Simon Kim Is Building a Fine Dining Empire Out of Korean BBQ

meat, clouds of smoke, and a grill you work yourself. Korean barbecue in America was never short on flavor. But by the standards of fine dining, perhaps it was short on ambition. After all, Ktown barbecue spots just don't exist on the Michelin Guide. But restaurant tour Simon Kim knew that was a mistake. Born and raised in Soul, South Korea, Simon Kim arrived in America with something most young immigrants carry, a profound emotional connection to food. — I was always very fascinated by a Korean barbecue, uh, the fun and fire, the conviviiality of it. And fast forward, I worked for some of the amazing French chefs like Thomas Keller and Jean Gour. And I think there where I learned kind of that elegance and the excellence of fine dining. After earning a Michelin star at his first restaurant, Piora, the finances collapsed. Kim found himself fundraising for a concept most investors couldn't picture. A fine dining Korean steakhouse in Manhattan. — Fundraising for a fancy Korean barbecue restaurant was borderline impossible. So, I had a really hard time uh raising capital. I was under really, really high stress and the risk was so big. If I actually went bust with coat, my life would be over. You don't get third chance. Korean barbecue as a name suggests was a very casual experience but I saw a big room. What about the people who are looking for something a little more elevated? Uh same thing as uh Italians or French uh tratoria and osteria more casual or French has a beastro more casual but they develop a little more for people who are entertaining guests a little more of an important function than they go to either restaurante or brezerie or a little more developed. And I think that's what I saw. I wanted to create a Korean steakhouse that's a little more developed than uh Korean barbecue. One of my mentor at that point told me, "Forget about you. If you think this will exist and this will flourish without you involved, then that is a vision that will happen and you happen to be the one that's driving it. " And I asked a question, will Korean food come to a vogue, come to a place where excellence and refinement and elevated uh cuisine will exist within Korean uh cuisine? And the answer was astounding. Yes. How do we actually extract and distill the best of both worlds and put it together from American steakhouse where beef is king? So we procured we went to uh New York City's most coveted meat purveyors where they're supplying the top of the top uh steakouses and we procured uh the best quality beef. And there's no great American steakhouse in my humble opinion without a drying room. And I was heavily inspired by my favorite steakhouse that is Peter Luger. But a Korean barbecue restaurant. Uh what's beautiful about is you have a grill like a steak bite. It's like a Mercedes-Benz. It's beautiful. It's amazing the first bite, but it depreciates in value the moment it leaves the char broiler. Uh whereas we brought the char boiler right to your table. So each bite of a steak is a brand new Mercedes-Benz. — And for diners who might feel intimidated navigating the world of Korean cuisine, coat created a solution. The Butcher's Feast. Four cuts of beef from lean hanger to dry-aged ribeye, American Wagyu, and a soy marinated short rib. Plus all the sides, a rotating cast of vegetables, fermentss, and condiments that exist to cut, compliment, and refresh between bites of beef. — We have fermented sesame leaves. We have kakugi, which is um radish. We have chiote with jalapeno. We have cauliflower with garlic scape. We have uh some sesame leaves, uh red leaf lettuce and radicios and all the good stuff. Pickled radish. We also have a little bit like slightly blanched okra in sweet wasabi soy sauce. We have some kimchi. Uh we have dryaged fat. We have amazing salt blend. — But before the beef, there's a dish that Kim calls his personal favorite on the entire menu. And it starts with the grill being used in a way no one else does. The dish is Coat's elevated take on Kimap, the humble Korean picnic roll. Kimpab literally direct translation is uh seaweed and rice. But of course we want to make it nice and sexy and fancy. So what we wanted to do is um really delightful ingredients. Bluefin tuna tartar uni the sea urchin caviar as well. You take this raw seaweed. You grill that. A little bit of rice. reddish and then little tuna caviar. So we have a little bit of soy sauce. And here you have your own kimp. After enjoying a glass of wine or two later, it's on to the main event. — So, we have something really special. So, this is a tasting of Japanese A5 Wagyu. So, here we have Miyazaki, Coobe beef, and sai Wagyu. Now, the famous coobe beef. This is the most priced Japanese A5 Wagyu that we have.

This is Miyazaki Wagyu. The texture of Miyazaki is a little more crunchier. So more tusome. It almost feels the most compared to all three of them most like American beef. Wow. Sai has the subtleness of fat. The texture on the meat is very soft. Honestly, no matter which way you go, you cannot go wrong. — Within months of opening, Coat received a Michelin star. The kind of validation that defines a restaurant's position within a competitive industry. — With Pora, I think I made a mistake. like how do I become more of a Michelin star restaurant and there's this kind of idea of what Michelin star restaurant ought to be and you kind of go that route and I made that mistake and ultimately I end up closing the restaurant from the inception I had a big vision for code you know what chef no has done with um uh his restaurants and his empire really inspired me and being able to create a experience customer experience where I can bring so much delight to our customers and be able to place have a place where our staff really learns and thrives in. If we can create that, we thought that we can go to different places and be able to adopt their culture into our coat brand and be able to continuously expand. — Coat has also launched new locations in Miami, Singapore, and most recently Las Vegas inside the Venetian hotel occupying a space spanning 18,000 square ft. — We wanted to create a vibe where it feels almost like a club restaurant. You can get loud. You can put your hair down and enjoy a Korean barbecue the casual way, if you will, but still be able to kind of dress well. — Under his gracious hospitality management group, Kim has also launched Cocodak, a Korean fried chicken and Champagne concept. And that fire is still burning. Next up, 550 Madison Avenue in New York City, the former Sony building, a 15,000 square ft three-story flagship that Kim calls his true masterpiece. on the first floor is really we kind of treat this as a grand central. It is a it is the portal. So, everyone can come in. Everyone feels very comfortable. We're going to have one of the sickest bar programming that I can possibly think of. So, I'm really excited for that bougie terminal, if you will. And from there, you can go downstairs to really sultry, even sexier version of coat. uh on the basement, high energy, lots of elements, lots of um plants, water, red lights, uh very elemental and immersive experience. And then if you want to go to the sushi restaurant from the terminal, you take the elevator, you teleport up to um Streets of Ginsa, but it's not also a replica of um sushi restaurant from Ginsa. It's actually a hybrid of Gotham City and Street of Ginsa come together creating once again when we always try to create something. We want to create a unique masterpiece is our vision and the goal. And I'm so grateful to my team that actualizes for us. — Korean barbecue is and will always be about the table. The people you're with, what's being shared, and what it means to be there together. And for Simon Kim, the vision will always be about family. I think it's important mission for us to be part of community whether that is uh through city harvest where we help our hungry New Yorkers being fed whether that is uh apex for youth we're providing mentorship to underprivileged Asian children success is kind of like food you know when you share it becomes more wholesome — for cheddar I'm Chris Castellino