A local spin on Gangnam Style: New restaurant in downtown Spokane features Korean street food

“Gangnam Style” just got a lot more local and a lot more relevant than the 2012 K-pop song.

In July, Les Kim and his wife, Sunhwa Han, opened Gangnam Style Korean restaurant in downtown Spokane.

The eatery highlights Korean street food and pub culture. The name is a nod to the ritzy neighborhood in Seoul, South Korea, that pop singer Psy made famous in his hit song.

Les, who moved to Spokane nine years ago, is hoping the third time is the charm.

He previously owned two restaurants in Georgia. One was lost to a hurricane, the other to COVID.

“I’m 52,” he said, chuckling. “This is my last chance at getting it right.”

Located at the site of the former Thai on First, the owner did a complete interior remodel. The bright, airy dining room features birch wood benches and laminate tables, built by Les.

“I love to do this type of thing,” he said. “I wanted it to be like a traditional Korean home.”

Some tables feature induction burners. The cooktops are used for shareable menu items like Chuncheon dak galbi (spicy stir-fried chicken). All the food comes fully cooked, but we enjoyed seeing the cheese melt atop our Chuncheon dak galbi and watching the red sauce simmer.

“I wanted customers to experience cooking at the table like we do in Korea,” said Les.

Another unique feature is the call button at each table.

“It summons your server,” he said. “Every restaurant in Korea has this. It’s fun!”

It’s also extremely convenient. When you press the green button, a doorbell-like chime sounds, and your table number lights up on a wall over the bar. No more trying to catch your server’s eye when you’d like a refill or the check.

Gangnam Style is truly a family business.

“I’m combining the flavors of my wife’s side of the family with the taste of my mother’s side,” Les said. “I cook and my wife does all of the sauces and the tasting – she’s quality control!”

Their son, Caleb Kim, temporarily relocated to Spokane from New York City to help launch the restaurant.

“We begged Caleb to come,” Les said. “He’s so good with people and helps us with social media and marketing.”

He also created the bar menu, which highlights cocktails made with yuzu syrup and soju, an alcohol distilled from rice.

“Soju is a traditional Korean spirit similar to vodka,” said Les. “In Korea, if you have a hard day, you drink soju. If you want to celebrate, you drink soju.”

During our visit, Caleb helped us navigate the menu, which features colored photos of the dishes and drinks.

I enjoyed the refreshing tang of yuzu (a tart citrus fruit) in a margarita that incorporated tequila with grapefruit soju. My husband pronounced his yuzu highball made with bourbon, delightful.

“More than half of our ingredients come from Korea,” Caleb said. “We make frequent trips with a trailer to Seattle to bring them here.”

He mentioned nonalcoholic drinks like the dalgona latte, topped with Korean honeycomb toffee, and the sweet corn latte have proven popular with guests.

Our meal started with two shareable appetizers: Tteokbokki, chewy rice cakes simmered in sweet and spicy Gochujang sauce, and a selection of chicken wings with distinctly Korean flavor and crunch.

“Korean fried chicken is different than American,” Caleb said. “We marinate the chicken in the spices, and our batter uses potato or corn starch instead of flour. Koreans love their sauces, and the chicken has got to hold up. We use fresh, not frozen chicken, and we’re the only place in town that serves Korean fried chicken.”

While spicy stir-fried chicken simmered on the induction burner, we dug into some of the best bulgogi we’d ever eaten. The marinated Black Angus beef is thinly sliced in-house and served with steamed rice and Korean side dishes including kimchi, fish cakes and fried tofu cubes.

“The bulgogi recipe is from my mother’s side of the family,” Les said.

A winter menu featuring bulgogi hot pot and Army stew is in the works. The stew features Spam, sausage and baked beans and has an interesting history.

“Army stew was born out of poverty,” Caleb said. “The Korean people were starving during the war, and soldiers from the military bases would give them cans of Spam and baked beans, and packages of American cheese. They weren’t sure what to make with it, so they cooked it in kimchi broth. Eventually, it became a popular bar food–it’s a truly authentic Korean dish.”

Authentic is what the Kim family often hears about their food. They’ve been surprised by how many diners have connections to Korea.

“They say thank you to me in Korean,” Les said. “They say it brings them happy memories.”

For him, that’s the best part of owning a restaurant.

“My customers’ happiness and satisfaction make me happy,” he said.

Contact Cindy Hval at dchval@juno.com