{"id":143684,"date":"2026-01-21T22:05:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-21T22:05:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/143684\/"},"modified":"2026-01-21T22:05:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T22:05:08","slug":"contemporary-korean-newcomers-invigorating-l-a-dining","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/143684\/","title":{"rendered":"Contemporary Korean Newcomers Invigorating L.A. Dining\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Hojokban, The Mulberry and more opened at the end of 2025 <\/p>\n<p>Before the dinner service begins at Restaurant Ki, chef Ki Kim prefaces that his tasting menu\u00a0showcases\u00a0New Korean cuisine \u2014\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0not a reinvention of Korean food but rather a creative approach to the culture\u2019s traditional dishes.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>And while <a href=\"https:\/\/lamag.com\/food\/los-angeles-magazine-best-new-restaurants-january-2026-l\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Restaurant Ki<\/a> is more than worth the visit, Angelenos can find plenty of New Korean eateries that are outside of the fine dining realm (even despite the disappointing April 2025 closure of Yangban).\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" fetchpriority=\"low\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=\" http:=\"\" alt=\"The Mulberry pork spre ribs\" class=\"wp-image-284284\" style=\"object-position: 50% 50%;\" data-lazy- data-lazy- data-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/DSC_9764-e1768510147691-1200x800.jpg\"\/><img fetchpriority=\"low\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/DSC_9764-e1768510147691-1200x800.jpg\" alt=\"The Mulberry pork spre ribs\" class=\"wp-image-284284\" style=\"object-position: 50% 50%;\"  \/>The Mulberry pork spare ribsCredit: Bonjwing Lee<\/p>\n<p>From Seoul,\u00a0<a rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/hojokban.com\/\">Hojokban<\/a> followed its New York City outpost by landing in the Los Angeles Arts District, serving contemporary Korean comfort food. Over in Beverly Grove, fast-casual chain\u00a0Seoulmates\u00a0(which serves Korean street fusion) had an exciting addition in late August when\u00a0Bap &amp; Bird \u2014 a Korean fried chicken and\u00a0omubap\u00a0concept \u2014 opened within the space.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" fetchpriority=\"low\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=\" http:=\"\" alt=\"Bap &amp; Bird\" class=\"wp-image-284298\" style=\"object-position: 50% 50%;\" data-lazy- data-lazy- data-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/DSC03522-1200x800.jpg\"\/><img fetchpriority=\"low\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/DSC03522-1200x800.jpg\" alt=\"Bap &amp; Bird\" class=\"wp-image-284298\" style=\"object-position: 50% 50%;\"  \/>Credit: Courtesy Bap &amp; Bird<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, Highland Park gets in on the action with chef Debbie Lee\u2019s <a rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.yicha-la.com\/\">Yi Cha<\/a>. Lee first stirred up hype in the early 2010s with her modern Korean food truck Ahn-Joo, from which she brought over to <a href=\"https:\/\/lamag.com\/food\/yi-cha-korean-pub-chef-debbie-lee-opens-highland-park\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Yi Cha <\/a>the Korean fried chicken, a dish that is among her menu favorites. With other dishes like the\u00a0esquites-style wagyu bone marrow corn cheese and Chef Deb\u2019s Hangover Stew (gamjatang, a spicy pork and potato variety), she hopes to see a routine of regular and new diners. \u201cIf\u00a0we\u2019re\u00a0doing our job right, it should feel like your favorite neighborhood spot that also happens to serve some\u00a0of the best Korean food\u00a0you\u2019ve\u00a0had,\u201d she says.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" fetchpriority=\"low\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"709\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=\" http:=\"\" alt=\"Yi Cha\" class=\"wp-image-284286\" style=\"object-position: 50% 50%;\" data-lazy- data-lazy- data-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Various-Dishes-PC-Stan-Lee_Hero-1200x709.jpg\"\/><img fetchpriority=\"low\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"709\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Various-Dishes-PC-Stan-Lee_Hero-1200x709.jpg\" alt=\"Yi Cha\" class=\"wp-image-284286\" style=\"object-position: 50% 50%;\"  \/>Yi Cha\u2019s shareable dishesCredit: Stan Lee<\/p>\n<p>This aim of \u201csolidifying the sense of community\u201d is also top of mind for David Lee, who co-owns<a rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.themulberrylosangeles.com\/\">\u00a0The Mulberry<\/a> on Sawtelle. The bistro arrived at the end of November with an array of\u00a0Korean-American\u00a0dishes that have L.A. influences. The Korean\u00a0aguachile\u00a0delights in an icy kimchi broth, while steak tartare is served on crispy rice, all in a stone pot. A Caesar salad comes with puffed rice. Lee explains, \u201cOur goal with The Mulberry was to create a warm neighborhood destination to enjoy a cozy meal, ideally while also running into your friends, solidifying the sense of community \u2014 a Cheers bar of sorts, if you will.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center is-style-altfont has-secondary-color has-text-color has-link-color has-xs-font-size wp-elements-a392843e06eac12cec56e735f4f8219f has-lg-margin-top\" style=\"letter-spacing:1px;text-transform:uppercase\">Scroll to continue reading<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hojokban, The Mulberry and more opened at the end of 2025 Before the dinner service begins at Restaurant&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":143685,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[61656,9807,48,52,51,47,50,49,51110],"class_list":{"0":"post-143684","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-january-2026","9":"tag-korean-food","10":"tag-la","11":"tag-la-headlines","12":"tag-la-news","13":"tag-los-angeles","14":"tag-los-angeles-headlines","15":"tag-los-angeles-news","16":"tag-new-restaurants"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143684","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=143684"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143684\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/143685"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=143684"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=143684"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=143684"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}