Celeb jeweler Ben Baller asserts that Los Angeles Korean food is better than in Korea, and TikTokers have mixed reactions
Celebrity jeweler Ben Baller (@benballer) recently went on The Iced Coffee Hour podcast (@theicedcoffeehour) and dropped a hot take about Korean cuisine in Los Angeles, Calif.
According to him, Korean food in L.A. is better than in Korea.
“The money here is so big, that all the best chefs have come to L.A.,” he said. “You can just go to any random place. It’s hard to get bad Korean food here.”
Baller also praised the aesthetics of K-Town, saying it is built to look like Korea. He mentioned the fact that buildings are now building out the infrastructure underground, which is a nod to certain skyscrapers around the country.
Although Baller had his reasons, his premise elicited mixed reactions.
“I could never agree with this statement that Korean food is better in LA. Korea has better ingredients, veggies and meats,” replied @stasssy2020.
“Korean food in la has always been better than korea,” commented @salamidogg.
Baller, a Koreatown native, also noted that the rise of the food scene coincides with the actual growth of the area.
“That’s probably one of the f****** gentrified areas and it was really about a square mile. K-Town probably occupies more area than Hollywood. It’s ridiculous how far it stretches.” Currently, Koreatown is nearly 3 square miles.
Per Pew Research Center, Los Angeles is home to the largest metropolitan Korean population in the country, with about 326,000 people in the area. New York City is in second with an estimated population of 220,000. In 2010, Los Angeles County’s estimated Korean population was 216,000, showing just how much K-Town has grown since then.
As the population in K-Town has grown, so has the development of the area. According to Matthews Real Estate Services, Koreatown is growing at a faster rate than usual.
“Koreatown has become a hotspot for development in the past five years, with 5,300 net new units added to submarket inventory during that time,” Associate Vice President Taylor Avakian wrote. “Prior to this period, development activity was much more modest.”
Even with K-Town’s growth, Baller’s statement still isn’t landing well with everyone, as some still would choose traditional Korean food over what Los Angeles offers.
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