San Ho Won pushes Korean barbecue. Grilling takes place in a custom-built central grill, the cuts finished by a practiced hand rather than at a smoky tabletop setup. While it would be a mistake to visit the San Francisco restaurant and not get a charcoal-kissed slab of meat — the center-cut beef tongue was savory and tender — the rest of the menu is just as vital. Chef Corey Lee, whose groundbreaking restaurant Benu jump-started Korean cuisine’s influence on American fine dining, and his co-chef, Jeong-In Hwang, are taking Korean food in America in a new direction, one whose simplicity might just obscure its daring. “We’re not trying to recreate the best version of these dishes we’ve ever tasted,” says Lee, “but the best version in our imaginations.”
Lee and Hwang’s galbi mandu transforms the dumplings from half-moons to long rectangular packages, maximizing the amount of surface area to crisp; they boast an almost profligate skirt. The herbaceous, slightly sweet flavor of locally grown perilla leaves is revelatory as kimchi. The chefs ground their fantasy with an emphasis on context; servers stand ready to chat about the North Korean origins of a white kimchi stew special and diners can peruse an extensive glossary, too. By presenting Korean cuisine with the same detail-oriented passion usually reserved for Italian and French cooking in the States, Lee has once again blazed a path for where Korean food in America will go next. — Meghan McCarron
San Ho Won
San Francisco, California
Creative director
Nat Belkov
Editors
Erin DeJesus, Lesley Suter
Editorial lead
Hillary Dixler Canavan
Copy editors
Nadia Q. Ahmad, Rachel P. Kreiter
Engagement editors
Kaitlin Bray, Terri Ciccone, Avery Dalal, Frances Dumlao, Kristen Kornbluth, Mira Milla
San ho Won
2170 Bryant Street
San Francisco, California
Photography by Ellen Mary Cronin
Best New Restaurants
's
2022
Writers
Monica Burton, Cathy Chaplin, Nadia Chaudhury, Martha Cheng, Erin DeJesus, Hillary Dixler Canavan, Dayna Evans, Brooke Jackson-Glidden, Justine Jones, Matthew Kang, Rachel P. Kreiter, Bettina Makalintal, Meghan McCarron, Amy McCarthy, Beth McKibben, Tierney Plumb, Lauren Saria, Jaya Saxena, Candice Woo
Photographers
Dina Ávila, Melissa Blackmon, Gab Bonghi, Ellen Mary Cronin, Steve Czerniak, Danielle Del Valle, Sydney A. Foster, Chona Kasinger, Wonho Frank Lee, Rey Lopez, Sarah Natsumi Moore, Kimberly Motos, Jarod Opperman, Alex Staniloff, Caroline Yang
Fact checker
Kelsey Lannin
Project Manager
Lesley Suter
Special thanks to
Nicole Adlman, Lille Allen, Missy Frederick, Brenna Houck, Ellie Krupnick, Dane McMillan, Lauren Starke, Stephanie Wu, and the entire Eater cities network of editors and reporters
Best New Restaurants
's
2022
Best New Restaurants
's
2022
Best New Restaurants
's
2022
Best New Restaurants
's
2022
Best New Restaurants
's
2022
Best New Restaurants
's
2022