Baroo offers a stylish twist on Korean classics with locally sourced ingredients, elevating comfort food in a cozy strip-mall setting.
"After taking several years off to build a family and Grand Central Market restaurant, Shiku, with wife Mina Park, Kwang Uh brought his celebrated fermentation restaurant to the Arts District in 2023. Baroo’s reincarnation in the Arts District — a tasting menu restaurant with creative cocktails, beers, sul, and wine — has placed it firmly at the top of LA’s modern Korean food movement. Though the exploration of Buddhist philosophy is a part of the menu’s overall direction, Uh and Park aren’t heavy-handed with the ideology. Instead, expect a gorgeous, thought-provoking journey through a proverbial life cycle in Buddhism, from youth to maturity, exhibited as courses like battered skate wing with seabuckthorn wrapped in lettuce or pork collar with goulash jjigae and baek kimchi. Priced at $115 before drinks, tax, and tip, Baroo is now the experience it should have been from the start. — Matthew Kang, lead editor, Southern California/Southwest" - Eater Staff, Rebecca Roland, Matthew Kang, Mona Holmes
"Former East Hollywood fermentation shop Baroo has reinvented itself as a Korean-tasting menu restaurant in the Arts District. Owners Kwang Uh and Mina Park are still at the helm, assembling a menu of ever-changing dishes like soy-braised black cod and pork collar with goulash jjigae. An entirely vegetarian tasting menu is also available featuring equally creative dishes including grilled and marinated lotus root, and smoked hearts of palm." - Rebecca Roland
"Baroo is offering a tasting menu with proceeds going to support the Day Laborer Network, helping immigrant workers affected by wildfires." - Rebecca Roland
"After taking several years off to build a family and Grand Central Market restaurant, Shiku, with wife Mina Park, Kwang Uh brought his celebrated fermentation restaurant to the Arts District in 2023. Baroo’s reincarnation in the Arts District — a tasting menu restaurant with creative cocktails, beers, sul, and wine — has placed it firmly at the top of LA’s modern Korean food movement. Though the exploration of Buddhist philosophy is a part of the menu’s overall direction, Uh and Park aren’t heavy-handed with the ideology. Instead, expect a gorgeous, thought-provoking journey through a proverbial life cycle in Buddhism, from youth to maturity, exhibited as courses like battered skate wing with seabuckthorn wrapped in lettuce or pork collar with goulash jjigae and baek kimchi. Priced at $115 before drinks, tax, and tip, Baroo is now the experience it should have been from the start. — Matthew Kang, lead editor" - Eater Staff
"A celebrated restaurant in the Arts District known for its unique and innovative dishes." - Matthew Kang