Chef
Jiyeon Lee
- Discipline
- Chef
- Based in
- Atlanta, Georgia, United States
i. Biography
Jiyeon Lee’s cooking sits where Korean ingredients meet Southern barbecue technique. That overlap is the work: smoke, savor, heat, and the directness of comfort food, handled with control. Lee puts it plainly: “My favorite type of American food is barbecue and meat-and-three.”
Coming Up
At Heirloom Market Barbecue in Atlanta, Georgia, the founder and executive chef, Jiyeon Lee, builds a kitchen identity around barbecue as a chef-led practice rather than a fixed script. The restaurant reads through her taste: Korean flavors are not layered on as a novelty, but used as part of the structure of the food. As founder and executive chef, Lee shapes that direction from the center of the line.
Where They Are Now
The current work continues to braid Korean cuisine and ingredients with traditional Southern barbecue technique. In Jiyeon Lee’s hands, those traditions are treated as compatible tools, not separate categories. The result is food that keeps barbecue’s smoke and generosity intact while bringing in the brightness, heat, and depth of Korean seasoning.
Career - founder — Heirloom Market Barbecue, Atlanta, Georgia - executive chef — Heirloom Market Barbecue, Atlanta, Georgia
Signature
Jiyeon Lee’s signature dishes include kimchi slaw, Korean barbecue sauce, Gochujang Pulled Pork, Miso-Injected Brisket, and Gochujang Spare Ribs. The range shows how she works: crisp acidity from the slaw, the savory weight of barbecue sauce, and the layered force of gochujang and miso carried through pork and brisket. These dishes define her method of putting Korean ingredients into Southern barbecue without flattening either side.
In Their Words “My favorite type of American food is barbecue and meat-and-three.”
FAQ What is Jiyeon Lee's current role? As of 2026, Jiyeon Lee is Founder of Heirloom Market Barbecue. What recognition has Jiyeon Lee received? James Beard Foundation Semifinalist (2023). What is Jiyeon Lee known for? Melds Korean cuisine and ingredients with traditional Southern barbecue technique.
Explore
In the same rooms
