All grown up in the Arts District
RESTAURANTS • FOUND Table
It's hard to overstate the amount of praise lavished on the first iteration of Baroo, a shoestring operation in a Hollywood strip mall where chef Kwang Uh played mad scientist with ferments and pickles. Since shuttering that storefront in 2018, Uh and his wife/partner Mina Park resurfaced in various guises (a pop-up at a flea market, a fast-casual stall in Grand Central Market), but lacked a space that matches their ambition — until now.
The newly opened Baroo in the Arts District is, finally, a capital-R restaurant, with a grown-up hunk of real estate, in a neighborhood quickly establishing itself as the go-to for risk-taking, high-end dining (see also: Yangban Society, Yess, Kato). One can imagine the pressure the couple feels to deliver in these shiny new digs.
What a relief, then, that the new Baroo is a major step up in every way. The prix-fixe menu is a departure from the strip mall’s a la carte setup, with more polished versions of the flavors and techniques that launched them into stardom. It’s a format that allows Uh to flex, deploying more high-end ingredients, like a Peads & Barnett pork collar (served with a "goulash jigae") and wild-caught black cod. And in perhaps the most substantial upgrade, there's now a bar program, focused on lesser-known Korean spirits like yakju and makgeolli, along with a waitstaff well-versed in them.
The vibe is industrial Zen (fitting for a couple who met at a Buddhist monastery in Korea), but far from austere. On a recent Tuesday night, Park floated around the warmly lit room, pouring complimentary sips of locally produced makgeolli, greeting longtime customers who dressed up for the occasion. Meanwhile, Uh bopped around to hand-deliver desserts. It felt like a reunion.
And it’s one you can join. Reservations are relatively easy to come by, for now. If the past is any indicator, you’ll want to get in before Baroo is discovered all over again. –Jamie Feldmar