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Review: Baja Fresh Kogi BBQ tacos, plus trademark name update

July 17th, 2009, 6:08 am · 24 Comments · posted by Nancy Luna, Staff Writer

Updated 10:48 a.m. & 11:45: to include comments from Baja Fresh President Chuck Rink about the “Kogi” taco controversy. Is the chain retracting name? Read more below OR at this updated blog post
kimchi-tacosBaja Fresh is serving up some Kogi Korean BBQ tacos in a new prototype restaurant in Irvine.

The Kogi Korean BBQ tacos were introduced a few weeks ago at the remodeled Baja, a prototype store that offers bolder flavor foods compared to the rest of the chain. (Slide show: Baja Fresh future concept store)

After a recent tour of the restaurant, I ordered some of the Kogi tacos (chicken and beef) for takeout. I brought them back to the office and asked my co-workers to give them a try.

Here’s what they had to say:

A remodeled Baja Fresh in Irvine offers Kogi tacos

A remodeled Baja Fresh in Irvine offers Kogi tacos

Matt Degen, Food 101 writer, Orange Coast College culinary student and OCR’s Auto blogger, enjoyed the chicken more than the beef.

“The chicken reminded me very much of the teriyaki version at Islands — though it doesn’t benefit from pineapple, as is the case at Islands.”

He also tried the chain’s new revamped guacamole: “The guacamole needs more seasoning, primarily salt and lime juice. Texture-wise, though, it is spot on.”

Travel Editor Gary Warner, who gave up Baja Fresh when Chipotle came to town, gave the Kogi tacos a thumps up.

“I would go back (to Baja) if all the restaurants had this.”

Business editor Julie Gallego,  a regular at the old Baja Fresh in Santa Ana (now a Mesa Grill), tried the beef and chicken Kogi tacos.

“It was good but I tend to like sweet/spicy better than straight spicy. I have never had Kogi before so I can only compare to the Baja regular tacos and I liked it … The chicken — and I am a big fan of the regular Baja Chicken taco — was too salty and had too much cilantro .. you couldn’t taste the actual chicken .”

On the new guacamole: “The guac is still too mild and tasteless but that canned aftertaste was gone.”

As for me, I tried the tacos and I enjoyed them.  Like Gary, I thought it was a nice change of pace to the humdrum taco offerings currently offered at Baja Fresh.

Still, I’ve had Kogi Korean BBQ tacos, and these are not even close to tasting like a Kogi taco.

But, Baja Fresh Executive Chef Jonathan Rogan said he never intended to make a copycat version of Kogi’s famous short-rib tacos.

baja-kogiRogan said he tried the tacos from L.A.’s famous Kogi Korean BBQ truck a couple of times as he developed his Baja Kogi tacos. However, he said his research was done to provide inspiration for his Kogi tacos, which feature BBQ marinated steak, instead of short rib meat. Each taco, is topped with a kimchi slaw.

Although, I’d say it’s more like “kimchi-inspired” slaw. After tasting the taco, I noticed it didn’t really taste like kimchi. My intern Miki Fujiwara, a kimchi fan, noticed too.

When I asked Chef Rogan about this, he admitted that the slaw is “not really fermented.”

By the way,  Kogi Korean BBQ posted this statement Thursday on its Website about Baja Fresh’s mock Kogi tacos:

“Just to let you all know, we are definitely not affiliated with any of this business. All of our energies have been focused on serving you the best we can. What you think we should do?  Please let us know how you feel via Twitter @kogibbq”

7/ 17 10: 49 P.M.UPDATE: Earlier today, Baja Fresh posted a Tweet saying it intended to change the name of its Kogi tacos to Gogi tacos. However, I reached Baja Fresh President Chuck Rink to validate this statement. He said, it is not true:

“I cannot confirm that change yet, however our point was; if Gogi is the accurate spelling not Kogi, then we would prefer to call it Baja Gogi. We are awaiting confirmation. As soon as we determine the correct spelling I will personally let you know.”

An hour later, Rink revised his statement: See his full statement here.

Final thoughts: I really like that Baja Fresh is trying something different with its food. The Irvine prototype is heading in the right direction with its bolder flavors. I hope these spicy dishes land in more Baja Fresh restaurants soon.

The Baja Fresh in Irvine is located at 5633 Alton Pkwy. in the Oak Creek Village Center, anchored by Gelson’s.

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 24 Comments

  • LeaveMexAsMex says:
    July 17, 2009 at 8:01 am

    Yuk- leave it to Baja’s Korean owner, David Kim, to try and weave in Korean tasting food.
    Sorry, Baja Fresh should add on Mexican items only, not become a McDonald’s-Jack-Of-All-Trades type of fast food restaurant.

    I happen to hate Korean food, but others might like it, however, the point is, why dilute the concept by other cultural flavors?
    Why not bring on Ethiopian, Indian, Chinese, etc?
    Where does it stop being Baja Fresh and start becoming Baja Everything, which historically becomes the downfall of fast casual themed restaurants.

    Post Reply
  • urdoo says:
    July 17, 2009 at 8:42 am

    I’ve tried the Baja Fresh version and yeah, it doesn’t even come close to the real Kogi tacos. They mention it’s not intended to be a copycat version, but c’mon, who are you fooling? The word “Kogi” is in there, you have both tacos and burritos with similar ingredients. So the comparisons will always be there.

