Friend Mark Kim Opens Up Burger Restaurant in Gangnam

A good friend of mine from church opened up a burger joint in the Gangnam area. His name is Mark Kim and his new restaurant is named New York Burger and Bagel (New York B&B for short). He's originally from New York and he wanted to bring that taste to Seoul. He is going through some experiments to find out what will appeal to the Korean and non-Korean population alike. Although his restaurant has officially opened, the real advertising and promoting of his restaurant won't begin until September. He has been "soft selling" in order to make sure all of his ingredients and all of the food tastes just right.

So what will you expect to see on his menu? How about an OG burger? It's a pizza burger. You'll get mozzarella cheese, pepperoni, and a burger patty combined in one burger. It's really delicious!

He also offers a very solid chicken parmesan sandwich, which my friend Evan Bloom ordered. He said it was crispy and tasty. Mark said that these two are his favorites, so we went with these two for our first visit to his restaurant. We both ordered a half set of fries which came with a drink.

Here are some onion rings with a special sauce that Mr. Kim says is better than ranch dressing. My friend Evan enjoyed the sauce but I prefer my onion rings plain.

NY B&B also offers macaroni and cheese, an all-time favorite of mine. You can just get macaroni and cheese, mac and cheese with bacon, or mac and cheese with shrimp. I'm a huge bacon fan, so Evan and I decided to get the mac and cheese with bacon.

What I appreciate about my friend Mark is that he was open to suggestions since he wants his customers to be happy. I originally said that although the burgers were very good, I felt that they were cooked a bit too much. He said that Koreans prefer their burgers "medium well" and he noted on the menu that all of his burgers are served that way. I suggested to him that he should ask the customer how they want their burgers done and that would greatly increase burger sales. He is definitely going to consider doing that. 

Evan mentioned that the macaroni and cheese needed a bit more of a bite to it. Mark has been using pepper jack cheese but will plan to use sharp cheddar in the near future. The bacon on top was definitely a hit with me. Everything tastes great with bacon.

Other than that, the food is very good and his chef (a Korean American from Santa Barbara) has been cooking food since he was 13. Unfortunately, his name has escaped my brain at the moment. His server (Cathy) is a friendly Chinese woman that is an exchange student. 

You can find his Facebook page here: New York Burger & Bagel and the restaurant can also be found on Instagram. 

Enjoy!

Scott Worden (The L.A./Seoul Guy)
Instagram: l.a.seoulguy