[bright cheery music]
Baroo is a modern Korean restaurant.
People say this is inspired by Buddhist temple cuisine,
I try to reflect and I try to put that spirit
into what we are doing.
Fermentation is really integral part of cooking in Baroo,
because all the dish has at least one fermented ingredients.
As a restaurant chef and owner,
having tasting menu restaurant is all the time my dream.
I try to keep it inspiring for everyone,
including me and our team and our guest.
[bright cheery music]
Hello, my name is Kwang, and this is my wife, Mina Park,
we are running the restaurant together, Baroo, in LA.
We have a lot of things to do today, so let's get going.
[bright cheery music]
So this is Baroo, and to me, it's very luxurious
than previous restaurant right next to 7-Eleven,
which had only three people working
and then very small space.
When people from the old Baroo come, they say,
Oh, this is so different.
Yes, it's so different.
It's 8:30 in the morning,
as head chef, I'm the first to arrive here.
When I first come in the morning,
I check everything is in place and then make it tidy.
People say like control freak, yeah, it used to happen,
now I kind of try to let it go.
Just checking the walk-in cooler.
So this is produce, this is cold, hot,
and family, and this fermentation.
Sometime it's a little bit messed up,
but today is pretty good.
Also, this is service station.
This is kind of my time to wake up for the day,
also Buddhist monk said,
Every part of your life is kind of meditation.
So to me, it's not really matter,
I really prefer like this way.
All the leftover napkin,
we are doing laundry at home, Mina and me.
So we have a whiteboard, we write down something we need,
and then we go shopping.
There wasn't too much stuff, just few things today.
We got Korean melon,
with this we are making dongchimi
which is kind of Korean radish kimchi.
We got some beef short rib,
when you go to Korean market, there are a lot of scrub
and you can get really cheap price.
So, Shaun, this is kind of urgent,
so we need to take out all the blood,
so we need to put some sugar and then cold water,
we need to soak it.
And then this is just kind of family meal.
And then also we have kid,
this is his paper he did last night,
so he ask, please put this one in his desk.
Everything looks good and tidy,
so now it's the time to see our AM team.
In the morning, they are usually doing all kinds of sauce,
all kinds of prep, which takes lot of time and labor.
There's only two people.
So now we are making bugak,
bugak is kind of Korean traditional snack,
this is a very expensive seaweed imported from Korea.
We are spreading the rice porridge,
and then we have giant fan setting up there,
and then we gonna dehydrate.
Once completely dehydrated,
we deep fry, and then that rice porridge is popped up,
and that is gonna make crispy snack.
He is the master of doing this,
so I don't even need to check.
So this is inventory list,
and anything we need to order, we put it here,
there's a condiment, and the farmer's market,
and then prep list, we also put it here.
Most important part is actually communication
with each other, with AM and PM.
Did you guys talk last night to PM team?
Yeah.
So, what do we have?
We're going XO, beef jus- Okay.
And then we're doing the almond cream as well
for the dessert.
Did you guys check
today's reservation? Yeah.
How many vegetarian?
I believe there's one. Just one,
one vegan.
Yeah, one vegan. Vegan, okay.
Now, it's 9:40 and I am checking the reservation
and then email.
So today, our cover is 68.
Since we are selected restaurant of the year
of the LA Times, we book pretty much every single night.
Yeah, I think tonight- And also, I talk to Mina
about today's plan.
So, we run the restaurant together,
he takes care of the culinary side.
Metaphorically, she's the mother of the restaurant.
I am pretty quiet boy, quiet guy,
so all the important job, what I'm not really good at,
she's doing actually the most important job.
[bright cheery music]
So I can see the cod being delivered.
We have a live lobster, we don't usually get,
so it's just for R&D,
and then this one is the sol and scallop,
and then also we have a black cod.
Our sous chef, Matt, he is checking quality
and the freshness.
When there's a head, you can see the eyes and the gills,
and I check on the invoice, quantity and price,
and today, everything looks really good.
[bright cheery music]
Matt is going to butcher,
and then we're gonna make soy-braised black cod,
this is actually one of the people's favorite.
It goes with dongchimi, which is Korean melon kimchi,
the papaya chip, and citrus fawn.
It's 10:00 AM, so my job is checking fermentation.
So this one is part of our rice dishes,
we pickle watermelon, radish, rose,
and citra peppercorn inside.
Texture should be crunch from the freshness,
and then taste wise, between over ripened,
and then ripened,
so I can taste a little bit of funkiness.
This radish is done, so I think it's done.
It's the summertime, so it's pretty good condition
to grow beneficial bacteria and the microorganism.
And the second thing is lemon verbena kombucha,
we strain it and then make some kind of foam,
and then we put on top
of the watermelon and tomato gazpacho.
I'm gonna just check, it's gonna be ready.
Wow, it's good.
So this is basically, you try to squeeze out the moisture
from the tofu, and then cover with ssamjang.
We use this tofu as kind of backbone
of our vegetarian and vegan menu sauce.
If it's kind of really aged well,
it tastes like blue cheese,
it tastes really savory umami,
and little bit of sour, good sour,
that's what I'm looking for.
