Let’s Go Chimaek

Portland Chef Maya Lovelace Will Start a New, Korean-Southern Pop-Up | Eater Portland

"Maya Lovelace is launching Chimaek, a Korean-meets-Southern-American four-course dinner series that hits Northeast Portland on November 7, hosted inside Mae’s new digs at Dame; the menu leans into Seoul-meets-Southern flavors with cheesy rice cakes, soju, plenty of K-pop on the stereo, and begins with a selection of Southern-style banchan before moving to Korean-ish versions of her three-fat fried chicken, cheesy tteokbokki, and sweet corn ice cream. The banchan runs from traditional to clearly Appalachian-influenced, including sweet-and-sour pickled radish and baechu (cabbage) kimchi alongside pimento cheese broccoli salad and Mountain Rose apple kimchi. In place of the beloved pimento mac and cheese from her original dinner, she’s swapped in a cheesy tteokbokki loaded with smoky bacon and mozzarella. Her fried chicken comes in two styles—basted with gochugaru-infused lard, and tossed in a sweet sorghum molasses and bourbon-barrel-smoked soy sauce—and dessert is sweet corn ice cream served with chewy rice cakes, toasted soybean powder, and wild huckleberries. Seattings for the first round are at 6 and 8:30 p.m. on November 7 and 8, tickets are $40, and, per usual for Mae, tickets will go on sale in one fell swoop at 8 p.m. tomorrow, so expect them to sell out fast." - Brooke Jackson-Glidden