A former Smorgasburg vendor brings Korean-inspired burgers to USC Village

Los Angeles Times

3 days ago

Josh Kim and Sam Hong had successful careers in tech — but in 2022, they decided to start making burgers, bought a few portable griddles and did their first pop-up at Thank You Coffee in Chinatown. About a year and a half later, the pair earned a vendor spot at Smorgasburg, where they served 450 burgers on their first day of service inspired by their Korean American childhoods — think pork belly sandwiches with sesame mayo and kimchi jam, and a smashburger patty topped with a tempura-fried enoki mushroom, yuzu mayonnaise and pickled red onions.
'I say it's like exploring cultural confusion,' Kim said of Softies' menu. 'Sam and I are both Korean American, so we grew up at home eating Korean dishes. But whenever we're out, we wanted to eat burgers and pizza and whatnot. So it's kind of trying to figure out what that looks like.'
Kim and Hong soft opened their bricks-and-mortar location of Softies Burger in the USC Village on July 6, where they formerly worked at Cafe Dulce. Owner James Choi put in a good word for them to the landlord who, after going to Smorgasburg to try their food, offered them a spot at the campus-adjacent shopping center.
The newly-opened burger joint has a few new items on the menu, including a classic New York-style chopped cheese sandwich, a chicken Caesar salad with spicy panko breadcrumbs and shrimp paste and a selection of sodas, along with drip coffee and cold brew. Desserts pull from childhood nostalgia, including a diner-inspired lime pie with yuzu and a miso-caramel banoffee pie.
Leading up to the opening, Kim and Hong started a GoFundMe that raised over $18,000 for restaurant equipment, furniture and other inventory. Neither of the pair are chefs, though Kim sees his time working in tech for OpenTable and DoorDash as 'data gathering' for what he didn't realize at the time would become his own restaurant.
The three burgers on the menu hail from Kim and Hong's Smorgasburg days: the Cali, their take on a classic In-N-Out burger, doctored up with roasted garlic and caramelized onions (a nod to Korean barbecue toppings); the Japanese Peruvian-inspired Aji burger, a smashburger patty topped with pickled jalapenos and a cilantro, garlic and lime mayonnaise; and a rotating third option, which is currently the Crispy Shroom burger.
'We are very specific about the fact that we're not chefs,' Kim said. 'The kind of restaurant we want to build, it's not too stuffy … We just want this space, especially for the USC students, to feel like their restaurant.'
Kim and Hong designed the 2,600-square-foot space to look like an old-school diner with modern Korean and Japanese influences, pairing retro barstools with spherical chandeliers, sleek white tables and wooden booths and chairs.
Softies Burger is currently open seven days a week from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.
835 W. Jefferson Blvd. Unit 1710, Los Angeles, https://softiesburger.square.site
The hit FX series 'The Bear' has given the iconic Chicago beef sandwich renewed time under the national spotlight. On the heels of the show's fourth season, the dish, which features tender slices of roast beef dripping with au jus on a crusty roll, is back at the forefront of diners' minds — and Angelenos are about to get a taste.
The Beverly Grove location of Uncle Paulie's Deli will host Mr. Beef — the Chicago deli that inspired the Berzatto family's restaurant on the award-winning drama-comedy — for a pop-up on July 19 and 20.
'Last year was such a success we had to run it back,' Uncle Paulie's wrote in an Instagram post of its former collaboration with Mr. Beef.
Mr. Beef's signature Italian beef sandwich, topped with giardiniera and dipped in au jus, will be offered at Uncle Paulie's on Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
A new destination for fried chicken has arrived in the Arts District. Chef Joshua Skenes, who formerly led the two Michelin-starred Saison in San Francisco and now-closed, one Michelin-starred Angler in the Beverly Center, opened Happies Hand Made on June 6. Skenes throws his fried chicken on the grill before serving it a la carte, in sandwiches or on top of a crispy waffle alongside tallow fries.
The concept is centered around high-quality comfort food, with limited drops and an evolving menu. Happies Hand Made also offers soft serve, with flavors such as wild strawberry, passion fruit and butterscotch, alongside cold brew, tea drinks and house-made sodas, including the Yuzu-Up and Kumquat Cream Top.
Happies Hand Made is open on Wednesday through Sunday from 12 to 8 p.m.
427 S. Hewitt St., Los Angeles, happieshandmade.com
After wowing customers with its 14-hour-smoked brisket at Culver City's Citizen Public Market for the last nine months, Smokey Chance BBQ will begin a permanent residence at the food hall beginning July 17.
'Before, we literally took over a corner, which was a seating area at the market,' said chef Derrell Smith. 'Now we'll have the opportunity to actually have a full, built-out kitchen [where] we can expand our menu and be able to experiment how we wanted to before.'
Smith, pitmaster Jeff Chen and Darren Wong, who Smith described as the 'brain' of Smokey Chance, will serve sliders and other new dishes next week, alongside mainstays that include a brisket Cuban sandwich, brisket cheesesteak, and cornbread made with beef tallow and topped with Calabrian chile honey butter.
'Our barbecue sauce is made with gochujang and jerk — Jeff and Darren are both Taiwanese and Chinese, and my grandma taught me to cook, and she was from North Carolina,' Smith said. '[We're] taking all of these regional ingredients and turning them into something that's just fun and whimsical.'
Jikoni, a summer pop-up from 'AfriCali' cookbook author Kiano Moju, has been extended at Citizen Public Market for the rest of the summer. Moju puts a California twist on the Kenyan and Nigerian food she grew up eating in Oakland, offering a rotating menu with dishes like Swahili biriyani and saucy coconut butter beans with chapati, along with mishkaki, skewers popular in Tanzania and Kenya.
'When I was on the book tour, people kept asking, 'Where can I try food like this?' ... I thought it could be fun to do a pop-up where we bring the book to life with some of the recipes,' Moju said.
After a successful pop-up at Melody wine bar this spring, Moju said that Smith told her about a temporary spot opening up at Citizen Public. Her initial two-week residency was extended to a month and just last week, the food hall announced that the Jikoni pop-up would remain through August.
'It's really fun, but it's also still incredibly crazy because I thought I'd just be writing recipes and telling people how to cook, and here I am running a restaurant,' Moju said.
Smokey Chance BBQ is open Friday and Saturday from 12 to 8 p.m. and Sunday from 12 to 7 p.m, and will begin Thursday service on July 17. Jikoni is open on Wednesday through Saturday from 12 to 9 p.m. and Sunday from 12 to 8 p.m.