BAROO: Join Us in the Rebirth of Our Restaurant

The Story of Baroo – A Taste of the Future

In October 2018, we had to close the doors to our restaurant, baroo. Ever since then, we never gave up hope on finding a new space to reopen. It took us more than four years, but we have finally signed a lease and are working on this new evolution of our restaurant. For the next month, we are focused on raising funds every way we can, so we can fully realize our dream for our restaurant.

Baroo who?

The original baroo opened in August 2015 next to a 7-11 in an East Hollywood strip mall as a two-man operation. Focused on fermentation and showcasing Korean ingredients and techniques in a voice that is uniquely Kwang’s, baroo was described by the late, much-missed Jonathan Gold as “a taste of the future ”. In its three-year run, baroo was recognized as a James Beard semi-finalist for Best New Restaurant 2016, one of Bon Appetit’s Top 5 Best New Restaurants 2016, Bon Appetit’s Dish of the Year 2016, Eater World Food Obsession Award 2016, Eater LA’s Best New Restaurant 2016, and made Jonathan Gold’s 101 List in 2016 and 2017 and Eater LA’s 38 Essential Restaurants 2016 through 2018.

“Baroo” is the Korean word for the bowls that Buddhist monks use to eat their meals. Buddhist principles of compassion, interconnectedness and balance are the foundations of how we run our restaurant. For all the people who found their way to baroo, Kwang tried to offer a meal that was cooked mindfully and that was playful, imaginative, unpretentious, good value and, most importantly, deliciously balanced.

Sadly, baroo closed after a split between Kwang and his then business partner, and the two of us started looking for a new space for baroo. Since it was taking time to find a new location (we had no idea then how long!), we launched a 9-month pop-up in an East Hollywood swap meet Baroo Canteen where we served more casual baroo family meals.

Then at the start of 2021, we opened Shiku in historic Grand Central Market which features traditional Korean lunch boxes. “Shiku” means the people you share food with, or your family and community. Shiku’s mission is to engage with and donate to local community organizations working to feed and serve our community. We strive to make a monthly donation to local community organizations, especially those serving the AAPI community in Los Angeles. In the past year, we have also donated our catering services to organizations like Korean American Family Service’s Foster Family Initiative and GYOPO x Ssi Ya Gi. We will continue to run Shiku and hope we soon can expand its community-focused model.

The New Reincarnation of Baroo

For the new baroo, we are planning a relaxed fine dining restaurant whose foundation is Korean but also reflects our lives in LA, Europe and Asia. In this new reincarnation, we want to offer a five-course tasting menu that explores the traditional framework of saju-myungri, the traditional Korean philosophy that is based on yin and yang and the five elements: wood-fire-earth-metal-water. Incorporating Korean traditional medicine, astrology, meditation with a touch of fortune telling, we want our restaurant to feel healing, restorative and playful. As always, fermentation is the backbone of what baroo offers.

Our aim for our opening is to keep our menu around $90-95 per person, but we will have to see how inflation and our other costs run when we open, but no more than $125/person. We strongly believe there is a way to offer a tasting menu experience at relatively reasonable prices. We do know that this price point is not reasonable for many and our aim is to be able to provide more community support through baroo’s success.

Baroo will have two tasting menus with a vegan tasting menu inspired by Korean temple cuisine which is a huge part of our story together. There will be Korean alcohol pairings featuring the best of Korean brewing. We will also try our hand at brewing our own makgeolli following the tradition of Mina’s grandmother who ran a makgeolli brewery in Jeolla province.

Our new home will be in the Arts District at the Garey Building, next to Father’s Office and across from Hauser & Wirth Gallery. We are excited to be neighbors with many of LA’s most celebrated restaurants like Kato, Camphor, Yangban Society, Bavel, Bestia, Majordomo and Damian. The space is a 2nd generation restaurant with lofty ceilings and in great condition, thankfully!

We cannot wait to welcome all of you. It’s been a long time coming for us. What we are working on feels like what baroo was meant to be and what we were both meant to do. If everything goes smoothly, our doors open late June this year.

Who We Are:

Kwang Uh

Kwang is our culinary mastermind and resident philosopher. Born and raised in Seoul, Kwang studied hospitality at Gyonggi University and then graduated from the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park. He also got his master’s degree from the University of Gastronomic Sciences of Pollenzo, Italy (also known as the Slow Food University) writing his master's thesis on Korean fermentation. Kwang has worked and/or staged at many two and three Michelin-starred restaurants around the world—including Picholine (NYC), Daniel (NYC), Mingles (Seoul), NOBU (Bahamas), Noma (Copenhagen), Piazza al Duomo (Alba), and Quique d’Acosta (Valencia).

