A celebrity KBBQ stalwart returns to Koreatown, with a new bar on the way
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- Plus, Nipsey Hussle’s Marathon Burger expands to Venice Beach.
- Cento Raw Bar, which looks like a mermaid’s den, debuts in West Adams.
- The Benjamin launches an upstairs cocktail sequel, and more.
One of L.A.’s — and Korea’s — most popular Korean barbecue chains just returned to Koreatown after a year and a half of closure. Now Baekjeong is back in a new location, its tabletop grills charring galbi, thinly sliced brisket, beef belly, tripe, pork jowl and beyond, every inch of table space filled with banchan, dumplings or stews in a dining room meant to replicate the vibrant, neon-lit streets of Seoul.
“It’s designed to make you feel like you’re sitting outside having barbecue,” said Samuel Kim, the senior director of operations. “In Korea there’s a lot of little neighborhoods where the restaurants will set up grills and people will just be eating and drinking all night outside in the street.”
In addition to its more colorful design, the return to Koreatown also involves plans for an in-house dry-aging program for its range of meats, and an expansion that takes over the entire building with two private dining rooms, lounge seating for a waiting area, and a new cocktail bar specializing in Korean spirits.
TV personality and former wrestler Kang Ho Dong founded the chain in Korea in 2003, and it eventually spread through the U.S. — landing in Los Angeles in 2012. At the start of 2024, when Baekjeong closed in Chapman Plaza after more than a decade in operation, the owners hoped to return to Koreatown eventually. The end of that space also marked the end of its run as a franchise; the chain’s parent company, Kijung Hospitality Group, now owns it outright.
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“We would have loved to have been able to stay in Chapman Plaza, because that turned into a little bit of the heart of K-town, but unfortunately we couldn’t hold on to that spot,” said Kim. “So when we were looking for a new spot, we just wanted something that would allow us to expand what we were offering, a spot that was bigger and had ample parking because parking is always an issue in Koreatown.”
On 8th Street they found ample space for a dining room that seats roughly 150 (comparable to its former Chapman Plaza home), plus a parking lot where they now offer valet service below $5.
Construction is underway on the remainder of the building, and the bar is expected to open by mid-summer, which Kim said will feature Korean-made spirits and organic and non-GMO ingredients such as fruit, with no corn syrups or artificial sweeteners. Perhaps, he added, there will even be a menu of bar bites for those who aren’t looking for a full grill meal.
The team is also launching a new lunch menu that offers a la carte Korean dishes such as one-pound pork cutlets and one-pound tri-tip steaks with garlic fried rice and banchan, all priced under $20. There’s also a new focus on house-made desserts, which recently rolled out in Baekjeong’s other locations but were made specifically with the Koreatown relaunch in mind.
Baekjeong is open in Koreatown Monday to Friday from 11:30 a.m. to midnight, and Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to midnight.
3429 W. 8th St., Los Angeles, (213) 668-6328, baekjeongkbbq.com
Cento Raw Bar
One of the city’s pasta authorities recently expanded his West Adams restaurant with a dreamy, immersive raw bar and cocktail den next door. Cento Raw Bar is chef Avner Levi’s new followup to Cento Pasta Bar, where the Bestia and Sotto alum gave his Mignon pasta pop-up its own location and a broader menu.
In Levi’s new 2,000-square-foot seafood-centric concept, diners are noshing on aesthetically composed seafood towers, fruit-laced crudos and other small plates inside what feels like a mermaid’s den.
Creative director Brandon Miradi (who has worked with Vespertine and LACMA) oversaw Cento Raw Bar’s design, which includes an all-white interior, fresh flowers resting atop ice at the bar, candlesticks, colorful custom plateware, and flower vases made by Miradi. The cocktails — served in glasses sourced from the Museum of Modern Art — include piña coladas, classic martinis, jalapeño margaritas, a Sunny Delight spin on the screwdriver, nonalcoholic concoctions and more.
Levi’s food menu involves rotating small plates such as raw oysters; ikura-topped smoked fish dip; hamachi crudo with cherries and jalapeño; chilled uni pasta with crab; lobster-melt sliders; two- and three-level seafood towers sporting lobster claws, citrus-topped scallops, prawns and beyond; and non-seafood dishes like deviled eggs piped with caramelized onions. Cento Raw Bar is walk-in only, and is open Wednesday to Sunday from 5 to 11 p.m.
