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Dining Jun 30, 2023
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Burnt Belly co-owner Kyu Yi has loved barbecue since culinary school. For his final project at Le Cordon Bleu back in 2001, Yi drafted a concept, layout, and business plan for a barbecue restaurant, which he named B-B-Kyu’s. He had barbecue on his mind and in his heart, and he knew that opening his own barbecue restaurant was a career goal for him.
His first job out of culinary school wasn’t related to barbecue, though; he started his career at Mission Bistro in the office complex that is now The Alhambra. In these early years post-graduation, Yi worked at many different restaurants, moving from place to place and learning along the way. He took on his first executive chef role at Central Park Bistro for two years before finally returning to his passion, barbecue, when he took on the role of corporate executive chef for Gus’s BBQ shortly after their ownership transition.
During his time at Gus’s, he would often take home barbecue from the restaurant for his own family to enjoy. They’d eat banchan they had at home alongside the smoked meats; this homemade feast sparked the idea for Yi to update his potential barbecue restaurant plans to incorporate a Korean twist on traditional American barbecue.
However, partway into his time at Gus’s, Yi suffered an injury that prevented him from working in the kitchen for almost two years. During this time, he took more of a business management role. Yi was also starting to feel the effects of the long hours, and decided as a result to turn more towards restaurant management at this point in his career. After leaving Gus’s BBQ and Magnolia House, he joined the restaurant management team of The Prgrm, Inc., who also managed Craft Hill and the White Horse Lounge in Pasadena.
However, while Yi is Korean, he hadn’t really had much of a chance to delve into Korean cuisine at all during his career. Even during culinary school, Asian cuisines and techniques were never taught. So when he had the opportunity to join the Baekjeong team, he took that chance to move from Craft Hill and become Baekjeong’s senior corporate chef.
Then, three months later, the pandemic shut most businesses down.
Yi and Baekjeong’s Director of Operations came up with a plan immediately, figuring out the transition over to takeout so they could generate some income while things were still in flux. As soon as there were guidelines and regulations for outdoor, in-person dining, they jumped at the chance to get themselves set up to host customers again. On their first day back open, even without any advertisements, they had a line out the door. Despite the imperfect setup, people were incredibly eager to be able to eat out again, and the company hit record sales those first couple weeks after outdoor dining was approved even at only about 25-50% capacity.
Even with these accomplishments, during a universally challenging circumstance no less, the idea of his own barbecue restaurant was still percolating in the back of Yi’s mind. In 2019, one of Yi’s friends from his basketball group had mentioned his plans to build what is now Blossom Market Hall. This sparked Yi’s interest, and he asked to be kept in the loop for developments. While the pandemic obviously hampered the food hall’s construction progress, Blossom eventually opened in 2021. Yi, discerning, had wanted a particular location in the hall once it opened up; and initially, the stall he was interested in had already been claimed by another business. However, when his friend reached back out to let Yi know that the stall he wanted was unexpectedly available, Yi took the plunge with his wife, Katy, to open their very own barbecue restaurant with a Korean twist: Burnt Belly.
And from the moment they opened in Blossom Market Hall, Burnt Belly was a hit. Even just a month in, the Yis realized that they needed to open a full restaurant due to the overwhelming demand that the limited space in the food hall could not fully accommodate. Barbecue, by its very nature, must be prepared days in advance of consumption. Given the small space and countertop, Yi could not prepare meat to go into the smoker at the same time he was portioning meat for customers to enjoy. Health and safety measures with raw meat are no joke, and due to the limited counter space, Yi would have to wait until they sold all the meat that he had already smoked before he could clean and wipe down the counters to be able to prepare the raw meats to be smoked.
In August of 2022, Burnt Belly announced their intention to open their own storefront on Instagram; while no particular date was in mind, they wanted their loyal fans to know that they were on the lookout. They got suggestions for locations from some of their customers, and Yi was glued to LoopNet looking for spaces and calling to book viewings in between serving barbecue.
