Seoul Prime. 106 Founders Ave., Falls Church.
Newer entrants to the region’s Korean barbecue scene have skewed more toward fine dining, with higher-end cuts of meat and elegant dining rooms. One of the latest: Seoul Prime in Falls Church, which comes from the team behind Honest Grill in Centreville (ranked among Washingtonian‘s 100 Very Best Restaurants). The upscale restaurant features dry-aged ribeyes and American wagyu for tabletop grilling, but focuses equally on elevated fusion dishes.
“We want to definitely pay homage and respect to all of the food that we grew up with and the heritage and the classic cuisine, but also kind of bringing it into a new era,” says managing partner and executive chef Danny Kim. The Northern Virginia native previously worked at Rockwood in Gainesville and Clarity in Vienna.
“I’ve done a lot of cuisines. Korean is one I tried to stay away from just because I didn’t want to fit that stigma of being a Korean chef that only cooks Korean food,” Kim says. But over recent years, he’s started gravitating toward the flavors he grew up eating at home and experimenting with fusion dishes. At Seoul Prime, he’ll combine his classic French culinary training with Korean flavors.
For example, a risotto dish is topped with galbi-jjim (sweet soy-braised short ribs), crispy enoki mushrooms, and perilla-leaf chimichurri. Tteokbokki, a popular Korean rice cake dish, instead uses homemade potato gnocchi covered in a sweet-spicy gochujang sauce with crispy fish cake. And classic kimchi-and-scallion pancakes come with a Korean chive-and-white-truffle aioli.
The restaurant, nearly double the size of Honest Grill, has 46 tabletop grills, including four that are built into a bar counter for solo diners or a couple who don’t want a huge table. (There are also private rooms for events.) The grilled meat menu centers squarely around beef. A $47-per-person Seoul Prime “tour” offers a sampling of four different cuts of beef along with banchan (including housemade kimchi), scallion salad, egg custard, and soybean brisket stew.
Seafood lovers can opt for a two-tier $79 shellfish tower with lobster, Rappahannock oysters, and jumbo Gulf shrimp. The restaurant is looking to add more luxury offerings like caviar service and shaved truffles going forward.
Seoul Prime also has a bigger emphasis on the bar, serving classic cocktails infused with soju and other Korean ingredients. Co-owner Wan Bok Lee says they’ve brought in a sommelier to help build out their wine cellar, adding to the steakhouse vibe. Meanwhile, a bar-specific food menu includes a galbi smash burger with smoked gouda and gochujang aioli as well as bulgogi-topped fries with pickled Fresno peppers and crispy seaweed.
If you’re looking for something more traditional, head to Seoul Prime for its Korean “jung-sik” brunch. The $35-per-person prix-fixe option includes a whole spread of side dishes with a choice of grilled meats, soup, and dessert.
Jessica Sidman covers the people and trends behind D.C.’s food and drink scene. Before joining Washingtonian in July 2016, she was Food Editor and Young & Hungry columnist at Washington City Paper. She is a Colorado native and University of Pennsylvania grad.
