Heartbreak: Kogi Not Coming to NYC Anytime Soon

At last night's Eater/92YTribeca panel, Top Chef Season 1 contestant and longtime producer Lee Anne Wong revealed that Kogi, the LA Korean taco phenomenon, will not be coming to New York anytime soon. All plans have been suspended and the partnership between Team Kogi and Wong has dissolved. Though she wouldn't get into specifics, Wong—who left her position at the French Culinary Institute and planned on leaving her role as a Top Chef producer to dedicate time to Kogi—hinted the group in LA just isn't organized enough at the moment to make the expansion. She explained it to the panel thusly, "It's like a guy and girl getting engaged, then getting to the altar and saying 'wait a second.'"

Though the news is a major blow to taco-obsessed, line-loving, food-truck-embracing New Yorkers, there's a silver lining in it for Wong. She's going to open her own restaurant. And, coincidentally enough, so is co-panelist Harold Dieterle. Both restaurants are too far out for the contestants to discuss, stay tuned for more details as they become available.

While we're talking panel: A big thank you to all the Eater readers and panelist Leah, Harold, and Lee Anne for coming out last night.
· Liveblogging Kogi: Kimchi Quesadillas, Epic Lines Already Forming in Midtown [~E~]
· 3 Hour Countdown: Join Eater at the 92YTribeca [~E~]