Kwang Uh grew up in Seoul but ended up wandering the world getting a culinary education. Upon graduating from the Culinary Institute of America, Uh staged at noma in Copenhagen, Daniel in New York, and Nobu in the Bahamas. In 2015, he opened Baroo with Matthew Kim, who he met while studying hospitality. The original concept featured manicured grain bowls with a focus on fermentation. It had the success that every chef dreamed of, with national media attention and lines out the door. "The restaurant embodied so many of the qualities that give Los Angeles its character," writes Los Angeles Times restaurant critic Bill Addison.
Kwang Uh (left) met his wife and business partner Mina Park at a South Korean Buddhist temple. Photo by Wonho Lee.
A decade ago, Uh's food, like pineapple-laced kimchi fried rice and oxtail ragu with gochujang and sauerkraut powder over pasta, was innovative with recognizable elements of Korean cuisine. "It's cooking that tells a personal narrative about the chef's lived experiences and his specific creative path, and the ingredients sort of seesaw between seasonal freshness and ingredients that incorporated notions of preservation and transformation," Addison says.
After a series of unexpected closures, the restaurant permanently shut its doors in 2018. Uh met his future wife and business partner, Mina Park, at a South Korean Buddhist temple. Together they operated a short-lived stall in East Hollywood's now demolished Union Swapmeet. The couple has reimagined and reopened Baroo in the Arts District where Baroo now serves a six-course tasting menu and Uh's Buddhist philosophy informs his food.
Flattering lighting and a polished dining room is an upgrade from the restaurant's original location in a Hollywood strip mall. Photo by Wonho Lee.
Addison points out the fish ssam, battered with three flours and using fish that rotates from sole to skate wing, and recalls the crackling of Uh's Korean fried chicken. Addison recently named the new iteration his pick for Restaurant of the Year.