Press Releases
KOREATOWN: A Cookbook
“Deuki Hong and Matt Rodbard have given us a deep and important look at the people, places and cuisine that are reshaping what we want for dinner. Koreatown thrills with flavors that will change your life.”
—Anthony Bourdain, author and television host of Parts Unknown
“Eating Korean food is the best legal high in the world and Koreatown is the gateway drug you need!”
—Gary Shteyngart, author of The Russian Debutante’s Handbook and Little Failure: A Memoir
For two years, chef Deuki Hong and writer Matt Rodbard gathered recipes, stories, in-the-moment photos and thoughtful interviews from Korean American neighborhoods all across the country. Koreatown: A Cookbook (Clarkson Potter/Publishers; on sale February 16, 2016; $30.00; hardcover) is their portrait of a culture, of a community that works hard, feeds generously and parties late and often.
There are nearly two million people of Korean heritage living in the United States today, spread out in Koreatowns all across the country—from sprawling Los Angeles and vertically rising New York City to smaller dots on the map. In each of these communities, big and small, society revolves around clusters of restaurants that serve the traditional foods of the motherland.
In Koreatown we follow Hong and Rodbard as they travel the United States from New York to Washington, D.C., to Atlanta, Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. They chronicle the stories and recipes for everything from beloved Korean barbecue favorites like bulgogi and kalbi to the lesser-known aspects of Korean American food and drink, including pojangmacha, tented outdoor restaurants in Seoul that are redefined indoors in the United States. Essays and recipes detail dishes such as dakdoritang (spicy chicken stew), hoedeopbap (Korean-style sashimi over rice), gamjatang (pork neck and potato soup) and kongbiji jjigae (ground soybean stew).
Also featured are Korean-inspired recipes and interviews with chefs driving today’s leading culinary discussion: Sean Brock, David Chang, Eric Ripert, Danny Bowien, Paul Qui, Edward Lee, Hugh Acheson, Stuart Brioza, Edward Kim, Amanda Cohen, Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo. Journalists and celebrity Korean food fans interviewed include Pulitzer Prize-winning restaurant reviewer Jonathan Gold, Linkin Park’s Joe Hahn, TV host Andrew Zimmern, Fall Out Boy frontman Patrick Stump and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Adam Johnson.
From calm morning soups to karaoke-fuel noodles and barbeque, Koreatown is a soju-slamming, pepper-pounding, kimchi-everything adventure. Try a taste of Koreatown here with the recipe for Spicy Pork Spare Ribs: http://www.tastebook.com/koreatown-cookbook/.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS:
DEUKI HONG is chef of the smash-hit Korean barbecue restaurant Kang Ho Dong Baekjong in Manhattan’s Koreatown. He began his cooking career at fifteen as a line cook under Aaron Sanchez at Centrico before heading to the Culinary Institute of America. After graduating near the top of his class, he cooked under David Chang at Momofuku Noodle Bar before spending time on the line at three-star Michelin Jean-Georges. He was recognized as an Eater Young Gun and was named on Forbes 30 Under 30 for 2016.
MATT RODBARD has written about restaurants, chefs, drinks and music for over a decade. His writing has appeared in Bon Appetit, Saveur, Travel + Leisure, and on Tasting Table and he currently serves as contributing editor at Food Republic. He’s the author of Korean Restaurant Guide: New York City, a comprehensive guidebook detailing the forty best Korean restaurants in New York City.
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KOREATOWN
A Cookbook
by Deuki Hong & Matt Rodbard
Clarkson Potter/Publishers
On sale February 16, 2016; $30.00
ISBN: 978-0-8041-8613-1; Hardcover