Damsot

"The latest Korean restaurant chain to expand to LA, Damsot in Koreatown is a rice pot specialist that serves hot stone bibimbap with unconventional add-ins like eggplant, cheese, shishitos, abalone, and steak. After mixing your bowl and scraping up all the rice, they’ll also pour hot barley tea into the leftovers to make scorched rice soup. We recently visited Damsot and added it to the Hit List." - cathy park

"The picture-filled menu at this famous bibimbap chain from South Korea is essentially a Pinterest board of aesthetic rice pots. Do you want yours decorated with spicy pork and carmelized eggplant, shishitos and tofu, or a big grilled mackerel filet that juts out from the bowl? There’s no wrong answer, and the only mistake would be not adding an order of Damsot’s crackly shrimp-stuffed fried eggplant to start. Each piping-hot rice pot costs around $20 and arrives on a tray with salad, soup, banchan, and a kettle of barley tea, plus a step-by-step process on how to eat it. The finale is the best part: pouring tea over the layer of crunchy scorched rice at the bottom to create a toasty soup that’s as soothing as a long, steamy shower." - brant cox, sylvio martins, cathy park, garrett snyder, brant cox, sylvio martins, garrett snyder, sylvio martins, cathy park, cathy park, garrett snyder, sylvio martins, brant cox, cathy park, cathy park, brant cox, sylvio martins, sylvio martins, sylvio

"The picture-filled menu at this famous bibimbap chain from South Korea is essentially a Pinterest board of aesthetic rice pots. Do you want yours decorated with spicy pork and carmelized eggplant, shishitos and tofu, or a big grilled mackerel filet that juts out from the bowl? There’s no wrong answer, and the only mistake would be not adding an order of Damsot’s crackly shrimp-stuffed fried eggplant to start. Each piping-hot rice pot costs around $20 and arrives on a tray with salad, soup, banchan, and a kettle of barley tea, plus a step-by-step process on how to eat it. The finale is the best part: pouring tea over the layer of crunchy scorched rice at the bottom to create a toasty soup that’s as soothing as a long, steamy shower." - Cathy Park

"A South Korea-based chain specializing in sot bap (pot rice), offering a minimalist dining experience with a menu focused on various toppings including spicy eggplant, ground pork, and limited portions of special steak sot bap." - Rebecca Roland