"Wife-and-husband team Hyunyoung and Junsoo Bae both worked at the French Laundry before striking out on their own to open Ssal, an elegant modern Korean restaurant in an unassuming storefront on Polk Street. Four years and one pandemic later, Ssal holds a single Michelin star and might be the best embodiment of California-Korean cooking in the Bay Area. In an austere space, the team fuses premium local ingredients including Wolfe Ranch Quail and Jimmy Nardello peppers into dishes that also leverage familiar Korean flavors such as injeolmi, earthy hand-pressed sesame oil, and red bean. Ssal also marks a fresh start for Junsoo, who left the French Laundry following an incident of alleged harassment that occurred when he worked at Gramercy Tavern in New York." - Lena Park, Eater Staff
