Korean Food USA is a new series that showcases Korean and Korean-inspired eateries all around the nation.

It may seem like wishful thinking to want delicious Korean food, while singing karaoke, and drinking your selection of your favorite kind of beer all at the same time, but BAK Korean Kitchen & Craft Beer Hall caters to all your desires.

BAK is a recently established restaurant/karaoke/beer hall settled in Union Square, NYC.  They have a menu full of different Korean dishes and snacks, but are more well-known for their rich selection of craft beer. Their walls are aligned with rows of different kinds of beers you can choose from, and the restaurant provides a very casual and laid back atmosphere. There is also a karaoke lounge downstairs for entertainment after dining and drinking.

BAK’s craft beer selection

BAK’s menu consists of a lot of popular and traditional Korean comfort foods like japchae, stir-fried glass noodles with vegetables and meat, bulgogi, and bibimbap. For people that just want to share or snack, they also have an array of small dishes. Mandu, which are pan-fried dumplings, is often ordered along pajeon, scallion pancake.

Apart from their great food, BAK has a multitude of different kinds of craft beer, cocktail soju, and makgeolli, a delicious drink we featured on our Crave Alert series! They also offer wallet-friendly prices on drinks during happy hour (4-7 p.m.).

BAK Korean Kitchen & Craft Beer Hall
11 East 13th Street
New York, NY 10003
Follow BAK on Facebook and Twitter

[Photos: BAK and Yelp (second photo); Thanks for the tip, Jane!]

Korean Food USA is a new series that showcases Korean and Korean-inspired eateries all around the nation.

When people want a fix of some good Korean food the obvious question tends to be: Where is Koreatown? However, if you look around there are always hidden gems that will definitely satisfy your cravings. Do Hwa, co-owned by Jenny Kwak, author of a Korean cookbook titled Dok Suni, and director Quentin Tarantino (Pulp Fiction), is a restaurant set apart from Manhattan’s K-town. Located in the West Village, Do Hwa serves delicious traditional dishes and has a very posh and classy atmosphere, making it an appropriate spot for both casual and fancy affairs.

Japchae, a Korean favorite

Do Hwa serves a wide range of meats to grill at your table. Loh-Su Gui, which is a thinly sliced rib-eye beef that is not marinated and served with sesame oil and salt, is a rare option that not many find at Korean restaurants, and is also one of Do Hwa’s many perks. They also serve other Korean favorites like Jap Chae, sautéed sesame sweet potato glass noodles with vegetables, and Ojingu Bokum, a flavorful spicy sauté of squid. Their menu has a lot of options to choose from, so making a decision can sometimes be tough.

A savory plate of Ojingu Bokum

Do Hwa is one of nine restaurants participating in the Korean Food Foundation‘s month-long Free Lunch Sweepstakes. Click here to enter to win a free lunch for you and up to 19 co-workers. For every entry submitted to the Free Lunch program, the KFF will donate $1.00 to Action Against Hunger’s “Restaurants Against Hunger” campaign!

Do Hwa
55 Carmine St.
New York, NY 10014
http://www.dohwanyc.com/
Follow Do Hwa on Twitter and Facebook—you get a FREE appetizer for lunch if you like their FB page!

[Photos: Dohwa's website]

At New York’s Fashion week, Korean-American fashion designer Doo Ri Chung unveiled her Doo.Ri Fall 2010 collection. We don’t know too much about fashion at Korean Beacon but what we do know is that we’re here to root for a Korean-American who’s breaking through at her craft. What do you think of Doo Ri’s fashion?

New York Magazine thinks…
Designer Doo-Ri Chung‘s Doo.Ri collection usually features lots of grays, but for her fall 2010 runway show yesterday, she sent out a surge of color. A series of cherry-red looks hit the catwalk, as well as pieces in blue featuring hand-stitched sequined panels, while makeup matched with sparkly pouts covered in glitter. “I love the blacks and grays and navies — I think those are colors that I wear all the time, and I think that as a woman, everyone needs that in their wardrobe,” the designer told us. “But my job is to bring other accents in and kind of fill that and make that a complete collection.” Read: Hey, New Yorkers, maybe it’s time to stop wearing all black. “I always love the use of color,” she continued. “The red was not a true red — it was a gradation of red that was kind of a mix together, so it was kind of a mash of color together.”