    Sure Baja Fresh is trying new concepts, but it’s obvious they are imitating everyone. The design and the menu, obviously taken straight from Chipotle. The expanded salsa bar, taken from all the other “casual sit-down” Mexican restaurants. Even the pickled spicy carrots, copied from places like Alerto’s or Alberto’s. Then, of course you have the Kogi tacos.

    Post Reply
  • spectagirl says:
    July 17, 2009 at 8:58 am

    “Kogi” is trademarked name.

    Baja Fresh is retracting the use of hte word Kogi
    http://twitter.com/boldbajafresh

    http://digg.com/u18dMT
    http://digg.com/u18dMY

    I would remove your use of the work Kogi from this article…FYI

    Post Reply
  • spectagirl says:
    July 17, 2009 at 8:59 am

    “Kogi” is trademarked name.

    Baja Fresh is retracting the use of the word Kogi, look at twitter feed for Baja Fresh and article in the LAist. I would remove your use of the work Kogi from this article to not further the debate…FYI

    Post Reply
  • sbt says:
    July 17, 2009 at 9:06 am

    I wish you wouldn’t call them “Kogi” Korean bbq tacos… it doesn’t appear that they’re officially associated with the Kogi brand. That’s like saying that Del Taco is starting to sell Chipotle Fajita Burritos (when they are actually selling something that is similar, but obviously not *from* Chipotle).

    Post Reply
    • *trent* says:
      July 17, 2009 at 9:15 am

      my understanding is that chipotle is a dried, smoked chile… the restaurant used this for their name… sort of like jalepeno is a pepper, yet is also the name of a mexican fast-food place here in orange county. so, if del taco were to call a burrito ‘chipotle’ that wouldn’t be copying the restaurant with the name chipotle, rather it would be referring to a flavour. perhaps kogi is the same? does kogi have a generic meaning in korean?

      Post Reply
      • jt says:
        July 17, 2009 at 12:21 pm

        Kogi is a state in Nigeria (per google search)

        Post Reply
        • *trent* says:
          July 17, 2009 at 2:05 pm

          which is another reason why it’s odd that the taco truck people could actually trademark the name. obviously they could trademark their logo, colours, and FULL name of their corporation, but to trademark the word kogi seems like a stretch to me…

          Post Reply
  • Christian says:
    July 17, 2009 at 9:37 am

    “does kogi have a generic meaning in korean?”

    It’s something like the Korean word for “meat” so I believe it is generic. I’m not a Korean expert though.

    Post Reply
  • Christian says:
    July 17, 2009 at 11:56 am

    “I would remove your use of the work Kogi from this article…FYI”

    This blog does not have to remove the use of the word “Kogi.”

    Post Reply
  • Brian says:
    July 17, 2009 at 12:03 pm

    Does it taste anything al pator?

    Post Reply
  • Tammy says:
    July 17, 2009 at 12:22 pm

    People are talking about the trademark issue of kogi/gogi and the role that the Korean language itself may play in this debate.

    Kogi is the older, more established transliteration for the Korean word for meat. Gogi is the new transliteration for the exact same word. Which one is more accurate. That’s anybody’s guess, IMO. In Korea there’s been a move to re-transliterate their letter “k” to the letter “g” and you will see words like “kim” (seaweed) translated as “gim” and kalbi is transliterated as galbi in many places.

    Which one is truly more accurate? Based on mimicing the correct pronunciation, gogi would be mroe accurate.

    However, I think of this primarily as a trademark issue and if the Kogi taco truck got the name and the concept first, then Baja Fresh should back off. Since they are still in the testing phase, they have time to fine-tine this concept and roll out the best Korean style tacos they can make because people outside of LA don’t have access to the Kogi trucks.

    Post Reply
    • Laura Beck says:
      July 17, 2009 at 3:19 pm

      Wow, thank you Tammy, for a great write up, and you really get to the heart of the challenge for Baja Fresh in this, the translation, the naming, can be interpretted a number of ways. But, as hopefully everyone has seen and knows by now, in part thanks to blogs, online coverage and the fast power of Twitter, just since this all came to a head last night, Baja Fresh is changing the naming to Gogi, as the intention was never to steal from nor disrespect the very popular, and very different, Kogi Taco Truck. Room for both, in the LA area, and beyond, we hope. THX all for a great discussion, and Nancy/FastFoodMaven/OC Register for bringing it all together. Hopefully Kogi Taco Truck isn’t offended and actually sees this as a pretty nice visibility boost for them! Lots of fans out there with passionate feelings.

      Post Reply
  • daniel says:
    July 17, 2009 at 12:30 pm

    Call it a Kim Jong ill taco.

    Post Reply
  • waiting says:
    July 17, 2009 at 1:57 pm

    I’m opening a store called Baha Fresche. It will server the usual mexican fare. It is not meant to be a copy cat of Baja Fresh.

    Post Reply
    • *trent* says:
      July 17, 2009 at 2:03 pm

      what point are you trying to make? you could open a store called Baha Fresche and likely have no legal issue with Baja Fresh. i’m not sure what you are tying to say here.

      Post Reply
  • allyn says:
    July 17, 2009 at 11:49 pm

    i haven’t been to a baja fresh in a while. so we stopped by the other day and tried the kogi taco platter, which came with the cilantro-lime rice and the black beans.

    my review: nothing that i had was good enough to bother coming back to baja fresh. the beef taco didn’t have enough flavor; the chicken was slightly better. the rice had no flavor. the black beans were ok, but i prefer la salsa’s. with la salsa and chipotle, i have absolutely no desire to eat at baja fresh.

    Post Reply

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