Now, with the opening of Burnt Belly, Yi has come full circle both professionally and personally: seeing the plan from his Le Cordon Bleu final project finally realized…right across from The Alhambra, where he had first worked when he left culinary school.
With the help of Tiffany Chew from the City of Alhambra, who had serendipitously reached out to the Yis upon becoming aware that Burnt Belly was looking for their own commercial location, the Yis were able to move more quickly through the leasing process. Burnt Belly’s doors officially opened on May 16, 2023!
When you walk into Burnt Belly, the chalk-style mural across the South wall immediately draws the eye in. Sweet homages to classic Los Angeles landmarks and icons are interspersed with amusing quotes—“I like pig butts and I cannot lie”— and even a UFO stealing a poor, unsuspecting cow. The interior is informal: modern with industrial touches, while still inviting and welcoming.
A Burnt Belly staple that fans from their Blossom Market Hall days will doubtless remember is their classic meat combo plates: one, two, or three meat combos with choices of two sides.
On our first visit, we got a three meat combo plate with pork belly burnt ends—what could be more fitting at Burnt Belly?—a half chicken, and brisket with potato salad and miso collard greens.
The smokiness was the most evident to me in the burnt ends compared to the chicken and brisket. Each piece was luxurious, deeply smoky and savory. The juicy, shining chicken was so tender that when I initially tried to pull the drumstick off, I instead pulled out the bone in its entirety, leaving the meat behind! The brisket, too, was so tender that a plastic fork could cut through it with ease. The pickles, pickled red onion, and jalapeño provided bites of acid and heat to each meaty mouthful.
We also tried some of the housemade gochujang barbecue sauce and the classic barbecue sauce on brisket. The gochujang barbecue sauce is distinctive: the gochujang and sesame flavors shine, with a hint of sweetness to round it out. The classic sauce is savory and bright, not very acidic, and nicely complements the flavors from the meat.
The potato salad was loaded with big chunks of potato and egg and was a smooth, creamy counterbalance to the strong flavors of the barbecue. But if you aren’t sure what side to order, the miso collard greens will knock your socks off. Bursting with flavor, the tenderly cooked collard greens were accompanied by barley and bacon, soaked in an incredible, umami-packed sauce. I have no idea what magic Yi has concocted, but I’m absolutely hooked.
Yi also mentioned that the loaded fries are popular, so we had to give them a try. The delectable pulled pork melts in the mouth, with pops of juice and tang from the salsa and pickled onion punctuating each savory, cheesy bite.
After Yi mentioned that baby back ribs are the Saturday special, I had to come back to give them a try! Unsurprisingly, the Saturday morning visit was more than worthwhile to indulge in juicy, smoky ribs so tender that one bite pulls almost all the meat clean off the bone. It was the cleanest bone I’ve ever left—and it had nothing to do with me.
I also wanted to try a loaded baked potato, and was thrilled to dig into a sweet Yukon Gold baked to fluffy perfection, piled high with gooey mac n’ cheese and layered generously with a juicy, tender mountain of beef brisket.
To wash this feast down, we sipped on their housemade lemonade—sharp and sour yet just sweet enough—and their house sweet tea, which gave me candied pineapple vibes with its pineapple and orange notes.
Every single item we ordered was piled so high with meat, which is impressive given the price of meat these days as well as the amount of time and effort that goes into its preparation. The loaded fries and loaded baked potato both ended up being two lunches for me, and every combo plate resulted in at least some leftovers to take home for a second fantastic meal. And you don’t take home leftovers for lack of trying to consume it in full—it’s just a whole lot of food!
This July 4th—and really, any time you’re looking to indulge in tantalizing barbecue—look no further than Burnt Belly. Dine in, or order some brisket, burnt ends, pulled pork, or even the terrifically tender baby back ribs to go for your celebrations!
Burnt Belly
1129 S. Fremont Ave.
Alhambra, CA 91803
(626) 703-4524
Normal hours 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Monday to Saturday
(Please check with restaurant for July 4th and other holiday hours)
