MEET: TOMMY BOY, Athens
Jenny Love Lee + Tommy Ballinger of Tommy Boy, a seasonal Korean food cart at The River Garden of The Stewart House in Athens, N.Y. Photo credit: Konrad Odhiambo/The Dishing.
Jenny Love Lee + Tommy Ballinger of Tommy Boy talk fishing, scratch cooking + their love letter to Korean culture through Hudson Valley farms.
Interview: Susie Davidson Powell
Art direction: Susie Davidson Powell
Photos: Konrad Odhiambo/The Dishing
Shoot location: The River Garden of The Stewart House, Athens, N.Y.
Jenny Love Lee + Tommy Ballinger of Tommy Boy. Photo: Konrad Odhiambo/The Dishing.
Meet the tastemakers: Jenny Love Lee + Tommy Ballinger
Business: TommyBoy Korean food cart | IG: @tommyboy.club
Located: The River Garden at The Stewart House, Athens
Hometown Jenny: Queens, NY | Tommy: Westchester, NY
Current city: Catskill, NY
Personal style: Jenny: Mixing new designers with vintage pieces. Tommy: Jenny usually shops for me haha. She sources a lot of vintage tees.
Currently listening to: Jenny: I recently discovered A L E X and listen to this while working on my computer.
Tommy: Sturgill Simpson when I drive
Favorite spirit: Casper. ;)
Go-to fave cocktail or n/a drink: Jenny: Seltzer with lemon | Tommy: Green Tea
The Dishing talks with tastemakers in the hospitality industry + trailblazers at the intersection of food, culture + art. Today we’re with Jenny Love Lee + Tommy Ballinger of Tommy Boy, a seasonal Korean food cart in The River Garden of The Stewart House in Athens, N.Y. Let’s get into it.
SDP: Thanks for talking with The Dishing! Tommy, I have to start by saying you’re part of the Ballinger family known for running music venues and restaurants in the city and upstate. Your parents, Lon + Lois, own The Stewart House; your father co-owned Webster Hall in N.Y.C; your brother Kaelin owns the City Beer Hall in Albany, and your cousin just moved Early Terrible from Woodstock to the L.E.S. You opened The People’s Pub in Chatham in 2016 and moved on to open The Seneca, your bar in Ridgewood, Queens. Was it inevitable you’d end up in hospitality?
Tommy: I grew up playing on the floors of nightclubs and learned most of my skills starting at a young age working in the hospitality industry so it definitely feels like it was what I was always destined to do. Since I was born, I have watched my family run service industry venues so my family life, personal life and professional life has always revolved around hospitality in some way.
SDP: You both have hospitality backgrounds but, Jenny, you’re a marketing content creator + graphic designer by day: jennylovelee.com. Can you connect the dots as to how you met and when you decided to open Tommy Boy as a food cart in the River Garden of The Stewart House?
Jenny: We met through Tommy’s sister-in-law and we’ve been dating since 2017, so we’ve been together for quite some time now. We decided to open Tommy Boy last Fall after seeing the cart for sale in Rip & Wolf during one of our fishing trips. We go fishing every single week! [laughs] — as much as we possibly can squeeze in. Our fishing rods are always in the car in case we pull over somewhere. Our love for fishing is what started See To Table which was our first culinary venture together. Tommy Boy is our DBA. But during covid, I helped Tommy and his brother Kaelin run and manage The Seneca. When everything was shut down, it was us and two kitchen staff. I’ve also helped The Seneca with their social but I was always more of a leaning hand than a full time employee.
SDP: Jenny, you’re behind the super cool, retro, Korean - (may I say cute?) - branding for Tommy Boy. Can you tell us about your inspiration, vision and the TommyBoy name?
We did originally try to name the business after Lola (our dog-daughter) but there were just a ton of businesses under that name. So it was a no-brainer for me to name the business after Tommy. He’s still a bit shy about it but I love it!
A lot of the branding was inspired by the man/the muse and my Korean culture. The heart logo was inspired by one of Tommy’s tattoos that he got during his trip to Thailand and it is also symbolic of my love of him and my culture. We have a wide range of colors in our brand and they’re all inspired by the colors in Korean traditional clothing called Hanbok. I also spent a lot of time picking out our packaging as I do think that people eat with their eyes and the first impression of the dishes set the tone of the entire meal experience. There were a lot of design sacrifices I had to make due to budgeting and the fact that we had to plate all our dishes in takeout containers but am happy with our start.
