Chef, restaurateur, and author Roy Choi will spend an evening in Normal as the keynote speaker for Illinois State University’s 2018 Science and Technology Week.

The innovative author of L.A. Son—My Life, My City, My Food will present “Riding Shotgun with an L.A. Chef: An Evening with Roy Choi” at 7 p.m. April 17, in the Prairie Room of the Bone Student Center. The talk is part of the Illinois State University Speaker Series, and is free and open to the public.

Born in Seoul, Korea, and raised in Los Angeles, California, Choi is a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America and later worked at the internationally acclaimed Le Bernardin. In 2010, Food and Wine named him Best New Chef. His cookbook/memoir, L.A. Son—My Life, My City, My Food, was a New York Times bestseller in 2013. Most recently, he was included in the 2016 TIME 100 Most Influential People in the World list. Roy resides in Los Angeles where he is the co-owner, co-founder, and chef of Kogi BBQ, Chego!, A-Frame, Commissary, POT, and LocoL. In 2017, LocoL received the first ever LA Times Restaurant of the Year award.

The Illinois State University Speaker Series seeks to bring innovative and enlightening speakers to the campus with the aim of providing the community with a platform to foster dialogue, cultivate enriching ideas, and continue an appreciation of learning as an active and lifelong process. All talks are free and open to the public.