Steve Joo’s Tofu-Focused Joodooboo Is Changing Oakland Dining

"In Oakland’s vibrant food scene, I discovered a small, cheerful banchan shop and tofu-centric restaurant where Steve Joo has turned making dooboo—Korean tofu—into a meditation: after training at places like Chez Panisse and Terra and a formative year in Korea he apprenticed to learn to make the silky, nuanced, jiggly tofu made from just soybeans, water, a coagulant, and sea salt, and he deliberately gives it more time because small changes in temperature, stirring, and setting transform the result. That same intentionality and playfulness shows up in his small-batch banchan—like the seasonal, improvised green tomato kimchi sourced directly from local farmers—and in larger dishes such as the bright nori acorn noodle bowl with bouncy chilled acorn noodles, nori vinaigrette, pickled mushrooms, cucumbers, and kimchi. The fried dooboo set is an elaborate, comforting presentation: dusted, fried tofu served with Joo’s signature dooboo sauce (a California riff on a Korean dipping sauce made with fermented tea, herbs, and aromatics) alongside soup, rice, salad, kimchi, and the week’s banchan; specials can include an albacore ssam platter with squash blossoms, Sun Gold tomatoes, perilla leaves, and lettuce for wraps. Individual highlights that reflect the same farm-forward, ingredient-driven approach include the fried sand dab with saucy Sun Golds, squid jeot (salt-cured Half Moon Bay squid seasoned with chiles and sesame), and a melon and white nectarine spritz seasoned with house-fermented green plum syrup, Meyer lemon, chile, and salt; even the dooboo set’s sides—new potato jorim, green tomato kimchi, a gingery roasted apricot–daechoo vinaigrette salad, dooboo soup, millet-and-quinoa rice, and a peak-season “fruit of the week” such as Rainier cherries from K&J Orchards—underscore how he prepares ingredients to let them speak for themselves. Hospitality here feels like an act of love rather than performance, and the project reads as a personal, neighborhood-minded practice that connects people through thoughtful, seasonal food." - Raphael Brion