Food is one of the ways we consume different cultures. Even if we can’t find a country on a map, when we eat its cuisine, we presume to know it and its people and way of life a little bit better.
As Eunice Lee reports in this issue, Sorabol Korean BBQ & Asian Noodles is quickly joining Hot Dog on a Stick and Sbarro as a common sight in that most American of dining locales: the shopping mall food court.
With 15 locations in California, Nevada and the Philippines, and plans to expand to Washington, D.C., Seattle and New York City, this family-owned chain is spreading Korean dishes to the hungry, shopped-out mainstream masses and challenging Panda Express in its domination of Asian food court fare.
As the first Korean fast-food chain in the United States, Sorabol is not only bringing Korean cuisine to mainstream consumers — it’s broadening their cultural palate beyond sushi and orange chicken. “People are realizing that there is more to Asian cuisine than Chinese and Japanese,” said CEO Richard Hong, son of the Korean immigrant founders.
What’s more, the company refuses to “Americanize” its menu for the notoriously finicky, white American palate, or tone down dishes that can send even the spiciest-food lovers gasping for water. At Sorabol, you can not only find typical Korean BBQ fare like bulgogi and kalbi, but also traditional dishes like the spicy soup yukejang, as well as dishes that challenge the palate like the spicy tofu stew soon dubu.
What was once a sit-down restaurant and meeting place for Bay Area Koreans has now transformed into a quick and enjoyable bite of Korean culture for all. In these ways, Sorabol is a model of how Asian culture (via its cuisine) can infiltrate mainstream American society without compromising. Like its name, which is an allusion to what was once the flourishing capital of the Shilla Dynasty in Korea, Sorabol may be a harbinger of a modern-day golden age: The day when one’s options at the food court include pho, balut and natto may not be so far away. After all, they say the way to the heart is through one’s stomach.