Noble, street food mix in Hollywood

Korean “ssambap” or rice wrapped in vegetables in small-sized “onggi” or traditional Korean earthenware are flanked by spoons with plums prepared in molecular gastronomy method.

By Vivian Han

HOLLYWOOD — I have two wonderful friends in the United States. Nam Sujin is a composer who has produced music for “Spiderman 2,” “Spiderman 3,” “Grudge” and other popular movies. She is one of the leading movie music composers in Hollywood. YoungSong Martin is one of most popular event designers who has worked for celebrities such as Oprah Winfrey and Michelle Obama. She is a big name in Hollywood and was the creator of the wedding scene in the wood for “Twilight: Breaking Dawn.”

Last year, Nam created an event she calls “Hollywood’s Music Night.” She decided to set it up because of the many young talented performers in Hollywood who don’t have the opportunity to meet famous composers to showcase their talent. This year’s event was more special because our dear friend Martin, CEO of Wildflower Linens, created the themed decor, “Contemporary Hollywood Nightlife” for the event. She offered her services for free when she heard about the motive behind the evening.

Seen above are japchae wrapped in oven paper, blue crab seafood soup done in Joseon-era style, alcohol-steamed shrimp on pine tree leaves and “dasik” or dessert made in three colored beans.

Nam asked me to make Korean food for the event with 100 guests, who are well known names in music, film and tech industry in the West Coast. You may ask why I am involved — after all, my restaurant is in Seoul. Ever since my experience of growing up in London, where there were virtually no Korean restaurants seeing how people would treat Korean food with disdain, I have made Congdu my stepping stone for showcasing Korean cuisine. I’ve packed bags and bags with ingredients that can’t be found outside of Korea and Korean porcelain which embodies Korean charm, to travel to Venice, London, Moscow and New York. So this time, I was going to Los Angeles.

I don’t think I was asked to prepare the food because Nam wanted to show Hollywood what Korean cuisine was like. It was because she had tasted the food at my restaurant and she had felt that it conveyed a true artist’s spirit in the way that gourmet food and art intersect. It was the same with involving Martin. She was brought in not because she was going to showcase Korean beauty but because she is the best one to bring out chic Hollywood style to the party. That’s how my two friends succeeded in the U.S. They don’t emphasize “being Korean” in their works, but they are still proud to be Koreans, and people in the U.S. manage to find the passion and unique charm in their works and fall in love with them.

An array of Korean street foods are on presentation including “tteokbokgi,” center, which is spicy rice cake snack.

As an owner of Korean restaurant, I wanted to highlight depth and width of Korean food, but I wanted it to appeal to the crowd and fit the event.

What could I prepare for the Hollywood crowd, already familiar with Asia through travel and various restaurants that would be different? It had to be beyond barbecued meat, kimchi and “bibimbap.” I settled on Korean dishes eaten by noble families focusing on Korea’s nature, and simple street food.

Boiled pork wrapped in lotus leaves and rice wrapped in greens.

The noble family cuisine went well with snacks for drinking. I brought Gapyeong pine nuts that we would stick on top of the pine leaves and tie with red thread in bunches of three. We made bean, green tea and red bean flavored “dasik.” Then, for an element of surprise, I took a leaf out of the molecular gastronomy book and made Korean “maesil” or plums and Korean raspberry spheres.

The music-loving guests comprised Hollywood’s famous composers, film producers, artists and young performers just starting out. Nine sets of performers would be playing gypsy jazz, classical Indian music and Korean string instruments. Nam herself performed a piece by Ravel on the grand piano. The West Hollywood Hills residence overlooks downtown Los Angeles and the night was decked out with blue lighting and white flowers in a mysterious light.

The top photo shows flower arrangements done by Young-Song Martin at the “Hollywood’s Music Night” in Los Angeles in September. / Courtesy of Congdu Food and Culture

The pricking spice of the chili pepper coated with rice powder then fried, the sweet sensation of Goheung’s yuzu and soy sauce meeting with the sticky raw naga-imo julienne on top of the tofu, the bean bulgogi (vegetarian) in a bun were very popular. Damyang’s bamboo leaf wine was presented in the bamboo pot. We also served soju punch made with yuzu preserve, lime and mint.

The photo shows from left, YoungSong Martin, CEO of Wildflower Linens; Nam Sujin, a composer; and Vivian Han, CEO of Congdu Food and Culture.

For the second half of the presentation, we started with the steamed shrimp. We had got up at the crack of dawn to get to the Los Angeles fish market that is favored by the best sushi restaurants in town to get the shrimp, which we then put into a wooden pot that had a heated stone inside, and steamed the shrimp by pouring soju and using its steam. Our twist on kimchi fried rice was to add mussels. The most popular street food was the “tteokbokgi” which was prepared on the terrace and “japchae” rolled inside dried seaweed. Guests asked many questions about the unfamiliar food relating to the ingredients and cooking method. It was as Alex Atala said, “there is nothing like street food to introduce cuisine.”

The dinner carried on well into the early hours of the evening, refueled by Korean beef jerky, corn and red wine and champagne. Nam, Martin and I were all glad to see how everyone enjoyed the taste and charm of Korean cuisine and hospitality. While we didn’t shout to be Koreans, I think we managed to pull out a unique and memorable event, and we were proud that Korean food played a critical role in it.