Former Korean singer reinvents herself as famous chef in Atlanta

A former pop singer who was the hottest in Korea in the 1980s has achieved success in the U.S. for her cooking rather than her voice.

The latest hit of Lee Ji-yeon, 42, is her Korean barbecue pork sandwich, which was ranked sixth among the top 10 international dishes in Atlanta for 2011 as selected by the daily Atlanta Journal Constitution and WSB-TV.

The Atlanta-based newspaper said, "Heirloom BBQ`s Cody Taylor and Jiyeon Lee represent the marriage of metro Atlanta`s upwardly omnipresent Korean community and the barbecue-loving south it inhabits."

"Taylor and Lee have stayed true to both of their backgrounds and present a ridiculously good smoked pork sandwich flavored with Lee’s gochujang (red pepper paste) marinade, topped with kimchi slaw and served on toasted potato buns.”

Lee opened Heirloom in affluent Sandy Springs in metro Atlanta a year ago. She debuted as a singer in Korea in 1987 while in high school and had hits such as "The Reason Was Painful for Me," and "Wind, Please Stop Blowing.”

She started a new career at Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in Atlanta, and went on to finish as runner-up at the USA Culinary Competition in 2009.

witness@donga.com