Meet Dustin Lee of Los angeles

Today we’d like to introduce you to Dustin Lee.

Hi Dustin, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I was born in Seoul and moved to Phoenix, Arizona when I was a kid. My mom worked in restaurants most of her life — she was a chef, and at one point even ran her own spot in Korea. So I basically grew up in kitchens, watching her hustle and cook with heart. Naturally, I started working in restaurants too — bussing tables in high school, then serving, managing, and eventually running my own.

In 2019, I opened my first little Korean food spot in a food court. It was simple, but it caught on quick. Then COVID hit and we had to shut it down. That moment was tough — but I didn’t want to quit. A couple friends and I found this beat-up space in Koreatown, LA, and we renovated it ourselves. That became the beginning of Chimmelier — our Korean fried chicken and street food concept.

From there, I kept building. We started doing food festivals, ghost kitchens, opened a modern Korean sooljib (Jilli), and then expanded up to the Bay Area. Now I’m overseeing multiple restaurant brands and helping develop new ones under a bigger hospitality group. It’s been a crazy journey, full of setbacks and pivots, but at the core it’s still the same: good people, good food, and trying to create spaces that feel like home.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Definitely not a smooth road — not even close. There were a lot of moments where I thought, “This might be it.”

The first big hit was during COVID. We had just built momentum with our first Korean food spot, and then the shutdowns came. Overnight, everything stopped. No safety net, no real plan B — just bills piling up and a lot of uncertainty.

Then there was a ghost kitchen we invested in. We put time, money, and energy into it, only to get hit with a wrongful eviction. That situation almost broke us. It felt like we were doing everything right, but still getting crushed by things out of our control.

On top of that, running restaurants means dealing with constant challenges — managing people, keeping food quality consistent, cash flow problems, permits, last-minute issues. I’ve had to learn everything the hard way.

But honestly, those struggles made us sharper. They forced us to be creative, to pivot, to be scrappy. I learned how to survive — and more importantly, how to build something that could last.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I like to think of myself as someone who builds things — restaurants, brands, experiences — but at the root of it, I’m a storyteller. Food just happens to be the medium I use.

I run a few restaurant concepts — Chimmelier (Korean fried chicken & street food), Jilli (a modern Korean sooljib). But beyond just making good food, I’m trying to create a vibe. Each concept has its own voice, its own story, its own characters — literally, in Chimmelier’s case. We created original characters like Chim and Jil who travel the world looking for the perfect fried chicken recipe. We turned them into comics, toys, posters — the whole thing. It’s a blend of Korean culture, nostalgia, and street-style branding.

What I’m most proud of is that none of this was handed to me. My friends and I built it from scratch — bootstrapped, no investors, no big PR. We made mistakes, lost money, started over. But people started noticing the intention behind the work — whether it was the way we plate food, the way our Instagram looks, or the way we show up at festivals like Smorgasburg or Head in the Clouds.

I think what sets me apart is that I never wanted to just open a “restaurant.” I wanted to build a world that people could step into — where the food is fire, but so is the energy, the design, the music, the characters, even the merch. To me, that’s where food meets culture.

Are there any important lessons you’ve learned that you can share with us?
The biggest lesson I’ve learned is that nothing goes as planned — and that’s okay.

In the beginning, I used to think success meant having everything dialed in — the perfect location, the perfect team, the perfect launch. But reality hits different. Things break. People leave. You lose money. You get curveballs every week.

I’ve learned to let go of perfection and just keep moving. The people who make it aren’t always the smartest or the most talented — they’re the ones who don’t quit.

Another big one: don’t do it alone. For a long time, I thought I had to carry everything myself. But over time, I’ve realized that finding the right people — ones who share the same heart and vision — changes everything. You can go so much farther when you’re surrounded by people who believe in the mission.

So yeah — stay flexible, stay humble, and build with people you trust. That’s been the foundation of everything I’ve done so far.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.jilli.la
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chimmelier

Image Credits
@jilli.la