Seoul Patch Starts Serving Bulgogi LTs Today

By Jonathan Kauffman Wed., Sep. 21 2011 at 9:20 AM

Categories: Opening

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Kenichi Kawashima

Seoul Patch's Korean fried chicken po'boy.

Not long ago, Eric Ehler, who'd been a cook and sous-chef at Serpentine for three years, took a break from cooking to hang out in Seoul. "I didn't just love the cuisine of Seoul," says Ehler, who was born in Korea but had spent his life in the States. "I also wondered: What is this crazy Americanization of everything? Because of the American influence on the country after the Korean War, I saw a lot of foods there like corn dogs wrapped in french fries. Real Korean American food."

Ehler came back inspired to start up his own Korean American restaurant: Seoul Patch. He started out with a popup dinner at Serpentine last week, and his weekday lunch popup -- serving out of Rocketfish in Potrero Hill from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. -- launches today.

Seoul Patch's Eric Ehler

There will be no corn dogs wrapped in French fries, or even iconic Seoul street food like tteokbokgi or hotteok. Ehler's starting off with a BLT made with bulgogi, a Korean fried chicken po'boy, and ramyun with pork-bone broth and kimchi -- and because of his Serpentine-Slow Food connections, most of the produce will be sourced from smaller farms.

Ehler says he's sticking to the familiar for now, and hopes to branch out from there -- specifically, with more dinner popups in October. "I think the city needs more creative Korean food made by serious cooks," he adds. Agreed.

Seoul Patch at Rocketfish: 1469 18th St. (at Connecticut), seoulpatchsf.tumblr.com. Twitter: @seoulpatchsf

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