature dishes that were popularized at his various restaurants throughout the years, like Kogi short rib tacos and Chego pork belly bowl. Choi said diners can expect to see some of those favorites at Best Friend’s O.C. outpost too, but he also looks forward to the second location finding its own identity.
“People are going to want the slippery shrimp, they are going to want the barbecue, they are going to want the kimchi fired rice, so I have to decide what stays and what goes,” said Choi. “This restaurant is more than a restaurant to me because I have to go back and confront my whole life.”
Overall, Choi is excited about the homecoming.
“We are entering a new chapter and figuring out what it’s going to be because I had the opportunity to translate L.A. and O.C. in another city to the rest of the world,” said Choi. “Now I have the chance to take that and come back home with it.”
The announcement of Best Friend joining OCVibe is a second helping of culinary partners the entertainment and lifestyle district has assembled to fill its kitchens. Earlier this month, OCVibe announced a group of highly regarded chef-driven concepts from Los Angeles and Orange counties to fill the stalls at the district’s Katella Commons food hall, which will be separate from the signature restaurants, set to open in 2027. Among them are concepts from O.C. favorites Burritos La Palma, Manaao Thai Comfort Food and Darkroom.
