Food and Drink

This Viral TikTok Creator Asks Chefs to Turn Fast Food Into Gourmet Meals

Danny Kim celebrates the genius of chefs in every video he makes.

Photo by David Dang; Design by Chineme Elobuike for Thrillist
Photo by David Dang; Design by Chineme Elobuike for Thrillist
Photo by David Dang; Design by Chineme Elobuike for Thrillist

Danny Kim, known by his moniker Danny Grubs, did not expect to have a career in food. This may come as a surprise to the famous chefs he collaborates with or the hundreds of thousands of followers he’s gained on social media. Kim’s dad is a dentist and attempted to steer him towards that path, but when that didn’t interest him, they agreed being a mechanical engineer would be okay, too. But food has been on his mind since childhood.

“Growing up, my mom packed me the craziest lunches-the biggest subs, kimbap, ribs. All my friends wanted my mom’s food so bad,” Kim laughs. Post-basketball game hangouts and soccer team parties always occurred at Kim’s house, where friends would clamber for a bite of Kim’s mom’s cooking. “It got to a point where I even started selling my mom’s subs at school as a side hustle.”

But that was high school. College was four years of mechanical engineering with a tidy offer from Northrop Grumman, a highly regarded aerospace engineering and defense company, that followed graduation. Everything seemed as it should have been, but Kim had a gnawing realization that mechanical engineering wasn’t for him.

“I went from being a graduated engineer with a full-time job to quitting that within the year,” Kim explains. “All of the sudden, I’m trying to start a social media agency for restaurants.” Kim didn’t have any social media experience, nor experience in video production-which is hard to believe when regarding his 123,000 Instagram followers and 45.6 million likes on TikTok. But what he lacked in experience, he gained in a genuine interest in food and the hospitality community.It began with Eat the Capital, an Instagram and Facebook group that Kim started to highlight DC-based restaurants. Kim hoped that, with time, his micro food blogging would pay off as a portfolio for potential restaurant clients. “It was a two-year process with no clients,” Kim admits. “I was just living in my mom’s basement and she was feeding me and that was it. But I was hustling.”

In time, Eat the Capital gained traction, and restaurant owners who once scoffed at Kim when he had approached them years prior were contacting him with renewed interest and a desire for collaboration. Kim went from zero clients to 30.

But once the pandemic hit, Kim-similarly to everyone in the restaurant world and beyond-had to pivot. He swiftly lost 80% of his clients as restaurants shuttered or struggled to budget ingredients, let alone social media consulting. But Kim knew he could still use the tools he gained from Eat the Capital to help restaurants. “I put it upon myself for the first year of the pandemic to do my best to support these local businesses,” Kim explains. “I had a whole series on my TikTok about supporting local businesses and would try to feature a different business consistently.”

It worked-not only for the restaurants, but for Kim’s own TikTok account. His followers ballooned to 150,000. When the first wave of the pandemic seemed to be settling down, Kim decided to start a new series of videos: chefs turning fast food items into gourmet meals.Kim admits he isn’t the originator of this idea-there’s all sorts of broke-to-bougie video series out there. But he wanted to make it his own, connecting with restaurants he’s been supporting for years and meeting new chefs who are interested in a challenge. “Chefs are so good at what they do and I feel like it’s an obligation for me to highlight that,” Kim explains. “When people go to a restaurant, they only see the final product-but what’s the 99% of the work behind a dish? I want to capture the prep working being done in the kitchen and the creative concepts chefs are coming up with every day.”

Fast food is a fun vehicle for chefs to flaunt their skills and creativity. Who knew a McDonald’s apple pie could transform into a macaron, or Panda Express take-out could have a second life as paella?

One of the most shocking transformations for Kim was when Chef Mike Friedman (of The Red Hen and All Purpose in DC) transformed two McDonald’s Quarter Pounders into a beef wellington. “He’s got a great personality and he’s super skilled in the kitchen, but when I saw that go down…dude, it was crazy,” Kim laughs. “I thought you could only do beef wellington with specific ingredients, but he turned the cheapest of products into a fine dining dish and it was so cool to see.”

The videos are entertaining for everyone involved: the chefs who are up for the challenge, Kim himself who gets to taste the end results, and the millions of viewers who tune in. At the beginning, Kim would let chefs run wild and select whatever fast food joint they wanted and whatever dish they felt like making. But after trial runs-in which Kim noticed which videos were successful and which didn’t drive as many views-he began to curate or chime in ideas.

“My job is to help them get the most views and attention,” Kim explains. “I don’t tell them what to do because they’re the chef and that’s not what I’m about, but we collaborate.”

From the start, Kim created food content that celebrated chefs. At first, it was strictly about the pandemic and survival. Now, it’s purely about fun. Although he dreams of collaborating with Gordon Ramsay (with whom he shares the same opinion, that In-N-Out is better than Shake Shack), he’ll always champion the mom and pop chefs.

“I find that local chefs who have not been on TV are equally as creative and so good at what they do,” he beams. “I’d love to encapsulate their expertise in every video I do.”Want more Thrillist? Follow us on InstagramTwitterPinterestYouTubeTikTok, and Snapchat!

Kat Thompson is a senior staff writer of food & drink at Thrillist. Follow her on Twitter @katthompsonn.

Food and Drink

Red Rooster Is Serving Free Chicken and Piping Hot Cash This Christmas in July

Get your early dose of festive cheer.

Red Rooster Christmas in July
Instagram / @redrooster_au

The cold weather in most parts of Australia coinciding with EOFY celebrations is the closest thing that we’ll get to snowy Christmas vibes. And if you’re in dire need of some festive cheer after the first six months of 2023, grab your ugly sweater and head to your nearest Red Rooster for Xmas in July deals.

From June 29 – July 31, 2023, Red Rooster is serving up free food items, a chance to win $10,000 or one of 10 merch packs valued at $400 and other fun prizes. All you have to do is sign up as a Red Royalty member and spend $5 on at a location near you or online.

Each week there’ll be new delicious deals and prizes to win. The week one deals have already dropped and they’re looking pretty tasty. You can get access to them via your Red Royalty account. The more you purchase, the more chances you have to win.

Spoiler alert: you can get 10 chicken nuggets for free, right now. Brb running to Red Rooster.

Terms and conditions apply. Visit Red Rooster’s Christmas in July to see all the deals.

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