A lot of folks often ask us how collaborations come about between chefs, brands, producers, etc. Most often, we are friends in some capacity…industry buds, partners in the field to some extent, a pal of a pal whom we linked with at a bar or anothers’ restaurant. There’s also the deep admiration, semi-stalker, we’ve-never-met but I-really-know-everything-about-you-and-your-food sort of from afar relationship that turns hey wanna collabo?! sort of thing. It’s all very organic, like many of our ingredients…
Our relationship with Chef Woo Jungwook, chef and proprietor of SUPERPAN, Seoul, spawned via the latter. Superpan, located in Apgujeong—a borough of Gangnam—describes itself as a “modern Korean gastronomic restaurant”. I had girl-crushed Chef Woo and her creative genius (she masterfully blends traditional Korean flavors and comfort food with unpretentious elegance on a plate) for several years now. In 2021-ish, she released a fun Korean tapas recipe x natural wine pairing, spiral-bound book called Anju Banju, which we were the first in the US to carry at Queens. Y’all have seen it before.
Smitten by her culinary expertise and the chance to stretch our own creativities, I suggested to Eddo that we reach out to Chef Woo professionally, aka slide into her DMs, and see whether she might be interested in collaborating on a dinner together in Seoul.
She was stoked about the idea and so were we.
Planning for the event required a lot of back and forth Kakao calls and messages, at odd hours, and the occasional reliance on Papago (much more accurate than Google translate—honestly so lousy). We tag-teamed our efforts on a menu that read Seoul inspired Korean cooking meets Northern California inspired Korean American cooking. 4 dishes led by home, 4 dishes led by away.
In keeping with our theme and proposed dishes, Eddo and I reached out to some of our favorite Northern California producers, makers, and farmers for a little help. We wanted each of our dishes to include a special flavor and ingredient from home to highlight. So…cryo-vac’d, bubble wrapped, and neatly packed in our bags = corn tortillas from Bolita Masa, mortadella from Canteen Meats, albion strawberry preserves from Dirty Girl Produce, of course our own Queens yangnyeom sogum and dwenjang, plus Scribe sylvaner cause you can’t do NorCal without a little wine country juice.
Fast forward a bit. We landed on a Monday morning and headed straight to the restaurant for lunch, where we were introduced to the Superpan staff (<3) and met with Chef Woo and Mr. Kim (chef’s husband and co-owner) to to talk prep list, wine pairings, etc etc. The game plan: Tuesday would be market shopping day; Wednesday would be prep day; Thursday game day.
Prep was a vortex…the hours were many and all a bit hazy to recall. D-day was pretty much a whirlwind, but damn, so much fun. We almost forgot how magical service can be. The pulse and energy of the dining room meets kitchen…the clamoring and conversation…everyone’s synchronized efforts…and the food! the joy! the creativity!
The nature of a popup is that nothing and everything goes as planned. You roll with the punches and are continuously needing to modify or improvise even as the dinner is underway. It requires the resilience and teamwork of a dedicated, professional, and good-spirited staff, both front and back. Chef Woo’s team members were an absolute pleasure to cook and work with. We formed a serious bond that really put the whole night into perspective.
We returned to Superpan on the eve of our final night in Seoul to say our last goodbyes to the staff, catch up with Chef and Mr. Kim, delight in their delicious food, and share sweet hugs and see ya soons~.
Wish you all were there with us! We hope to circle it back in the Bay some day. Never say never.