Chef couple from Michelin-starred hit return with heartfelt new Bay Area restaurant

San Francisco Chronicle​

a day ago

A chilled noodle dish at Yeobo, Darling, opening June 13 in Menlo Park, contains cultural multitudes.
The chewy, fresh somyun, Korean wheat noodles, will be dressed with perilla oil and topped with aerated pine nut milk, a reference to a comforting childhood pine nut porridge for co-owner and first-generation Korean American Michael Kim. Yet the sweet, rich milk is also reminiscent of Taiwanese soy milk, a staple for the restaurant's other culinary half, Meichih Kim.
The couple are known best for Maum, an acclaimed Korean tasting menu restaurant in Palo Alto that won a Michelin star before shutting down due to the pandemic. They also ran a now-closed Korean-Taiwanese stand at a Peninsula food hall, and previously worked in some of the country's top restaurants. Yeobo, Darling, they said, is their most personal venture yet. The a la carte menu is an ode to the many kitchens they've trained in, from childhood through fine dining restaurants, like Tom Collichio's Craft in Los Angeles, where they met.
Take a scallop and cauliflower dish ($39), a callback to a trend in the early 2000s. These were their formative cooking years; before Craft, Meichih was at the three-Michelin-starred Per Se in New York City and Benu as well as Michael Mina's RN74 in San Francisco; Michael at the Michelin-starred SPQR and Namu Gaji in San Francisco. At Yeobo, Darling, they'll pair a cauliflower puree with roasted scallops and a brown butter and black bean sauce, a play on a classic Korean-Chinese sauce often served with seafood.
'It's a nod to our mentors and our experiences but doing it in our way, which is the ethos of this whole restaurant,' Meichih said.
Dishes inspired by classic Korean preparations are on the menu, such as kalbi: American wagyu, marinated for 48 hours, grilled and accompanied by seasonal banchan and a petite salad ($72). Another staple, beef tartare ($12), will be seasoned with smoked soy sauce and served in a tartlette.
Taiwanese influence is also woven throughout. Chopped chicken liver mousse served in a rice shell, garnished with roasted pineapple, puffed rice and cilantro, references Taiwanese pineapple cake. They've transformed lu rou fan, a classic, homey Taiwanese dish of braised pork over rice, into a cheesy lasagna, made with crispy edged chrysanthemum pasta sheets, minced pork and béchamel sauce.
There will also be humble chicken wings ($20), a recipe they've been tinkering with for years. While many Korean restaurants gravitate toward a thick, crunchy batter dripping in sauce, Michael prefers a thin crust, crackly from a dry fry with a light soy-garlic glaze.
Both Kims were raised between worlds, they have said. Michael grew up in Los Angeles' Koreatown and spent summers in Korea; Meichih was born in Tokyo to Taiwanese parents and was raised in Orange County.
'There are a lot of people that can relate, growing up as Asian Americans, having that bicultural identity,' Meichih said. 'You're always straddling two things,' Meichih said.
Yeobo, Darling is part of a wave of new restaurants in Menlo Park, and several nearby purveyors are creating special products for the business. Instead of typical table bread, Redwood City's the Baker Next Door is baking a laminated scallion loaf inspired by a scallion pancake, paired with seasonal accompaniments like butter flavored with rou song (meat floss). The Kims worked with Iseya Craft Noodle, a small South Bay operation run by a Japanese software engineer turned noodle obsessive, to conceive their ideal somyun. They tested different perilla seeds, starches and hydrations to create a custom noodle from perilla seeds and arrowroot starch. Eventually, Redwood City's Korean Onki Bakery will make milk bread for a hambak steak burger.
Dessert will star slices of carrot cake with layers of cream cheese mousse, a side project that Meichih Kim became known for during the pandemic, and soft serve with rotating toppings ($14). When the couple travels to Asia, they eat as much soft serve as possible.
'We're trying to mimic that: highest quality milk possible, playing around with textures,' Michael said. 'I'm very particular about mouthfeel, how it melts.'
Korean master sommelier Kyungmoon Kim developed a list of wines and sool, a category of Korean alcoholic beverages including soju and makgeolli. Low-ABV drinks will come from Nick Wu of Bar Mood in Taipei, named one of Asia's 50 Best Bars. Many of them draw on Taiwan's famed tea culture. Wu comes from a family of tea farmers, and his connections helped the Kims source teas directly for the restaurant. An oolong tea infusion is mixed with lemongrass and lemon balm for the Natural Oasis, while another drink marries tonic water with green tea and lime. Serving the tea cold coaxes out nuanced flavors and aromas that you wouldn't get when it's hot, Michael said. 'It brings a whole new level to the cocktails,' he said.
Yeobo, Darling seats 50 people in its dining room with cream-colored walls, suede banquettes, lantern lights and gauzy curtains separating tables. A tiny, four-seat bar is made from veined rose, charcoal stone and birds eye maple.
The name of the Kims' first restaurant was a spiritual interpretation of 'heart' in Korean. Their second, Bǎo Bèi, honored the term of endearment they use for their young son. Yeobo, Darling, meanwhile, refers to a sentimental Korean nickname, similar to honey or sweetheart, between spouses.
'It's absolutely the most personal' restaurant, Michael said. 'The name says it.'
Yeobo, Darling. Opening June 13. 5-9 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday, Friday-Saturday 5-9:30 p.m. 827 Santa Cruz Ave., Menlo Park. yeobodarling.com