One of Seoul’s Coolest Korean Restaurants Hojokban Is Opening in LA | Eater LA
"Coming to Los Angeles’s Arts District in early 2025 at 734 East Third Street, this popular South Korean restaurant first made waves in New York City in 2023 and is best known for riffing on traditional Korean dishes and playfully plating them for social media — think a TikTok-viral Shin Ramyun–topped fried rice, honey Korean fried chicken, and sliced garlic pork jowl. Its signature is a juicy sous-vide short rib flavored like grilled galbi, served with the bone and an arugula salad. Run in Los Angeles by Seoul-based GFFG Hospitality (rather than the NYC outpost’s Hand Hospitality partnership), Hojokban popped up at Melody in Virgil Village to drum up interest, where diners took in cold perilla oil noodle salads and a strawberry-flavored hamachi crudo. The restaurant aims to serve polished versions of familiar plates, including a truffle-laden gamja jeon presented like fancy nachos with truffle mayonnaise; buckwheat noodles tossed in perilla oil; tuna gimbap seasoned with tobiko; and well-diced yukhoe flavored with sweet soy and nori aioli served with fried lotus root chips, with Amber Koh heading operations and an explicit goal of appealing to Korean Americans and non-Koreans while staying rooted in classic flavors." - Matthew Kang
