By Shin Kim
Contributing writer
NEW YORK, Sept. 8 (Yonhap) -- When many New Yorkers left the city to take advantage of their late summer vacations in the last week of August, chef Jung Sik Yim was busy finalizing preparations for his new Korean-style restaurant soon to open in Tribeca.

   Within a couple of hours in one afternoon, he tasted wines with the sommelier to complete the wine list, cooked with sous chefs tweaking garnishes for the new menu, watched over a candidate trailing for a cooking job and discussed administrative details with the manager.

   Yim signed the lease at the current location, previously occupied by the quintessential New York restaurant Chanterelle, over a year ago. After working through countless yards of red tape, including construction delays and license issues, his first New York restaurant Jung Sik is set to open on Sept. 12 with a private fashion event.

  


A restaurant opening is no news these days, but this one in particular has amassed more interest from Korea than any other this year. Despite the continued discussions of opening a flagship Korean restaurant in New York City sponsored by the Korean government and other high-end restaurant plans explored by Korean companies, the 33-year-old Yim, who already has the experience of running his successful restaurant Jung Sik Dang (JSD) in Seoul, is the first to execute his plan.

   Yim is the first Korean-born-and-raised chef to open a fine-dining Korean restaurant in Manhattan. While he represents many of the first attempts as a native Korean chef, he also shares a common background with other young Korean-American chefs who have presented their take on Korean food in the U.S. in recent years.

   Yim has gone through his share of professional culinary training, starting with his time spent in the army kitchen in Korea. Realizing his passion for cooking during the mandatory military service, he spent time in various kitchens in Seoul, ranging from a rice cake store to a pub to a bakery.

   "I didn't know how to get a start on this. I just wanted to learn something, anything about food," he said in an interview. Yim eventually received training in culinary techniques at the Culinary Institute of America (CIA) in 2003, as well as by cooking for friends outside of school.

   During his time at the CIA, he said, he also met many of the future staff for Jung Sik Dang.

   After apprenticeships in Aquavit and Bouley in New York, he headed to Europe for a culinary tour. He fulfilled his dream of dining at many Michelin-starred restaurants in U.K.,Italy and France and returned to Korea with confidence that he could do it, too.

   Yim went back to Europe in 2007, apprenticing at Zuberoa and Akelarre and eating his way through Europe again.

   Like many Korean-American chefs' parents, Yim's parents did not approve of his culinary pursuit. They finally gave in when Yim started preparing to open his first restaurant, JSD, hoping that he would "fail soon enough to taste the bitter reality and get a real job."

   Needless to say, his bet paid off. After JSD opened in January 2009, it became something of an instant hit. In his own domain, he was free to showcase his creativity and interpretation of modern Korean cuisine where Korean and Western culinary techniques, ingredients and flavors were reborn with playful balance.

   JSD was also the first of its kind, a fine-dining Korean restaurant run by a chef-owner with devoted attention to the dessert menu, refined wine selection and service to match, in a city where hotel restaurants dominate the fine-dining scene.

   A year after its opening, JSD was selected as one of the top five restaurants in Korea in the 2010-11 edition of the Miele Guide, a regional restaurant ranking published in Singapore.

   As much as Yim and his restaurant gained fame and popularity, questions and criticisms also followed. Many doubted the identity of his "Korean" food, and others were bewildered by descriptions of JSD as a "Korean restaurant."

   Yet, it doesn't seem to bother Yim that some people nitpick over each component of his dishes and categorize them into a certain kind of Korean, or they do not even consider his food Korean at all.

   "I'm just doing my own interpretation of Korean food," he said.

  




Yim seems focused on only a handful of subjects, such as his food and restaurants, and portrays a carefree attitude for the rest.

   Even the name of his first restaurant, Jung Sik Dang, is a play on his given name, Jung Sik -- which is also the word for a prix fixe course meal in Korean. "Sik Dang" means "restaurant" in Korean -- and a basic, no-frills one at that.

   So did he intend to convey one pun in particular in the name of the restaurant? "That's not that important," he said in response, nonchalantly.
Despite his success at home and the unusual amount of attention he's already received from the New York press as a newcomer, he understands the fiercely competitive dining scene in the city. Yet, he remains unfazed by all the attention and pressure built from outside.

   "I can't worry about that. I just have to do what I do and see what happens," he said.

   And he is starting in New York with what he knows best. Yim is replicating much of his JSD Seoul concept in Jung Sik, including the prix fixe-only service and select signature dishes such as the "Five Senses Satisfaction Pork Belly" dish.

   He is also opening Jung Sik with the best team he has known. Many of his New York lieutenants, including the restaurant manager, sommelier, pastry chef and sous chefs, first met one another at the CIA and have worked together since the beginning of JSD in Seoul.

   Modern culinary techniques such as sous-vide cooking -- using vacuum-sealed plastic bags -- and foams will be present. At the same time, Yim maintains rustic elements such as his own handmade kimchi using his mother's recipe. "Of course my mother didn't have a recipe. I made a recipe following her instructions of a 'little bit of this, little bit of that.'"

   Jung Sik seats 60 people, including the bar area, and will start with dinner service only, offering a create-your-own five-course meal for $125. A unique course to Jung Sik will be "Bap," a rice course where the fundamental importance of this staple in Korean cuisine meets his whimsical creativity.

   While Yim is busy with Jung Sik, he also has his eye on the future. He wants to bring to New York the concepts of Anzu, his more casual outpost in Seoul. Eventually he hopes to open restaurants in Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Tokyo and Paris.

   It is anyone's guess as to what will actually happen when the door finally opens after much anticipation. When this reporter pointed out that many of the success factors of JSD Seoul -- incorporating old and new culinary techniques, beautiful plating reflecting his culinary imagination and impeccable attention to detail -- are taken as givens in the world of Manhattan fine dining, Yim responded without hesitation.

   "Then all I have left is flavor. I'll go with that."

   shinshineny@gmail.com
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