Nowon combines American staples like cheeseburgers with Korean flavors. As the restaurant group expands to Boston from New York City, "CBS Saturday Morning" catches up with chef and owner Jay Lee to learn more about the inspiring story behind his popular food.

Boston

Chef Jay Lee, owner of the restaurant group No Wan, has gained recognition for his innovative approach to blending classic American dishes with Korean flavors. Originally established in Manhattan's East Village, No Wan has expanded to Brooklyn and Boston, offering a menu that visually resembles American staples but features distinct Korean-inspired tastes.

Lee, who immigrated from South Korea as a child, draws heavily on his upbringing and personal experiences to craft dishes such as honey garlic butter tater tots and a signature cheeseburger with roasted kimchi. The restaurant's popularity is attributed to its unique fusion cuisine, and Lee continues to be involved in its growth while recently becoming a new parent.

Nowon's chef Jay Lee on his Korean-American inspired dishes

This morning on The Dish, we're highlighting a restaurant group making a name for itself by blending classic American staples like cheeseburgers with Korean flavors. It's called No Wan. Already popular in New York City, they've now expanded to Boston. I took a trip there to meet No Wan's owner, Chef Jay Lee, and even got a taste of his delicious creations with his inspiring story on the side. Here at No Wan in Manhattan's East Village, the food may seem like your typical American fare, but bite by bite, the eclectic tastes are one of a kind. Can I taste the marshmallow fluff, by the way? It's exactly what Chef Jay Lee set out for when opening this unique Korean American gastropub. What would you say was the inspiration for No Wan? I wanted to display my Korean heritage, but as well as my New York American heritage, because I'm both. So you'll find a lot of familiar dishes. When you look at it visually, you've had it before, but when you eat and you taste the food, you start to notice that there's flavors in the dish that's very unique, which is a Korean element. Lee opened this restaurant six years ago. The name, a nod to his hometown, No Wan, South Korea, where he lived before moving to America with his family. Do you have a memory of when you first arrived here as an eight-year-old boy? I went from being really popular in Korea to not speaking the language in America. For the first time, I'm like, wow, I don't know if I really belong here. Eventually, during his college years, Lee found a sense of belonging in the kitchen, learning to sprinkle a little bit of his heart and self into each recipe. How much of an influence was your Korean upbringing in the way that you developed your menu? Very much so. It's really all I knew. I've never had my first burger up until I was nine years old. Can you believe that? Nine years old. I can't believe that. And I didn't even know what a sloppy joe was. I didn't know what tater tots were. Delicious. Lee's come a long way. Now running a restaurant that's become so popular, he's opened two additional locations in Brooklyn and Boston. Oh, my gosh. So while I had a seat, I figured it was time to do some investigative journalism. Thank you. By digging in. So what do we got? Korean street food meets New York street food, a chopped cheese sandwich. So chopped cheese rice cakes. This is our honey garlic butter tater tots inspired by the honey butter chips that was really popular in Korea. Korean fried chicken sandwich we call Jay's chicken bun. We're known for fried chicken in Korea. I thought fried chicken was Korean. I'm not even kidding. I thought KFC was Korean fried chicken. Oh, my gosh, I love that. And then this is our legendary cheeseburger. My favorite burger in New York growing up as a kid was a Big Mac. Quintessential burger. To all beef, patty, special sauce, lettuce, cheese. Special sauce. There you go. And I'm like, you know, that's what I have to do. That's literally what I just have to do. You follow that model. Yes. In creating this. Yeah. But with high quality beef, with homemade special sauce, with a Korean touch, add some homemade roasted kimchi in there, and there you go. Let me take, I gotta take a bite. Please. I could eat this every day of my life and be happy. We're gonna make our legendary cheeseburgers. So Chef Lee invited me into his kitchen. Butter the bread. To teach me how to flip my favorite food into a total masterpiece. While that's toasting up, we have this four ounce patties. Top selling item on Nohan's menu. Take this smasher. Smash it down. Perfect. Scrape the meat right at the bottom. There you go. Give it a nice flip. Perfect. Slice of cheese on top of each patty. All right. See that? Gosh. That's awesome. Let's talk about toppings. We're gonna start with this kimchi special sauce. Three pickles, roasted kimchi. Now we're ready for the patty. Okay. Look at that. All right Vlad, your shift starts tomorrow. I'm here. I love cooking. I know your parents are here. So if you guys want to go, let me know. Chef J. Lee, subsequent to this piece, Chef J. Lee and his wife Rebecca had a little baby. So they're new parents right now. And we still keep in touch. But it is, to me, the best burger you can get in New York City. Oh, my mom's already texting me. She's like, should we go later? That looks so good. I'm like, yeah, let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Oh, my mom's already texting me. She's like, should we go later? That looks so good. So you really sold it for us. I mean, I'm glad. Anybody visiting New York, check out NOAH's. It's really awesome. It's really awesome.

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