It’s also possible we may see some of her latest runway looks reinterpreted for her lower-priced diffusion line, under.ligne. “Hopefully, I’m sure I’ll find some,” she said, while noting that she’s unsure which ones will make the jump from the runway to her other collection. “Right now it’s hard to disassociate yourself and flip. I mean, that’s the hard thing about having two collections. You know, you really need to stay focused on one and then shift to the next.” And with the thought of lower-prices lines, we wondered if she would ever consider a partnership with H&M or Target in the future. “I mean, everything is kind of open,” she told us. “But I think the idea of collaborations — I just feel it’s kind of been played.”

From Wikipedia: Chung graduated from Parsons School of Design with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Fashion in 1995.   After receiving her degree, Chung worked for Geoffrey Beene for six years, rising to the position of head designer. In 2001, Chung started her own firm in the basement of her parents’ dry cleaning business. The firm remained there for the next four years.

Chung is best known for her jersey dresses, which have a unique drape. Chung has stated that she has no plans to move away from creating such dresses, as she now has a steady clientele.  Chung will introduce a shoe line in fall 2008.

Chung is inspired by Ann Demeulemeester, Martha Graham and Joseph Beuys.

For more on Doo Ri Chung, go to her website and for her complete Fall 2010 collection, click here.

Before 2009 ended, the New York Times published one more piece on Koreans and it was the sobering fact that there has been a stark rise in suicides among New York Koreans.

The number of suicides reported to the local Korean Consulate General has more than doubled this year, to 15 from 6 last year, and there were 5 in 2007. All of the dead were Korean citizens, said the consulate, which does not keep statistics on Korean-Americans. The latest suicide came on Dec. 15, when a woman in her early 30s hanged herself in her home in Flushing, Queens, the consulate said.

The consul general, Kyungkeun Kim, said he believed that the actual total of suicides by Korean citizens might be more than twice as high. The Korea Times, a Korean-language newspaper published in the United States, reported in September that at least 36 Koreans and Korean-Americans in the New York region had taken their lives this year.

As a result of this alarming trend, community groups have organized suicide prevention seminars.  The reason for this possible rise in suicides among Koreans appears to be economical.  The recession may have hit many Koreans and Korean-Americans very hard.  Interestingly, the rise in suicides among Korean-Americans apparently mirrors that of South Korea.

You may have noticed that in 2009, there were several high-profile suicides in South Korea from a former president to celebrities.  Is it something culturally?  It can’t simply be economical?  Each suicide is unique but could there be something within our culture that makes Koreans more prone to accepting such a tragic exit from life?

For more on the article, go to the New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/31/nyregion/31suicides.html?_r=1

It’s that time of the year again: Election Time!  It’s not as intense like last year’s presidential election but it’s still important because it’s a lot of local elections which directly effects you.  It’s been a year since Obama was elected but what he did was encourage many minorities to seek public service.  His slogan “Yes We Can!” really meant we can get into office and make a difference.  Tomorrow, one of our good friends Kevin Kim will be running for New York City Council in District 19, which is a part of Queens that Kevin grew up in.  He’s been endorsed by many prominent politicians from Senator Schumer to ex-governor Mario Cuomo.  We know that there are other Korean-Americans who are running for office tomorrow, and we hope that you go out and cast your vote for them if you agree with their politics.

Our friends at the Korean American Film Festival New York are calling out for submissions to the 2010 film festival. The event will be held once again at the Times Center on February 27th 2010. If you’re a young filmmaker or have produced a film recently, then why not submit your work to KAFFNY.  If you’ve never been to KAFFNY, here’s a quick video of this year’s KAFFNY event. It’s a great event where you can see work from up and coming directors and also meet some new friends.

From KAFFNY:  The 4th Annual Korean American Film Festival New York (KAFFNY) is scheduled for February 27th 2010 at TheTimesCenter. KAFFNY is a one-day New York festival screening works by emerging Korean American filmmakers. Our program features films of all genres and lengths from a variety of Korean and American perspectives.

New for 2010 is our Narrative Shorts Competition with Jury and Audience Awards with cash prizes. Also new are Web Screenings, submissions received and selections screened on a rolling basis year round, open to all genres, completed by any date.

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS

We are now accepting short film submissions from filmmakers of Korean descent and of any nationality.

