LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — People from all over the world are rallying around the owner of a Southern Nevada restaurant and his family after their story and struggles went viral on Tik Tok.
Jong Park and his family immigrated from Korea to the U.S. in the hopes of better opportunities for his son. Like many immigrants, Park moved to America speaking little to no English and with no blueprint for how to successfully navigate life in a new, foreign land.
"We just kind of wrapped up all our stuff in Korea and moved here not really expecting anything, and we didn't know how hard it was going to be. My dad worked as a construction worker and dishwasher, working literally 10 to 12 hours a day," Jong Park's son Steve said.
He eventually worked his way up to become a sushi chef, a profession he takes great pride in. But the ultimate dream was to serve food to customers in a place of his own.
"It's been his dream all his life. Ever since he was a kid, he wanted to open up a restaurant one day, he just didn't know when," Steve Park said.
The opportunity finally came in late 2022 in Silverado Ranch Plaza on Eastern. Jong Park already had a clear vision for the eatery, but as the saying goes, even "the best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry.'
"We originally were going to be a cafe. Not a lot of people know that, and the reason we couldn't is there were some restrictions and regulations with the Silverado Ranch Plaza and due to other bakeries and competitors in the same plaza, we couldn't become a cafe," Steve Park said.
The Park family, determined to fulfill its patriarch's lifelong dream, pivoted and moved forward with an Asian restaurant concept instead.
"This is like a Korean-Japanese fusion restaurant, obviously it's a lot more work to do but because of that, we have a lot of different blends of stir fry, Chinese wok cuisine, along with Japanese sushi, sashimi, nigiri, along with different types of Korean street food staples," Steve Park said.
Little did the family know, that as they were planning for their future, another life-altering roadblock would soon threaten it all.
"So when we bought the restaurant in November, as soon as a month later, we started seeing a neck mass on his left side," Steve Park said.
It was stage 4 tongue cancer. Still, the family was determined to stay on track after the devastating diagnosis, opening Dynamite Korean Street Food and Sushi in February of 2023. Not only were they dealing with the typical trials and tribulations of starting a business, but all those challenges were compounded by Jong Park's cancer.
"It's been real tough financially, covering all the rent, medical bills, doctor's appointments, my dad going through chemo. He's on his third treatment right now, and it's just taking a toll on his body," Steve Park said.
Steve Park said it was touch-and-go for some time when the restaurant first opened, as the family struggled to juggle everything. That's when an unexpected blessing came their way.
Steve Park said, unbeknownst to him, a friend of his reached out to Keith Lee, a well-known Las Vegas-based Tik Tok food critic, whose viral restaurant reviews have helped numerous businesses make a comeback. That friend told Lee the Park family's story and asked him to do a surprise review of the restaurant. Under an alias, Lee -- whom Park hadn't heard of at the time -- visited the restaurant, tried the food, and posted a video with an honest review.
Lee's TikTok featuring Dynamite Korean Street Food and Sushi garnered more than 3 million likes on the social media app, along with tens of thousands of comments from people all over the world, wishing the family well.
The social media exposure from Lee, as well as other influences who later shared their story on social media, resulted in a visible boost in business at the Parks' restaurant in the days that followed.
"We were only doing like 700 to 900 in sales a day, which we were still grateful for, which we just opened, completely new, and starting to get more local attraction. After Keith Lee, it was all of a sudden, 3 to 4 thousand dollars every single day," Steve Park said.
Some days, Park said they'd even have a line out the door.
"I almost cried some of the days, because they were just so willing and so patient and supporting and waiting 30, 40 minutes outside just so they could dine here and try our food," Steve Park said.
A GoFundMe for the family has also raised more than $47,000.
The thousands of online well-wishers and improvement in business are helping lift Jong Park's spirits as his battle with cancer continues. Steve Park said his father still has more rounds of chemotherapy and radiation to go through, with the hope of getting the neck tumor small enough so surgery can be done.
"Because of supporters and a lot of donations we had, it was really easy to lift my dad's spirits, and I translate from English to Korean, all the thousands of comments we get as much as possible and he reads that every single day," Steve Park said. "If we didn't have the supporters, we don't know if we will still have the restaurant open, because it's been really rocky."
The support and love from all around the world is helping energize Jong Park.
"He feels like butterflies in his stomach, and he feels like euphoria, like endorphins going over his head every single day. He's never actually been this excited until he started the restaurant, even though it's physically, mentally kind of draining for him," Steve Park said.
These days, even amid the cancer and grueling treatment, you can find Jong Park doing what he does best in the kitchen at Dynamite Korean Street Food and Sushi -- cooking and serving delicious food with a smile.
The Parks hope to not only sustain the restaurant but even expand it to other locations across the valley.
If you'd like to keep up with how the restaurant and the Park family are doing, you can follow them on TikTok and on Instagram at @dynamitevegas.
