Los Angeles Spotlight: Baroo

Baroo in Los Angeles is a modern Korean restaurant known for its focus on fermentation and its “free spirit” approach, operated by husband and wife team Kwang Uh and Mina Park.¹

🌟 What Makes Baroo Unique

Baroo’s uniqueness stems from several key aspects:

• Fermentation Focus: The restaurant places a strong emphasis on ancient and experimental fermentation techniques, which is central to the innovative flavors in their contemporary Korean cuisine.²

   

• Chef’s Philosophy: Chef Kwang Uh’s background, including time spent at a Korean Buddhist temple with the revered nun Jeong Kwan, informs the food and its focus on connectedness and energy.³ The current tasting menu is often themed around the Buddhist cycle of life.⁴

   

• The Reopening (Baroo 2.0): The original Baroo (2015-2018) was a small, minimalist, no-signage restaurant in a strip mall that became a national sensation.⁵ The current iteration, which reopened in September 2023 in the Arts District, is a larger, more polished space that retains the signature playfulness and depth of flavor, while moving from an a la carte menu to a tasting menu format.⁶

   

• Commitment to Sustainability: Baroo donates 1% of all sales to Zero Foodprint, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting regenerative farming and healthy soil initiatives.⁷

   

📜 History and Significant Events

• Original Opening (2015): Baroo opened in a minimal space in a Hollywood strip mall, quickly gaining national attention for its innovative, affordable grain bowls and focus on fermented dishes.⁸

   

• National Recognition: The original Baroo received a James Beard Award nomination and was named a Best New Restaurant by Bon Appétit magazine.⁹ Late culinary critic Jonathan Gold called its food “a taste of the future.”

   

• Initial Closure (2018): The original location permanently closed, which was met with an “outpouring of love and mourning” from regulars.¹⁰

   

• Buddhist Temple Influence: Chef Kwang Uh spent time at Baekyangsa Temple in South Korea, assisting the nun Jeong Kwan with her ferments and cooking.¹¹ It was there that he met his future wife and business partner, Mina Park.¹²

   

• Reopening (Baroo 2.0): Baroo reopened in the Arts District in September 2023 with a new, refined space and a tasting menu concept.¹³

   

• LA Times Restaurant of the Year (2024): The new iteration was named the Los Angeles Times Restaurant of the Year in 2024.¹⁴

   

• Jeong Kwan Event: In a significant event, the couple’s mentor, the Buddhist nun Jeong Kwan, hosted a sold-out class and dinner series at the new restaurant, demonstrating their deep connection to the philosophy behind the cuisine.¹⁵

   

🍽️ Highlight Menu Items

Baroo currently offers a multi-course tasting menu (often around $125 per person as of late 2025), which changes seasonally.¹⁶ They also offer Korean sool (traditional alcohol) and non-alcoholic pairings.¹⁷ Vegetarian and vegan tasting menus are available with at least 24 hours advance notice.

Dishes are often given evocative, poetic names, which sometimes correspond to the Buddhist life cycles.¹⁸ Highlights mentioned in reviews include:

• “Dae — 帶 — DAE: sometimes nomadic”: A soy-braised black cod dish with papaya, dongchimi (radish kimchi), and lemongrass buttermilk.¹⁹

   

• “Yang — 養 — YANG: a lotus flower in the mud”: A dish featuring a beautiful scallop, often with wild rice puff and seaweed like maessangi or gim.²⁰

   

• “Wang — 旺 — WANG: remain in between”: A protein course, which may be a pork collar or a Brandt beef short rib ssam (wrap), served with kimchi and jus.²¹

   

• Dessert (“Jeol — 絶 — JEOL: wait for another with doubt”):²² A course often featuring playful and unique ingredients like strawberry, pistachio, rocher, and makgeolli (Korean rice wine).²³

   

💬 Customer Feedback

Customer feedback for Baroo is generally highly positive, praising its inventive flavors, unbeatable value for a fine-dining tasting menu, and the personal, caring service from the owners.

• Positive Feedback: Reviewers frequently call the dining experience “relaxed refinement,” “thoughtfully curated,” and “delicious.”²⁴ The Korean sool pairing is often highlighted as exceptional.²⁵ Many note the high level of hospitality, such as co-owner Mina Park’s attention to detail, like writing personalized notes for special occasions. It is often described as feeling “uncompromisingly Korean” while elevating the cuisine.

   

• Constructive Feedback: Some reviewers, particularly those who loved the original, less formal a la carte version, have expressed a preference for the old format. Others have occasionally noted that some of the highly conceptual dishes were “forgettable” or that the servers’ explanations of the Korean ingredients and concepts were sometimes difficult for non-experts to fully grasp.²⁶

   

📍 Contact and Location Information