The sexy 6’1” Gainsville, Georgia, native made an indelible impression in Justin Lin’s BETTER LUCK TOMORROW and was an audience favorite in FAST AND THE FURIOUS 3: TOKYO DRIFT. His diversity of intense portrayals are on view as a drifter in Michael Kang’s THE MOTEL and as a Korean American gangster in Chris Chan Lee’s neo-noir UNDOING. In person, he is sweet, charming, very funny and extremely down to earth, very much like the character he plays in Justin Lin’s new comedy FINISHING THE GAME.


NAC: What inspired you to open your restaurant Saketini?

Sung: My fiancée posed a great question. You complain a lot about having to go for roles. All the time you spend complaining you can put your energy towards making money. What are you going to do to solidify a place for yourself? Why don't we take the risk? We bought an existing restaurant, gutted it. My production company is called Dishwasher. I am the best dishwasher in the business. FAST AND THE FURIOUS changed my life in terms of a large recognition level due to distribution. And you think, one day it would be nice to be recognized. What concerns me is I don't want to be the guy from the FAST AND THE FURIOUS. I guess this is what celebrity or fame feels like. I have the restaurant to ground me. Like BLT, you think there are bigger possibilities.

NAC: Tell me about Saketini.

Sung: I started Saketini four years ago with my fiancée. It is a little neighborhood spot in Brentwood. We serve creative Asian American food. The base ingredients are all Asian-Japanese, Korean, Chinese, we even have Armenian. It’s French influenced. I present a lot of these ingredients in a Western format- a Western presentation. For example, I’ll have a very underused fish in America, black cod, and I’ll prepare it in a Korean dish. Black cod in Korean cuisine is almost a delicacy, and I’ll marinate and cook it the same way but I’ll plate it with mashed potatoes, and it’ll be on a bed of bok choy or wu choy, and then it’ll be dressed with a taro root. When Americans see it, they look at it and go, oh it’s very familiar. But when they taste it, it’s different, we’re introducing them to a new type of cuisine. It’s in Brentwood. It’s more for the person that’s not there for a serious Asian experience. It’s basically food that I like. I’m from Georgia and I have a hicky palate. I don’t like the Asian experience. I don’t crave sushi. I don’t crave traditional Chinese or Korean food. There are bits and pieces like Korean barbeque, I can really enjoy that, but I don’t want all the other stuff.

NAC: What are your signature dishes?

Sung: The black cod is a signature dish and our Mango Cha Cha Cha salad. We’ll use fresh Mexican mango and fresh Mexican avocado over iceberg lettuce and selected organic greens. The key is this Mango dressing that I’ve made. I’ve created five salad dressings for the restaurant that really I haven’t found in any other restaurant. It took us about three years to get it right-five different types of salad dressings. I’m launching a website sungkangsaladdressing.com, and I want to give the proceeds to orphanages.

NAC: Who are you working with when you are creating these menus? Are you working with other chefs? Do you consider Saketini to be your baby?

Sung: No, it’s my fiancée’s baby. She and I sit there and go over the menu. It’s pretty much her and me. I’ll have an idea, we’ll go and get the ingredients, then she and I will test it out. But I really don’t have any culinary skill. I wouldn’t call myself a cook or a chef.

NAC: Do you have any favorite Asian grocery stores?

Sung: Pretty much in the morning, I end up going to five different grocery stores. We work with distributors so the fish and meat come from a Japanese distributor and the produce comes from West Central Produce that usually supplies all of the restaurants. Some of the specific ingredients, I get at the Thai grocery store, an Armenian grocery store, Chinese, then Korean, and the farmers market.

NAC: What are your favorite Asian restaurants?

Sung: There’s a restaurant in L.A. called Won Kok. It’s an institution of LA Chinatown. It’s more about the characters there. We have our favorite waiter MJ who’s been with us since BETTER LUCK TOMORROW. When we would have no money and go to eat, it’s so cheap. He always treated us so well. He was really supportive. It’s like going to see your Uncle MJ. But with MJ, it’s kind of a spiritual lifting when you go to see him. That’s my favorite Asian restaurant in L.A. I’m a big fan of Vietnamese cuisine. There’s a restaurant in the Valley, called PHO 999. They have really good food there.

NAC: What are your favorite dishes?

Sung: Any chicken salad sandwich that has mayo, so anywhere that has chicken salad sandwich, I’ll order that first. Apple pie ala mode, baked in the kitchen, not brought in. I’ll go crazy over that. Clam chowder. I’ll have that any time every day. Bánh mì sandwich, Vietnamese sandwich. I can eat that every single day. Fried chicken. Pretty much any fried chicken I’ll eat.

NAC: In Justin Lin’s FINISHING THE GAME, a comic reimaging of the events that took place in 1973 after the death of Bruce Lee, in casting his replacement for GAME OF DEATH, your character Colgate Kim is an aspiring actor from Alabama with a heart of gold who makes eating watermelon sexy, according to an article that was published on you. Care to comment?

Sung: No. Don’t lie. That wasn’t sexy. Somebody needs to watch the movie all over again. Somebody needs to learn the definition of sexy.


Saketini
150 S. Barrington Ave.
Brentwood, CA 90049
(310) 440-5553
www.saketini.com