Mina Park

Mina will mainly be responsible for overseeing the front of house, beverage program and business operations. (We are a husband-and-wife operation, so we both do a little bit of everything!) Mina is Korean American, born in Virginia. Her past life was as a lawyer; but in 2013, Mina launched a culinary popup called Sook with events throughout Asia and Europe. Her first collab was with the former HK restaurant, Serge et le phoque, founded by chef Christophe Pelé (who heads le Clarence), Fred Peneau (one of the founders of Chateaubriand) and Charles Pelletier. Mina and the Serge team created a beloved monthly series of Korean-inspired tasting menu dinners in Hong Kong. Mina is also a trained Korean cooking teacher and set up the culinary program at the Korean Cultural Centre in Hong Kong. She loves to share her love of Korean food through the restaurants and her writing.

In early 2017, Kwang and Mina met at the temple of Jeong Kwan seunim, featured in Chef’s Table. We are now married with a 3-year-old son who loves food and racing around the dining room of our new space.

Why Crowdfunding?

As much as we believe that this is the right time to pursue our vision of baroo, we are also in the midst of a wave of restaurant closures, rampant inflation and an uncertain outlook for 2023. The baroo approach is we work with a minimal, stripped-down budget. In these times, we think this is the only way we can succeed. But opening a tasting menu restaurant with beer & wine even on a minimal budget costs more money than we’ve ever spent before (which was practically nothing so not that difficult to beat).

While we are so fortunate to have support of friends and family, we need to raise more funds. We hope we can raise $50,000 here, though we still need to raise more than that.

We are casting our net wide and talking to potential investors who are aligned with the baroo spirit. And we are turning to you all as well because you are our village. What we’ve learned over recent years is that it truly takes a village to sustain a restaurant. We are so lucky to have had a community around us, our shiku, that has made it possible for our restaurants to survive, that has given us encouragement and love.

We hope that there are some kind souls in our village who are able to contribute to our reopening. And mostly, we hope this crowdfunding allows us to widen and strengthen our baroo community.

Use of Funds Raised:

Opening a restaurant entails numerous costs before the doors even open. Even with our stripped down budget, we still need to pay for things like:

We are asking for the world, we know. And we know that times are difficult for many so we are grateful to anyone who even considers making a contribution.

We think of baroo like a tree that’s starting to take root. Everyone around us, everyone that has ever eaten and will eat at baroo, and all of you, help to nurture this tree, let its roots grow deeply into the earth and spread its branches. Over time, the tree will grow stronger and be able to provide shade and fruit to those who have nurtured it. Eventually, the tree will fall, and in its decay, provides nutrients back to the earth. And the nurturing cycle continues. We will do everything we can to take care of all of you and our community as you have taken care of us.

Tokens of Our Gratitude:

To thank you for your generosity, we are offering the following gifts for our supporters:

All donations: Your name printed on our menu for our opening week

$100 or more: Korean Zen Buddhist prayer bracelet (while supplies last; shipping available)

$200 or more: Virtual fermentation class with Kwang and Mina, with PDF recipes and Q&A. We will offer three Zoom sessions (held in PST) before our opening and have a recorded class for donors who are unable to join at those times.

$300 or more: Three bottles of baroo’s housemade condiments (exact goods TBD but could be, for example, baroo mat ganjang, fermented crab sauce, or a fermented fruit syrup; shipping available; first 30 donors)

$500 or more: A reservation for 2 people for our official opening night (first 20 donors)

$1,000 or more: Kwang will offer a completely unprofessional but hopefully fun and informative saju-myungri consultation which is based on your birth time and will include a reading of your birth chart (saju), can include some dietary recommendations based on Korean traditional medicine and answers to questions you may have on your saju. (Kwang will be able to do one reading per week to span the coming year; first 30 donors)

$2,500 or more: Dinner at baroo for two people with two special additional courses (date to be mutually agreed; first 10 donors)

$5,000 or more: Dinner for two people with two special additional courses + saju-myungri consultation by Kwang above for each of you (date to be mutually agreed; first 10 donors)

$10,000 or more: A private dinner at your home cooked by Kwang and Mina for up to 12 people (date to be mutually agreed; first 3 donors)

$30,000 or more: A private party at baroo for up to 35 people (date to be mutually agreed)

Subject to availability, donations made in one category will receive the rewards for the lower donation amounts (other than dinners for two and saju-myungri consultations which are only available once per eligible donation). Physical rewards will be shipped out in May. If you email your donation receipt to [email redacted], Mina will follow up with you on your gift.

Thank you for loving baroo! Every message we have received after the announcement of our opening (here at Eater) is giving us energy for our opening! And please support your local mom-and-pop restaurants!

Gratefully, Kwang & Mina