![]() ![]() We’re not trying to be a trendy hipster restaurant. “Highland Park sits near and dear to my heart. However, Lee has a plan to engage with Highland Park locals and embed herself into the neighborhood. Highland Park as well as its adjacent areas of Glassell Park, Eagle Rock, and Cypress Park have been active restaurant neighborhoods over the past decade, subjected to discussions of gentrification due to rising real estate prices and the influx of pricey, unapproachable eating establishments. This is who I am, my heritage and ancestry, and I want to be in a really great community.” Rendering of Yi Cha in Highland Park. “When people were asking me for mandu and jjigae, it’s when I realized this is how I want to retire and be known. “Being down in South OC through COVID hit a mark with me,” says Lee. A year-and-a-half ago, Lee moved back to the LA area, this time to Pasadena, with the hope of finding a swan song of sorts for her lengthy culinary career. Lee spent the first year-plus of the COVID-19 pandemic living with her parents in South Orange County, preparing takeout Korean foods for locals. Lee also famously competed on the fifth season of Next Food Network Star. She published a well-received cookbook, Seoultown Kitchen, in 2011, but eventually closed Ahn-Joo in 2012. ![]() Lee trained at French restaurants before opening her own Korean-inspired food truck in 2010, which also had a brief stint as a kiosk at the Americana at Brand in Glendale. Yi Cha, which means “second round,” or the second stage of a night out drinking in Korean culture, opens in a former factory space at 4941 York Boulevard, with a large open storefront, lush outdoor patio, and rustic elements of traditional Korean hanok design throughout. 13 years later, Lee is back in Los Angeles with Yi Cha, an aptly named Korean gastropub slated to open in Highland Park by late summer of 2023. Years ago, veteran chef Debbie Lee roamed the streets of Los Angeles with her modern Korean food truck Ahn-Joo, named after the small tasty bites that accompany the soju and beer at Korean bars. ![]()
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