Korean trailer feeds students home-style cooking
By Carlynn Hickenbotham
“This is more like if your mom was making you bulgogi at home,” said Mike Nguyen, the cook for Korean Komfort. “That’s why it’s called Korean Komfort.”
Korean Komfort is a trailer food truck that serves home-style Korean cuisine to Austinites in the West Campus area on 26th Street and Rio Grande. Nguyen said that the name of the truck was picked to highlight the mission of the truck: to give something different to its customers from the style of Korean food served at a restaurant.
This trailer was originally owned by Min and Paul Cho, and the recipes that inspired the menu were created by Min Cho herself. The Chos put their food trailer officially on the market in early 2016 due to the heavy burden of owning both a restaurant and a food trailer. Eventually they sold it to Marie and Chad Kershner, the current owners. And although the Kershners are not Korean, Chad Kershner said that he still believed the food they served in Korean Komfort was the same as the food the Chos made when they owned the truck.
“I feel that this is authentic,” Kershner said. “I’ve actually done a lot of research.”
Nguyen agreed. Before coming to work in Korean Komfort, he lived in South Korea for two years. He also worked under the original owners.
“It’s as authentic as you can get in a food-truck setting,” Nguyen said.
The menu at Korean Komfort is simple, with only six options: bibimbap, bulgogi rice bowl, kimchi fried rice, fried Kim Mari, mandu and Korean wings. Prices range from $7 to $10. Of these food items, Korean Komfort’s mandu was listed as one the “8 Must-Try Dumplings Across the Country” by the Serious Eats Team in a 2015 online article.
Alysa Lacy, a sociology junior at the University of Texas, visited the food truck on Thursday afternoon. She had spent two weeks in South Korea last year, and said that she really liked how similar Korean Komfort’s food was to the food she had there.
“It’s probably the closest thing I have had to the food that I tasted in South Korea while I’ve been here in Austin,” Lacy said.
In a recent opinion article by the Austin Chronicle, writer Thea Newell said that food trucks “define the city.” And while food trucks are a symbol of the Austin dining experience and new trucks seem to be popping up every day, there are some downsides to owning and operating a food truck. Addison Broyles, food writer for the Austin-American Statesman, said that these problems can make food trucks hard to keep up with.
“Weather makes the food truck business difficult, and it’s hard to find staff to maintain all of these eating establishments,” Broyles said.
In fact, Korean Komfort plans to open a fully mobile food truck. Kershner has already bought and is fixing up the new truck but before it can open, he said he would like to hire more staff. He said that a big reason for doing this was to become more mobile during the summer months. According to Kershner, the food trailer saw an almost as much as a 60 percent increase in sales during the regular school year compared to the summer sessions.
“It’s pretty drastic,” Kershner said. “It does make a big difference when school is in.”
