Bo Kwon, the owner of Koi Fusion grew up in a Korean household in Tigard; his parents emigrated from South Korea 33 years ago.
"They came here with $100 in their pockets," says Kwon, 32. "In my fridge, we'd have Korean food on one side -- like kimchi and rice -- and American food -- like American cheese, hot dogs, peanut butter -- on the other side," he says, adding, "and I'd 'Koreanize' (the American food) out of basic necessity."
He was 12 when he first attempted fusing the cuisines.
"I created a grilled cheese sandwich with kimchi and ketchup," Kwon says. "Twenty years later, I am doing the same thing for customers. Who knew?"
Kwon graduated from the University of Oregon in 2000 with a marketing degree. He worked at Nike, Integra Telecom, and Portland Precision Instruments. But, Kwon says, the marketing work began to disappear by the end of 2007.
At about the same time, his dad heard about Roy Choi's Korean taco trucks in Los Angeles, and he suggested that Kwon check them out.
"I took the first flight there to meet Roy. I knocked on his door and asked if I could learn from him and franchise him. He said, 'No, but, you can do it yourself,'" says Kwon. "He blessed me to spread the love and do this in the Portland area."
But first, Kwon wanted to master the food cart business, so he knocked on another door.
"I literally walked up to a Mexican food truck and asked if I could buy it, and they happened to be selling it," he says. "So, I said, 'If I buy it from you, this is the deal: I will work for free for six months to learn from you.'
"I just wanted to learn everything from them."
After six months, he launched his version of the Korean taco, announcing his launch on Twitter: "Free Korean tacos at 6th and College, by Portland State University." That was in 2009.
Kwon's mom, Soohee Kwon; his dad, John Won Kwon; his brother, Jay Kwon; and other friends and family have helped him with recipes, cooking and running his growing Korean taco empire.
"We were the second main company to release the Korean taco on the West Coast, behind Roy," says Kwon, who was highlighted alongside Choi in a July 2010 article in The New York Times about the Korean taco trend.
Kwon's menu features staples other than kimchi, including bulgogi (barbecued beef) and kalbi (short ribs), which may all become household words via this food trend.
And the personality Kwon's carts serve up go hand in hand with the fresh food. His customers leave happily with shoutouts that they'll see him later. Or, sometimes, "See you on Twitter."