Local Korean taqueria takes on Good Morning America's “United States of Taco” competition
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Tomas Lee had just finished an interview in June with Guy Fieri on his second segment of Food Network’s “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives” when he found out he was blessed with the opportunity to compete in Good Morning America’s best eats competition, “United States of Tacos” for the show’s largest grand prize of $20,000.
Lee, owner of the franchise restaurant, Hankook Taqueria, headquartered in Atlanta but known as Takko Korean Taqueria and Takko Seoul Good in Tallahassee on 1415 Timberlane Road and 218 S. Magnolia Drive, never imagined that it would be competing on one of the nation's favorite morning shows, a moment the executive chef Tomas Lee describes as “priceless.”
“You're being presented to the nation with your product, and it's one of those things where you're like, there's no way you could do that yourself,” the chef said in an exclusive interview with the Tallahassee Democrat hours after the big competition. “Having a brand that's been pushed out there and talked about for literally, two hours is pretty amazing.”
The “United States of Tacos” is a four-city tour competition featured on ABC’s Good Morning America show where they hunt for the best tacos based on online reviews and followers in the competing cities- Chicago, Dallas, Miami and Atlanta, where Lee competed.
The executive chef’s morning started bright and early at 5 a.m. Thursday in the gloom as Hurricane Idalia lingered around the rest of Georgia.
Lee said he was on go mode as he spent his entire morning cooking his specialty tacos, filming practice shots before the live show and snappingbeauty shots for his nearly 10-minute segment.
Outside of the competitive aspect, the competing chefs got a chance to enjoy The Roof at Ponce City Market in Atlanta, playing arcade games, cruising down the slides, and enjoying friendly games of mini golf.
Lee, a Korea-born but Oklahoma-raised culinary expert with years of fine dining experience, went head-to-head against Chastity Roman of “Slapping Tacos” to present his Korean Fried Chicken tacos to a panel of judges, including reality personality (“Real Housewives of Atlanta”) Kandi Burruss, and her husband and restaurateurTodd Tucker, and WSB-TV sports anchor Alison Mastrangelo.
The prized fried chicken taco is a combination of double-fried boneless chicken, chipotle aioli sauce, jack cheese, a soy-sesame salad, and a pinch of lime in a flour tortilla. A combination Lee described as a “Korean fried chicken sandwich, but in a taco.”
“You know, the one thing about our tacos, we put a lot of love in it and we put a lot of thought into the tacos,” Lee said.
The chef was surrounded by dozens of the restaurant’s fans, Atlanta Falcons cheerleaders and the city’s official mascots Frederick "Freddie" Falcon for NFL's Atlanta Falcons, and “Blooper” from the Atlanta Braves Major League Baseball team who all showed their love with cheers and signs as he awaited his fate.
The judges enjoyed Lee’s sandwich turned taco, describing it as “juicy,” and “flavorful,” but tacos aren’t Lee’s only specialty.
Despite coming short on the grand prize, which he planned to split between charity and his franchise locations, Lee shared with the Democrat that starting as a hole in the wall during the 2008 economic downturn to being displayed on national television for millions to see was the ultimate prize.
"The amount of people who watch that show is incredible, you know, win or lose, you're still a winner,” Lee shared.
GMA is the country’s top-rated morning TV talk show attracting an average of 3.3 million viewers, according to published reports.
More: Flavor fusion: Takko to bring Korean, Mexican twist to Magnolia Grove, Market Square
Moving forward
In all three of Lee’s taqueria franchises, he offers burritos and bowls as well as his street snack the Loaded Bulgogi Fries, a mix of Sesame fries smothered in queso and topped with roasted kimchi, Bulgogi beef, a soft fried egg, green onions drizzled with ‘Seoul Sauce’ which he displayed on his first feature in his Atlanta kitchen onFood Network’s “Diners, Drive-ins and Dives” in 2019.
Another popular item is the Bibim-Bop which was featured on Food Network’s “Best I Ever Ate” by Alton Brown. The Bimi-Bop is a combination of Korean flavors with your choice of Kimchi or white rice, and a protein topped with sesame seeds, green onions, marinated button mushrooms, mung beans, zucchini, wilted spinach and a soft fried egg all drizzled with ‘Seoul Sauce.’
Looking forward, Lee is excited to continue his newest development Takorea, with his business partners.
Takko Korean Taqueria and Takko Seoul Good operate Monday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. and on Sunday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Democrat writer Kyla Sanford can be reached atksanford@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Korean taqueria featured on Good Morning America's taco competition