The details are in the packaging at Tommy Boy. Photo credit: Konrad Odhiambo/The Dishing.
SDP: Jenny, you have these beautiful intro cards that describe the importance of kimbap in Korean hearts “not just as food, but as a symbol of care and togetherness.” You write, “Kimbap is not just food. It’s an embrace, wrapped in seaweed, a taste of love you can carry with you” and call Tommy Boy “a love letter to my culture and Tommy.” Fill us in on this love story/backstory.
Jenny: Tommy sent me a dm asking for my number and the rest is history. When we first met, it wasn’t really a love at first sight type of relationship. But Lola (our dog) actually ignited interest for us both, which is really sweet when we think about it now because she really is so very special to us both.
Tommy: Jenny was over at my parent's house hanging out with my sister-in-law before we were dating. I saw Jenny being so sweet to Lola when she didn't know I was looking and I kinda fell in love.
Jenny: Yea, I don’t even remember this lol
Tommy: That’s when I thought, okay I need to talk to this girl.
Jenny: For me, I was actually really impressed with how great of a dog Lola was. If a man can raise a dog to be this great then he’s probably a great human.
Jenny + Tommy of Tommy Boy. Photo credit: Konrad Odhiambo/The Dishing
SDP: I reviewed The People’s Pub early in 2016 and remember the strong focus on the local Hudson Valley farms. Your Tommy Boy menu gives similar credit to local farms. Why is that important to you + which farms do you work with?
Tommy: I have always wanted to get away from large scale farming and try to support sustainable growing practices for the environment but I also have always found it important to serve people food I would wanna eat every day so we strive to keep our foods healthy and clean which is a plus for me since its also the majority of my diet when I work!
Jenny: Sourcing locally and working with small farms was always a priority in this journey. Although we can’t source our entire menu through local farms we make every conscious decision as much as we possibly can. We work with Kinderhook Farm for our meat, Tivoli Mushrooms for our mushrooms and other local farms Vernon Street Farm and Story Farms for our produce. What we cook is more than just about the menu but about the menu but about the farms who provide us with exceptional products.
SDP: Tommy, during my years as a restaurant critic I covered The Stewart House followed by The River Grill, but one summer your parents were told the outdoor grill couldn’t be used anymore. What made you and Jenny decide a pop up Korean food cart in what is now The River Garden (with a superb outdoor bar and waterfront view) would fit the bill and how has your Korean menu been received?
Tommy: Under the circumstances, we took some time trying to figure out a solution before we even came up with the menu. Once we found the food cart, Jenny and I decided to take over The River Garden to help my parents with the summer season. There were a lot of discussions on the menu and cuisine selection for the food cart, but I think it became clear to us that Athens didn’t need another New American.
Jenny: It was definitely a gamble to open up with a full Korean menu in Athens but like Tommy said, there are a couple of restaurants already offering New American - including The Stewart House, so there was room for something different. We pondered for a while on whether Korean was the best option but eventually came to a conclusion that I felt confident in fine tuning my cultural food to be liked by those who may have never tried it before. Korean food has a wide range of flavors and I think finding the right median on what flavors are traditional and what flavors are palatable by the average American was really important – without compromising the authenticity of the dish.
Tommy: We are lucky that a lot of people have been enjoying our food and really supporting Tommy Boy. But just like anything “new” we have some people who are hesitant but after they try it they are usually very happy they did.
Jenny: But this is exactly what makes Tommy Boy special to me. It was always about delivering a message and sharing my culture. A big love language in my culture is food. Sharing a meal/cooking with family and family is what I grew up with. So to be able to do that and introduce a new cuisine and have people tell me “that was the first time I’ve ever had Korean food and loved it” is just a really amazing feeling. It’s a level of fulfillment that comes with creating a community. Especially when we work so hard to make sure that our food is made with care and thoughtfulness.
You’re all about making things from scratch and some dishes are a true labor of love. Can you describe the multistep processes for some of your dishes, like the smoked ground Kinderhook farm beef and housemade sweet soy?
