Clara Lee, left, and Eddo Kim. | Source: Madeline Shields<\/p>\n
Inner Sunset locals may remember Queens, the quirky Korean superette that served comforting kimchi stews and pajeon larger than the plate it came on. The cafe and market, which sold take-home banchan and Korean pantry staples, closed in 2023, vacating the angular space that\u2019s now occupied by the French bistro Cach\u00e9. Clara Lee and Eddo Kim, the owners of Queens, took their business back to where it originated: the internet, where they sell a range of homemade and imported offerings.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Now, with a cookbook soon to hit shelves, the couple are starting another chapter \u2014 and hoping to connect with audiences in a new way.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/-S3840x5120-FPNG.png\"\/)
Source: Excerpted from\u00a0Korean Soups by Clara Lee and Eddo Kim (Workman Publishing). Photographs by Scott Barry. Copyright \u00a9 2026.![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/-S3840x5045-FPNG.png\"\/)
Source: Excerpted from\u00a0Korean Soups by Clara Lee and Eddo Kim (Workman Publishing). Photographs by Scott Barry. Copyright \u00a9 2026.<\/p>\n
\u201cKorean Soups: Recipes for Soups and Stews That Nourish, Restore, and Delight\u201d is an evolution in their relationship with the robust Korean pantry and its role in home cooking. The subject came together after several rounds of brainstorming and pitching. \u201cWe felt that it was not only the thing that we loved eating and cooking the most,\u201d Lee says, \u201cbut also the perfect opportunity to highlight the diversity of this single subject and the importance of fundamental ingredients for building flavor in Korean cooking.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The book guides home cooks through various applications of the condiments and fermented goods that Kim and Lee have focused on in the last few years through their online store. Some of their retail staples \u2014 like bright-red kimchi and gochugaru paste \u2014 can be easily spotted in Bay Area specialty stores and markets, such as Bernal Cutlery and On Waverly in San Francisco and Preserved in Oakland.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Even before the Sunset brick-and-mortar came to be, the two were dedicated to spreading the word about Korean cuisine, making and packaging products in their home kitchen. \u201cThe truth is, we never started Queens with the aspiration to disrupt and expand the local Korean food scene,\u201d Kim says. \u201cRather, it was mainly a curiosity and inquiry of how to elevate the conversation around Korean food; specifically, Korean ingredients.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/-S3840x4800-FPNG.png\"\/)
Source: Excerpted from\u00a0Korean Soups by Clara Lee and Eddo Kim (Workman Publishing). Photographs by Scott Barry. Copyright \u00a9 2026.<\/p>\n
The goal, he says, was rather humble: to make Korean ingredients more accessible. That included accessibility for professionals, as their chef friends had said they found large Korean markets overwhelming and were unsure whether the products they bought were of the highest quality.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Nevertheless, when Queens opened as a cafe in late 2020, Lee and Kim were held up as trailblazers of sorts \u2014 a title, Kim says, that made them feel \u201chonored and a bit bashful.\u201d Were they disheartened when Queens closed just as the Bay Area dining scene began to recover from the pandemic? \u201cExtremely,\u201d Kim says, because that meant \u201cwe would not be able to see our community of patrons day in and day out.\u201d<\/p>\n
Since the closure, the San Francisco Korean dining scene has witnessed glitzy openings like ABSteak<\/a> and SSAL, and waves of Korean-inspired bars and daytime cafes such as Jilli<\/a>, Anju, The Buoy, and Sohn<\/a>. \u201cIt\u2019s been great to see the excitement around Korean food in the city and the diversity of concepts that are sprouting up,\u201d Lee says, though the couple\u2019s Korean dining most usually takes place at home. On the other hand, she adds, there\u2019s an understandable gravitation toward more high-end restaurants to accommodate the city\u2019s shifting demographics. \u201cWe always think about the mom-and-pop shops and restaurants; as they continue to dwindle, we hope the next generation of entrepreneurs, restaurateurs, and chefs will continue to revive concepts like these that were so vital to our Korean American food and cultural upbringing and experience.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/-S3840x2159-FPNG.png\"\/)
Source: Excerpted from\u00a0Korean Soups by Clara Lee and Eddo Kim (Workman Publishing). Photographs by Scott Barry. Copyright \u00a9 2026.<\/p>\n