Narrative Shorts Competition:
Narrative films, completed January 1st, 2008 or later.
Filmmakers of Korean descent and any nationality.
Films shorter than 30 minutes preferred.
Jury Award – Cash Prize $500
Audience Award – Cash Prize $500

Shorts Program:
All genres, completed any date.
Filmmakers of any descent and any nationality.
Films shorter than 30 minutes preferred.

Feature Presentation:
Narrative or Documentary films, completed January 1st, 2008 or later.
Filmmakers of Korean descent and any nationality.
Films longer than 60 minutes preferred.

Web Screenings:
All genres, completed any date.
Films will be screened on a rolling basis throughout the year at www.kaffny.com
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

Step 1:
Fill out online entry form at: www.kaffny.com/2010entryform

Step 2:
Send DVD submissions, NTSC Region 0 or 1, to:
KAFFNY
c/o Barrel
42 W 24th Street
New York, NY 10010

The submission deadline is November 30, 2009 (except Web Screenings). There is no entry fee for the deadline. Programming decisions will be made by December 31st, 2009.

Please direct your inquires to info@kaffny.com. Also, visit our website at www.kaffny.com.

ORGANIZERS
Dae Hoon Kim – Festival Director
Peter Kang – Coordinator
Susie Lim – PR/Marketing

The 29th annual Korean Parade along Sixth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan happened on Saturday and it was festive all around.  It was the weekend of Chuseok, the Korean Thanksgiving, and so we headed over to Koreatown to check out the festivities.  West 32nd St was closed off to traffic as the festival was centered between all the Korean restaurants.  There was music, dancing and of course Korean food.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg pitched in to help prepare a giant dish of Korean marinated beef and mixed steamed vegetables over rice with hot sauce.

“I really enjoy this culture, the backgrounds, seeing people out there today,” said one onlooker.

“I especially enjoyed seeing all the different communities coming together and helping to support the celebration of Korean culture,” said another.

“The culture, there seems to be more of a familial experience, you know. It’s all about community,” said a third.

The parade, whose theme was “Cooperation and Peace in Troubled Times,” was organized by the Korean American Association of Greater New York.

Our good friends at Chaos Theory Music notified us that the 4-member band “Seriously” will be coming to New York this Saturday.  Yes! If you haven’t heard of this young rising band, then take a good listen because you’ll really like these fellas. We’ll be at the concert on Saturday night at Uncle Mike’s in New York City. Come join us and get a good glimpse of this up and coming band.

Where: Uncle Mikes, 57 Murray St, NY, NY
When: Saturday, Oct 3rd at 10pm
Tickets: Click Here

We’ll see you at Uncle Mikes!

During this past month, we kept hearing from friends that everyone has had a Wonder Girls sighting in NYC from The Frying Pan to Koreatown on 32nd St. We haven’t seen them and we’re everywhere in NYC but we guess there still around because here’s the latest video of them walking the streets of NYC. This is for all the people who come to our site looking for Wonder Girls stuff.

The musical “My Scary Girl” is coming to New York City, the second Korean musical to make news; the other is Tears of Heaven which is currently being produced in NYC.  The musical will be coming to the Acorn Theater on Broadway for a short stint from Oct. 1 to 4.

The performance is an official selection of the international production exchange between the Daegu International Musical Festival (DIMF) and the New York Musical Theater Festival (NYMF).

The production presented by Musical Heaven, a local company, was originally shown at the 2008 Musical Theater Lab for new works in development at the Barrington Stage Company (BSC).

It was the first Korean work selected by the BSC, the renowned American performing arts support group, to be presented at its theater lab.

The musical was staged as a development show in 2008 DIMF where it was a winner and received support from the second DIMF last year. The musical officially premiered in Seoul in March this year.

It has been highly appraised through being developed with revisions in trial runs at workshops and the festival before its premiere.

The stage adaptation of a 2006 Korean comedy/horror/romance film of the same name, portrays an awkward but romantic relationship that develops between Hwang Dae-woo, a naive English instructor who has never really dated a girl, and Lee Mi-na, a sweet girl who claims to be an art major but turns out to be a serial killer.

The show received positive reviews in the United States for its fresh and creative ideas.
Prominent composer Will Aronson provides the music with lyrics by Kang Kyoung-ae, who co-wrote a book with Mark St. Germain.

The musical will be performed in Korean with English subtitles.

Source: Korea Times, Hancinema