One thing I found really strange
when I first enter United States,
people think fermentation is very strange thing,
but because I am from Korea, it's just kind of natural.
When I start, they really open
and awake my perception about fermentation.
They try to do everything, like roasting,
deep frying, and then dehydrating, and then ground it,
and then make it even some kind of water.
They are trying to apply all kinds of cooking technique,
interpret into totally different culture of people.
And I wanna make this fermented condiments,
because these ingredients are the most important part
of the Korean cooking.
Cheonggukjang, fermented soybean paste,
ganjang, soon to be soy sauce,
and then this one is gochujang, this one looks also good.
I open the lid, sun is going to shine,
it's really good for all the fermented condiments.
So we are done with the fermentation check.
At least once a week, when I go to farmer's market
and then see something interesting,
I try to do some kind of fermentation,
we got golden egg for prawn, and birabel,
and Korean gaji-namul.
This strainer is very typical Korean,
every household who's making kimchi have this one.
Once it's drained, we're gonna cut it,
we're gonna seed it, stem off,
and then we're gonna make fermentation.
There are two different kinds, one is just cover with sugar,
let it sit, so all the sugar's gonna melt
and then it will turn into liquid,
it's like a syrup, but it has microorganism.
If we have some kind of grill of the seasonal vegetable,
we can just marinate in this syrup.
And the second is lacto-fermentation,
mixed with salt, without oxygen, and then a department.
And it's gonna be done, usually this weather,
I can say two, three days.
I'm gonna wrapping up this fermentation.
Our PM team is arriving now, it's around noon,
so now it's gonna be seven people.
When PM cook arrive,
I usually check everything's going properly,
but every day is pretty good.
Big difference is the length of time,
so what AM do is more time consuming
and labor intensive job,
but what PM do is more like maybe two, three hours job,
cutting, shredding, picking up the orbs, and then be ready.
While they are doing preparation for the service,
I just check every single components of dishes,
and then I taste.
So this is the aehobak, which is a kind of baby squash
we use for the rice dishes in panchan for jangsari.
Panchan is kind of tray with a lot of the side dishes,
and then rice and soup.
This is radish.
And then naengi naber, naengi is a shepherd's purse.
Tasting looks great, so we can move on.
Now it's at three o'clock,
so now we are gonna work on the R&D.
We really try to change the menu as much as possible,
but it's been our year.
As head chef, the researching and menu development
is really important.
Yesterday I kinda marinate pork neck,
I'm gonna just grill and then check how's the texture,
and then how's the seasoning.
This one is the jam lettuce, we gonna grill this one.
This jam lettuce can be solo, or it can be garnish.
So, now I'm gonna try to use this next dish as appetizer,
we are making lobster bisque in Korean way,
made with fermented soybean paste and with a grain.
So, this is already cooked lentil,
and then pork meat,
we're gonna cook it down a little bit more.
I'm trying to think about kind of hybrid way
of the maybe Italian risotto,
and then our version of the fermented soybean stew.
I try to think about all different kinds of the flavor,
saltiness, sweetness, bitter, sweet, sour, umami,
and then also I'm trying to think about
what other fermented good in the walk-in cooler
are gonna be well paired with this.
For the protein side, I'm gonna make a fried lobster.
The batter is typical, but we put it
in the nitrogen charger,
it also really make gloppy aerated, better.
So we are gonna deep fry the lobster.
[bright exciting music]
Mm.
Actually, it's better than I expected.
Anyone want to try this one?
We could increase salinity.
Yeah, increase the salinity.
The sweetness is good,
it's actually really sweet- Sweetness?
[Chef] Not a lot of sweetness.
Actually, I like this one more.
I'm thinking about to glaze
with some kind of fermented fruit-
Uh-huh. Or baste over jus,
and then glaze it, and then it can go well with a solo,
but it can also go well with any kind of protein, I think.
So this one, try to have it all together,
like a grain and then soup and then the pickle radish.
I accent it with olive oil,
but I'm thinking about something in my mind,
it's kind of lemongrass,
but we are using lemongrass in the black cod.
You can use a liquid.
For the foam, yeah. Yeah, 'cause it has
a nice pink color. That's also a good idea.
We make a lighter idea, yeah, that's a good idea too.
Great tasting menu session with our team, part of the team,
so everything was good,
but there are absolutely more things to work on it.
And then now it's four o'clock,
it is almost about to have family meal.
It's 5:15, everyone is back from the break,
and then we have 15 minutes to open.
So, we're gonna have pre-shift meeting now.
So tonight we have 69 covers,
we have 11 birthdays, one anniversary,
we have one vegan at 7:30,
and no other vegetarians tonight.
Have a good service, everyone.
Good service. Have a good service.
[hands clapping]
Right now, we are about to start the service,
so my role today is expo.
Manage all the tickets,
and also dispense all the dishes to the right table,
and then I need to make sure also dishes clean,
this is just wipe the plate.
I mean, I don't mind to do the expo,
but sometime kind of joke, they don't like me in the expo,
sometime I made a mistake.
So, first guest is about to arrive.
Thank you so much, we need to be ready,
so you guys need to be out now.
Bye.
[bright exciting music]
