Chef hoon kim biography robert
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Winning a star on the Michelin Guide was never his ultimate goal, but it instantly pushed chef Kim Jae-hoon of Palate up from a low point. He won his first Michelin star in February, and the gastronomic guide has allowed him to continue doing what he feels passionate about.
“If it weren’t for this star, I might have given up on pursuing a chef career,” said Kim, sharing his struggle to keep the business afloat since he opened his restaurant in December 2019, about a month before Covid-19 hit Korea.
“The guide has set the stage for me,” he said. “Just like an athlete playing a game without an audience, chefs without diners don’t feel a lot of excitement. I had been trying everything to make what I do as a business viable, but now, since the Michelin Guide came out, I’ve been put on the stage and I can think more about the performance I’m going to give.”
Restaurant service is all about catering to the needs and wants of diners and it became possible for him to do just that, which is what he has longed for since he started working as a chef.
Yet ironically, being a chef was never his dream when he was young. He chose it because he wanted to have a career with a professional skill set.
He started to work at restaurants when he was 25. Until then he had been working as a DJ at a club and majoring in Chinese language at college. As he worked part-time at local restaurants in Korea, he was often told he was too old to change fields, and scolded for asking too many questions about why certain things are cooked in certain ways.
He decided to move to Australia in 2011 to go to a culinary school and work. His father’s passing about a year into his life in Australia gave him an even bigger momentum that he had to make it work there before heading back to his home country.
During the seven years he spent there, he had come up with the very basics of what he could call his style of cooking. A Japanese chef he met while working at the Italian Share Making waves at home and abroad are these top Korean chefs at the cutting edge of a cuisine rich in both tradition and history. Korean cuisine, with its loud colors and textures, innumerable side dishes, spicy stews and funky fermented flavors, is one of the most vibrant food cultures in the world. Yet, this singular cuisine has often taken a backseat to that of its better-known neighbors, China and Japan, and relegated to casual, everyday food within its homeland. Elevating the Essence of Korean Cuisine Rather than the traditional hanjeongsik that we’re used to seeing—long tables covered from corner to corner with a full-on spread of dishes—Kim believes in the deliberate flow and storytelling of multi-course haute cuisine. “Although the visual impact of it [hanjeongsik] may wow the guests at first, in the end, not one dish stands out,” he says. “When there is a story to be told and that story is narrated in a way that connects the chef with his guests, then that, to me, is fine dining.” “The beauty of empty space is a concept often mentioned when people ta In the foodie universe, Pittsburgh was a culinary cul-de-sac. On the other hand, Cleveland has sported a vibrant restaurant scene for quite some time. Regardless, both cities suffered from a Rust Belt reputation. What could be worth eating in a dying backwater? A recent New York Times article to the rescue: Until recently, the American food revolution seemed to bypass this region, leaping from Chicago to Philadelphia without making stops in places like Toledo, Cleveland, Akron, and Pittsburgh. These cities of the Rust Belt, which edges around the Great Lakes from Buffalo to Detroit, are linked in many ways: by a shared history of industry, by a network of defunct canals and decaying railroads, and by thousands of acres of farmland. Now, the region is linked by a group of educated, ambitious chefs who are building a new kind of network. Its scale is tiny compared with the steel and shipbuilding empires of the region’s past. But they are nonetheless convinced that an interdependent web of chefs, butchers, farmers, millers, bakers, and brewers will help bring the local landscape back into balance. To that end, they are cooking sustainably, supporting agriculture, and raising families—all while making world-class food with a strong sense of place. One hundred and thirty miles northwest of Pittsburgh, in Cleveland, the chef Jonathon Sawyer has nudged along a transformation since he and his wife, Amelia, opened the Greenhouse Tavern in 2009. The imaginative, approachable, precisely flavored dishes he pulls off there have helped Cleveland make the transition from bratwurst and braciole to broccoli escabeche, duck zampone and Ohio-raised strip steaks with shallot mignonnette. Mr. Sawyer lived and cooked in New York City for five years, working for the chef Charlie Palmer, before he and his wife decided to raise their children back in their hometown. Knowledge and expertise do not travel well. Migration is the vehicle for the d
But in the last decade, a new generation of imaginative young chefs have emerged, taking Korean food in Seoul in new directions, pairing global techniques with familiar Korean flavors; shining the spotlight on local produce while changing the way people experience a meal. New Korean gastronomy is making waves in South Korea and making strides overseas.
Occupying the highest echelon of Korean gastronomy is three-Michelin-starred Gaon, the canvas on which executive chef Kim Byung-jin (pictured below) paints a picture of culture and history of the Korean peninsula through its décor, music and flavors. He has spent his career delving deep into Korean historical tomes to develop Gaon’s refined, fine-dining take on Joseon imperial cuisine.
The format of dining may have changed, but at the heart of Kim’s cooking is the essence of Korean cuisine: natural simplicity.FOODSTOCK 2012 Speakers and Guests
Eric Asimov '79 P'13 is the chief wine critic of The New York Times. Asimov created the $25 and Under restaurant reviews in 1992 and wrote them through 2004. He is a co-author of "The New York Times Guide to Restaurants 2004," the fifth edition of the guide. At The Times, he was editor of the Living section from 1991 to 1994 and editor of Styles of The Times from 1994 to 1995.
Amy Bloom ‘75is the author of two novels and three collections of short stories, and she has been a nominee for both the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award. Her stories have appeared in Best American Short Storiesand The O. Henry Prize Stories.Her latest novel, Away, is an epic story about a Russian immigrant. Her new collection of short stories, Where the God of Love Hangs Out, has just been released.
Kashia Cave is the Founder and President of My City Kitchen, Inc. A proud mother of 2 boys, celebrating 16 years of marriage, she has a second love for culinary. She’s a graduate of Lincoln Culinary Institute formerly (Connecticut Culinary Institute) and the Italian Culinary Institute for Foreigners (ICIF) in Costigliole-D’Asti, Italy.
Tressa Eaton ‘09 is the New York Editor for TastingTable.com. E Restaurant Talent Migration