When James Shin was 15, his family moved from the suburbs of Busan, South Korea, to the suburbs of Atlanta. While he just as well may have landed on Mars, he discovered he was far from alone. The city’s long-standing Koreatown had exploded northward and had morphed from a few Korean barbecue spots into a galaxy of specialty houses serving only, say, goat soup, tofu stew, or hand-stretched noodles. “When I was growing up, there was so much demand for Korean food,” he says. “Not just from Koreans but from Americans, too. They found out it wasn’t really that exotic, it was just so good.” Twenty years later, with New Village Gastro Pub in Northbrook, he’s helping bring that same inviting energy to the Koreatown emerging along Milwaukee Avenue in Glenview and Northbrook. So are many others. From the hilarity of Kong Dog to the fried chicken sushi rolls at K-Bop, from the rich beef soup at Claypot to the black bean pasta at Paik’s Noodles, all have made this stretch of road a worthy destination for anyone in the Chicago area who wants to eat well.
Review: New Village Gastro Pub
Carousing 1-2-3, Korean Style