Jenny: A big aspect of my childhood was around food and cooking. I was raised in a household where my grandma would source locally brewed soy sauce and freshly pressed sesame oil. My family strived to cook a meal traditionally and always strived for quality over anything. There was no other option with Tommy Boy, but to make everything as authentic as I possibly can. To cherish the traditional ways I had been taught but also making it palatable to an average American. I think fresh quality products add to the process of creating a great dish. We are lucky to have local farms who offer great products such as Vernon Street Farm, Kinderhook Farm, Gentle Time Farm, and Tivoli Mushrooms.
Tommy was initially unsure about me smoking the meat as it is more labor intensive than cooking the meat outright. But I was pretty adamant about adding layers to our food. Given the simple origin of the dishes we have, I felt that each dish deserved a deeper flavor. We smoke our meat for 2 hours with hickory wood. Then simmer the meat in housemade Korean BBQ sauce which is also smoked. Our mushroom kimbap uses creminis sourced from Tivoli Mushrooms and by sourcing them locally we need to fine slice all the mushrooms ourselves rather than ordering sliced mushrooms from a distributor. All the other elements of the kimbap are also thoughtfully made from jidan (a technique from Korean royal cuisine) to our housemade sauces. Our Sweet soy is slow simmered with kombu for hours for a more umami flavor.
Tommy Boy’s kimbaps. Photo credit: Konrad Odhiambo/The Dishing
SDP: How did Hawaiian spam musubi end up as kimbap?
Jenny: Spam is actually a pretty common household item in Korea. They’ve branched out and companies have come out with their renditions but Spam is always the OG. I know there’s a stigma and a different perspective of Spam in America but in Korea it really is just a staple in homes like bacon may be for households here. Spam was introduced to Koreans by the American soldiers during the Korean War when food was scarce, especially protein. A popular dish called budae-jjiggae, translating to ‘Korean army stew’, also originated from the war. Nowadays it’s a common holiday gift and Spam Korea makes ornate gift boxes for special occasions. So spam musubi actually originated in Hawaii with inspiration from Japanese musubi and the kimbap is our take on the traditional dish.
Tommy: We get quite a bit of surprised locals who have a different take on Spam. We’ve also taken a lot of Spam v-cards from people and no one has left disappointed. We get sort of excited in a way when someone says they’ve never tried Spam before.
Jenny: [Laughs] Yes, we’ve had customers who come in telling us their parents were in the army and they would get free Spam and how much they hated it growing up. Would give our spam kimbap a shot and come up and tell us how much they enjoyed it. That is really special to us.
SDP: Jenny, the nori (seaweed) you use for your kimbap is perfect – not too chewy or tough as some can be. I know you tested more than a few brands. When did you have your Goldilocks moment and find one that was just right? And Tommy, I’m going to give you your flowers here for the perfect kimbap rice. Jenny says that’s all you.
Jenny: First of all, thank you for noticing that as it was a journey [laughs]. Tommy and I must have tried at least 10 different brands of seaweed before finally settling on one. So ‘gim’ (seaweed in Korean) is usually thinner and less dense than Japanese ‘nori’. So as much as nori is easier to roll with, as it’s less likely to burst while doing so, it was decided that we need to use Korean gim for our kimbaps. But even amongst the Korean brands there are different preparations like roasting and different origins of seaweed altering the chewiness of the seaweed. We visited many Korean grocery stores and ordered samples from distributors. We almost gave up but we came across a brand we hadn’t tried before and lo and behold, it was the one. A bit harder to work with but significantly less chew which we found to be important.
Tommy: My big secret is to buy a good rice cooker and follow the manual [laughs.] Also, fluffing the rice and letting it cool down before use is key.
Slicing kimbap at Tommy Boy, a seasonal Korean food cart Photo: Konrad Odhiambo/The Dishing
SDP: What are your respective childhood memories of cooking/eating at home or dining out?
Jenny: It was a lot of cooking and a lot of eating for me lol. Koreans are all about food and gatherings. Really truly, our love language is food. Because my grandma was such a great cook and really strived for everything to be local and made fresh, we ate most of our family meals at her place. If we did go out to eat, my family had a list of restaurants for each dish that were best rated. So if we wanted to go out for a specific dish, there was a restaurant we always went to just for that. It was always about the quality and never about just filling our hunger or cravings.
