Grace Lewis, founder and face of ultra-popular internet brand Crazy Korean Cooking, swears that she was just looking to do something simple. “It wasn’t, like, planned as you might have imagined,” Lewis says of what may be her most ambitious cooking video yet: a recreation of the In-N-Out experience, right down to the drive-thru lane, built into her East Coast home.
“We were planning something else that was bigger,” Lewis says when reached by phone from her home in New Jersey, “so we're like, let's do something quick this week. How about a burger?”
But if you know Crazy Korean Cooking, nothing is ever that simple. Lewis’ unreal devotion to meticulously cooking fun food has made her a celebrity of a sort, with more than 2 million TikTok followers, 1.5 million Instagram followers and nearly 900,000 YouTube subscribers. Wherever Lewis goes on the internet, her fans follow, spurred on by the brand’s detail-oriented but unfussy videos — and by Lewis’ adorable Korean parents, who she is seemingly always trying to impress.
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So why not make them a replica In-N-Out? All it takes, according to Lewis’ latest video, is a checklist: grind meat, bake buns, hand-make American cheese, create mustard, ketchup and relish on the fly, order replica outfits and reverse-engineer the signature red and white branding. Then, set up a drive-thru in the driveway, with a menu board and two-way speakerbox. It can’t really be that hard.
“It just kind of got bigger and bigger, and then we're like, 'What did we get ourselves into?'” Lewis says.
The first TikTok video, titled “Making In-N-Out Burger from scratch for my Korean parents,” earned more than 2.6 million views in a day.
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Lewis says that as a Korean American East Coaster, she doesn’t have a deep, abiding devotion to In-N-Out like many Californians. The famously family-owned chain was just the first place that came to mind when thinking about burgers; she realized that with the closest In-N-Out well out of reach in Tennessee, her parents had never tried the place before. “Contrary to popular belief, even though they're Koreans, they're a little bit atypical — they actually really love American food," she says. "Like, they like bread more than rice.”
Lewis and her sister, who helps out on Crazy Korean Cooking, spent a total of three days figuring out all the logistics to make the ad hoc In-N-Out happen. They researched replica recipes for the bun and sauce, and tried to nail the ratios for animal-style fries. Even the milkshake and the lemonade were made in-house, though Lewis did opt for one key change: Technically, her at-home restaurant was called Out-N-In, though still with the same iconic yellow arrow and red palm trees.
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Naturally, this being Crazy Korean Cooking, the name swap is carried through on the many burger wrappers, hats, cups, signage and outfits dotted around the "restaurant."
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In the end, her parents loved the experience, Lewis says, and the charming videos back up the claim. “They are the stars of the channel,” Lewis says of her beaming retirement-age parents. “They are the main characters.” Lewis says that participating in Crazy Korean Cooking while in retirement has actually brought the entire family together. “People always comment saying… ‘Your content is so comforting and warms my heart.’ It's really nice to hear, and I think it really gives my dad a sense of purpose.”
After enjoying his daughter’s precision-crafted In-N-Out replica, Lewis’ father may soon have a new goal in life. Spoiler alert: After eating his burger and fries, dad swears he’s going to become an East Coast franchisee for Out-N-In, so that everyone can get to enjoy the same great meal.