4919 West Adams Blvd., Los Angeles, instagram.com/centorawbar
Bar Benjamin
A new cocktail-forward sibling spot to one of L.A.’s best bars is now open, pouring inventive concoctions involving the likes of mole oil, miso-washed rye, nori mist, clarified pineapple and strawberry daiquiri ice cubes.
The Benjamin — recently dubbed by the L.A. Times as one of the city’s best places to grab a drink — serves classic minded cocktails, an array of martinis, caviar-topped baked potatoes, one of the buzziest burgers in the city and other upscale Americana at the corner of Melrose and Formosa avenues. In May owners Ben Shenassafar (alias: Ben Hundreds, of streetwear brand the Hundreds), Kate Burr and Jared Meisler unveiled Bar Benjamin, an upstairs bar filling the former home of Meisler’s the Moon Room.
While the setting of Bar Benjamin feels tandem to its older sibling, its beverage program is entirely separate. Jason Lee (formerly of n/soto and Baroo) and Chad Austin (formerly of the Mulholland and Bootlegger Tiki) built a new and ambitious cocktail program with drinks separated into categories of rich, savory, unexpected, bright and boozy, with only two holdovers from the Benjamin: the “dirtier” martini, and Shenassafar’s martini.
Some cocktails lean wholly original while others veer off from classics, such as the everything-bagel-infused Gibson, the margarita made with Sichuan-washed mezcal, or the negroni made with tomato gin and rhubarb-infused vermouth. The Tommy Boy tops coconut rum, red curry and fermented mushroom green tea with coconut foam, while the Paddington — a nod to the world’s favorite England-by-way-of-Peru bear — utilizes gin, pisco, orange marmalade and a burnt-toast cordial.
To eat, look for shrimp rolls, deviled eggs, crudités with fried-pickle dip and more. Bar Benjamin is open Tuesday and Wednesday from 6 p.m. to midnight, and Thursday to Saturday from 6 p.m. to 1 a.m.
7174 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles, (323) 500-1122, barbenjamin.com
Saijo Hand Roll Bar
A new hand roll bar from the founder of the ramen chain Jinya is serving temaki and kushiyaki at a 24-seat sushi bar in Culver City.
Tomo Takahashi’s Saijo Hand Roll Bar specializes in hand rolls — which come a la carte; in two-, three- or four-piece sets; or as lunch specials — filled with the likes of toro, lobster, grilled sea bass, unagi, salmon, and wagyu. Seaweed is toasted to order, and the restaurant’s signature hand roll comes stuffed with blue crab, shrimp, salmon belly and cucumber.
In a nod to the influence of his family’s robatayaki restaurant in Ehime, Japan, Takahashi’s new hand roll bar also serves a range of grilled skewers, including pork belly chasu, tsukune, ginkgo nuts, vegetables, and shrimp with garlic butter. Sake, beer and wine are also available. Saijo Hand Roll Bar is open Sunday and Tuesday to Thursday from noon to 2:30 p.m. and 5 to 9:30 p.m., and Friday and Saturday from noon to 2:30 p.m. and 5 to 10 p.m.
12473 Washington Blvd., Los Angeles, 424-479-7977, saijohandroll.com
Marathon Burger Venice
Nipsey Hussle’s marathon continues in Venice with the launch of a Marathon Burger outpost right on the boardwalk.
The culinary offshoot of the late rapper’s lifestyle brand, Marathon, debuted earlier this year along Melrose with Hussle’s brother and business partner — Samiel “Blacc Sam” Asghedom — leading the charge. Now Asghedom and the Marathon team are serving a pared-down Marathon Burger menu that includes the signature Wagyu smash burgers and hot wings, breakfast sandwiches, fries and drinks at a walk-up window across from Muscle Beach.
The marathon continues on Melrose Avenue as Hussle’s family and lifestyle brand lead a smashburger charge.
Marathon Burger is open in Venice daily from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., with late-night delivery available from 10 p.m. to 3 a.m.
1827 Ocean Front Walk, Venice, marathonburger.com
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