Tommy: Growing up I loved watching my mom cook in the kitchen and helping out with whatever she needed, now I do the same thing with the girl I love so I’m happy.
SDP: Let’s talk local tastes. When you go out or have friends visiting, where are 3 of your favorite spots to go for breakfast, lunch or dinner?
Dan’s Diner in Chatham is a great place for breakfast. It’s an old school diner style, really simple and nothing over the top but just truly a great comfort spot. It’s in an old restored Jerry O’Mahoney dining car and it’s special. You go there and there’s a whole backstory of how that place came to be. Also, a shoutout for Athen’s Rooster in Athens… their baked goods are really really good. For lunch we have two spots that we love to support, Toko’s Provision in Catskill and Yummy Kitchen in Chatham. Toko who runs Toko’s Provision is such a sweet sweet woman and she really puts a lot of effort into her sandwiches and all her GF bakery goods.
SDP: Think about an ideal day or night out whether kicking back or going for drinks and dinner. If you could go anywhere with no limits on costs and reservations already made, where would it be?
If we are talking no limits on cost, we would spend the day on Jeju Island. We’d rent a beautiful private property by the water and have a nice bbq dinner using locally sourced seafood and produce under the starlight sky. That sounds like a dream night for us.
Tommy Boy Korean. Photo: Konrad Odhiambo/The Dishing
SDP: You offer a cool selection of Korean soft drinks, but the real summer hit is the iced yuja mint lemonade. What’s the secret? Why does it taste so damn good?
Jenny: I think this is credited to Tommy with all his years of being a bar owner. He just nailed it with the ratio and created a well concentrated blend for the drink to be so good. The only thing I was pushing for was freshly squeezed lemon and no lemon concentrate. We experimented with blending the Yuja cheong (fruit preserve) but Tommy thought it was best when there were solid chunks of Yuja in the drink and he was right. We also use fresh mint and it just brings the drink home. It’s also another added labor to our list of menu items but we just really want to share as much of the Korean flavors as possible.
SDP: What has been your most memorable restaurant or bar experience?
Jenny: We were in Taiwan for our friend Tiff’s wedding and we spent about 2 weeks in Taiwan. There was this spot in Beitou Market that sold Lu Rou Fan and it was so ridiculously good. We actually just stumbled upon it (sometimes just the best ways to discover local eats) and didn’t get to try it as they were sold out..that was at 11am. We were luckily staying in Beitou another night so we went the next morning and I am so glad we did. They also had housemade tofu and other classic dishes served with Lu Rou Fan and the entire meal was simple yet extremely flavorful. Definitely the best Lu Rou Fan we had in Taiwan.
Tommy: Another story of stumbling across a restaurant but we were in the Florida Keys and found a Caribbean spot (can’t recall the name..). We were eating our food and classic Florida, there were chickens loose on the property. There was a Rooster chasing a Hen and as we were eating our dinner, the hen just jumped on my shoulders as I’m eating. She actually stayed on top of me for quite a bit trying to stay away from this Rooster haha. Jenny has a great footage of this but this was definitely a memorable dining experience.
SDP: Since you both have other jobs, the TommyBoy hours are currently limited to 4 - 8 p.m. on Friday and 1 to 8 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. Can you imagine TommyBoy ever being a brick-and-mortar business or is it easier to strike a work/life balance with the seasonal food cart?
Of course we’ll never know where life takes us but as of now we don’t have any plans of opening up a brick-and-mortar. We are considering expanding into catering and continuing our seasonal ventures. Although we may not be open full time all year round, we do plan on popping up throughout the year. So please keep a lookout and follow us on Instagram for updates!
SDP: What’s next for you and Tommy Boy? Are you planning to stay full time in Athens?
We love being a part of the Athens community but are open to set out further as we plan on more projects. We will be stationed in the River Garden for the rest of the summer and possibly the fall. We have some ideas for our locals during the winter season so stay tuned :)
SDP: Thanks so much for talking to The Dishing and we’ll be following along for your pop ups.
(*This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.)
Tommy Boy. Photo credit: Konrad Odhiambo/The Dishing.