DamSot, a Popular Pot Rice Restaurant From Seoul, Opens in LA | Eater LA
"A South Korea–based chain specializing in sot bap opened here on January 15, 2025, marking the brand’s first U.S. location after building more than 50 outlets across South Korea. The restaurant moved into the former Wako Donkatsu space at the historic Brown Derby Plaza on Wilshire Boulevard and transformed the dining room with fresh white walls and a simple, minimalist design. The menu revolves around sot bap, available with toppings including spicy eggplant and ground pork, beef and bean sprouts, eel, abalone, and salmon; a special steak sot bap — limited to 15 portions daily during lunch and dinner since high-quality aged meat is used — is also offered. Each pot is served on a bed of sticky Koshikari white rice, which absorbs the sauce and flavors of the toppings, and comes as a set meal with sides of kimchi, danmuji (pickled radish), and salad arranged on a wooden tray. A few smaller a la carte dishes are listed on the back of the menu, like cheese-stuffed katsu, eggplant and shrimp, salmon sashimi, and fried whole shrimp; sets start at $18.99 for the shishito pepper and tofu pot rice and go up to $27.99 for the steak. The sot bap arrives with an instruction card to scoop the toppings and the majority of the rice into a side bowl before pouring barley tea over the remnants of the rice; while eating, the thin layer of rice continues to cook to a crisp in the still-hot pot, turning into nurungji (scorched rice). The hot tea helps loosen the rice from the base, turning the last layer into something between scorched rice soup and porridge. For context, the more common Koreatown staple bibimbap typically comes with a fried egg, seasoned vegetables, and gochujang and is meant to be stirred together; by contrast, sot bap tends to be simpler — often just rice, a few aromatics like chopped green onions, and a protein on top — and the tea-poured nurungji step is not a typical bibimbap addition. This opening is the latest arrival in a wave of South Korea–based restaurants and cafes landing in Los Angeles after May 2024’s Camel in Silver Lake and June 2024’s Jjampong Zizon in Koreatown; hours are 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. daily." - Rebecca Roland
