Is Korean Cuisine The New french?

 For over eighty years French cuisine held court over new York fine dining. Now it's being challenged by a different kind of haute cuisine Korean. It combines the best of traditional Asian and European cooking and serving techniques

Regular contributor and famed restaurant critic Pete Wells explored this in today's New York Times Wednesday Food section. Fine dining may be dying down in other  big Americna cities however it's doing quite well in Manhattan. It's coming from a new breed of Korean restuarants where Korean -American chefs are cominging the best of their heritage with Gallic trchniques and practices. It  is topping a tradition that started with the famed Le Pavilion being transferred from the Queens 1939 world'd Fair to Manhattan.it lasted so long as to inspire other La and Le restuarantst to dot the city landscape. They brought Limoeges china, silver domes and white linen to the tables. These eateries are few and far between these days.It may give ideas of a higly contolled enviroment super attentive waitstaff and detail oriiented cooking. Mr. Wells suggests looking at it in a fresher way - as in a price bracket. The prices are high, beteeen 100 and 150 a person. These new Koren influenced ones appeal to a wide range of people, much like French cuisine. They also go beyond the restaurants seenn in middle class Korean enclaves like fort Lee New Jersey and Queens.

Of course there is also the halyu, the influx of Koren culture into America life . Arts, music and film can make a culture wanted accorodng to Jenny Kwak, chef and owner of Haenyeo ,a causal Koren restaurant with dishes starting at fortty two dollars." They demystify it," She can remember American chefs acknowledging Psy the singer behind 20212's popular song "Gangham style."  The pioneer to all of them ,Jungsik opened a year before his success.It features  expensive seafood dishes paired with top quality wines. Younger Korean chefs like Junghyun Park have opened up not one but two restaurants. He has  the vastly popular Atomix whuch strives for a modern vison of Korean cuisine and Naro, a more tradtional Korean menu. Another double restuarant owner, Hoyoung Kim has the popular Jua has a seven course tasting menu and Moono where a pot fo rice can cost as much as eigty-eight dollars. The most popular is Bom, where chef Brian Kim gives diner a totally immersive experience.It is expensive with meals starting at a whopping three hundred dollars.These restaurants do have French flourishes with caviar tarts and finishiung the meal with satiny chococlatr bonbons.

Fine dining is alive and well in New York City.I'ts not what most think.It has a decidedly Korean flavor to it.

The New Restaurant Season Part One

 Every fall the New York Times Food section highlights the best restaurants in the city. That's not possible with so many good eateries that have closed since the pandemic. Now there's a new list that features not only the best of Manhattan and its' boroughs but also the entire country.

There are fifty well loved eateries in this country right now.Yes, you do have the big city places such as  The Anchovy Bar in San Francisco and New York's Atomix but you also have Blood Bros BBQ in Bellaire , Texas, a suburb of Houston. The first is known for its' fresh salty anchovy dishes( but no bagna calda!!!) along with fresh caught Pacific fish and seafood.Stuart Briozza runs it with the bread supplied by Nicole Krasinski of State Bird Provisions. Many know Manhattan's Atomix run by Korean born Junghyun and Ella Park because of its' museum like demeanor and has a purely Korean menu. There are flashcards or glosses of the dishes to be collected at the end of the meal. Everything ,from the uniforms to the tableware are designed by Korean and Korean-American artists. ON the other side of the spectrum is Blood Bros BBQ. QUy Huang and brothersTerry and Robin Wong supply fans with a combination of Vietnamese and Texas fusion with heavy African American and Mexican influences.There's brisket and baked mac and cheese along with brisket burnt end buns.

One happy addition is the historic Gage and Tollner located in the quaint neighborhood of Brooklyn Heights. Sohui Kim ,Ben Schneider and John Frizzel have revived this famous eatery that first opened its' doors in 1879. The grand dame of Southern cooking,Edna Lewis cooked and created there in 1988. The menu has such Gilded Age classics as Devils On Horseback and Oyster Rockafellar. Ms. Kim is the chef there and she puts a Korean spin on some traditional dishes as Clams Kimsino that has the jolt of kim ch9i in it. It's also a haven for cocktail lovers as well with Tom Collins and Sloe Gin Fizz. Other classic eateries are Philadelphia's Korshack's. They offer a pillowy soft sourdough bagel with a cream cheese made from mozarella rinds and goat's milk. There's also lox and Green Meadow Farm butter too to smear on as well as homemade chutneys. The city also has Laser Wolf owned by Mike Solomonov and Steve Cook which has an array of kabobs like lamb with fresh from the oven pita and two kinds of pickled cabbage. There's also pineapple grilled with schug a super spicy cousin of za'atar.

These are just a few of this country's best restaurants. Visit them this fall and get excited about them.The food is worth it as is the atmosphere during these cool days.