By Elena Kadvany
E-mail Elena Kadvany
About this blog: I am a perpetually hungry twenty-something journalist, born and raised in Menlo Park and currently working at the Palo Alto Weekly as education and youth staff writer. I graduated from USC with a major in Spanish and a minor in jo...
(More)About this blog: I am a perpetually hungry twenty-something journalist, born and raised in Menlo Park and currently working at the Palo Alto Weekly as education and youth staff writer. I graduated from USC with a major in Spanish and a minor in journalism. Though my first love is journalism, food is a close second. I am constantly on the lookout for new restaurants to try, building an ever-expanding "to eat" list. As a journalist, I'm always trolling news sources and social media websites with an eye for local food news, from restaurant openings and closings to emerging food trends. When I was a teenager growing up in Menlo Park, I always drove up to the city on weekends with the singular purpose of finding a better meal than I could at home. But in the past year or so, the Peninsula's food culture has been totally transformed, with many new restaurants opening and a continuous stream of San Francisco restaurants coming south to open Peninsula outposts. Don't navigate this food boom hungry and alone! Feed me your tips on new chefs and eats and together we'll share them with the broader community.
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A fast-casual Korean restaurant in San Jose has opened a second location in downtown Redwood City.
Hom Korean Kitchen opened in November at 2639 Broadway St.
Owner Konan Pi, who is part Korean and part Chinese, said he grew up in the restaurant industry in Ohio. He eventually moved to California, which led to jobs at Zuni Cafe and Boulettes Larder in San Francisco.
He opened the first Hom Korean Kitchen two years ago. Everything is made from scratch with locally sourced ingredients. The goal is to embody home-cooking, Pi said, and make Korean cuisine more "approachable."
"It's called 'Hom' because I want people to feel like they're in my home and I'm cooking for them," Pi said. "I wouldn't serve you anything I wouldn't eat myself."
The
menu allows customers to build their own bowl from rice, salad, proteins like braised beef and barbecue chicken and "banchan," or Korean small dishes. There's also bibimbap, nori chip tacos and beef-bone soup as well as vegan and vegetarian options.
More locations are on the way: Pi plans to open a third location in Santa Cruz next year and five more in the Bay Area over the next several years.
