Thought Process
RECIPE
That Joodooboo That You Do So Well steve joo ’04 and shigeharu Kobayashi ’04 met during their first year at Oberlin and became roommates for their fourth. But it was Joo’s Winter Term working at Kobayashi’s family Sushi restaurant in Columbia, South Carolina, that set the two on the road to Joodooboo. Joodooboo is the Oakland, California, restaurant where Joo serves as chef and Kobayashi as manager. The name plays on dooboo, the Korean pronuncia12
tion and preparation method for what some call tofu. “We wanted to push the culture a little bit,” says Joo. After attending the New England Culinary School, Joo went to work at the famed Chez Panisse and eventually created his own Bay Area pop-up restaurants. Meanwhile, Kobayashi helped to run the family restaurant. In October of 2021, Kobayashi moved to Oakland, and in January of
2022, the pair opened Joodooboo to rave reviews. Joodooboo uses “hyper-seasonal” vegetables that are part of Korean cuisine and divides its fare between tofu and banchan— essentially Korean deli fare, which the restaurant offers to support home cooks by providing a range of side dishes for several meals (they even offer a weekly subscription service). “It’s a flexible enough format,” says Joo. This recipe is for a staple
Joodooboo banchan called “rice thief.” “Rice thief is a term that’s used for any banchan or food item that makes you want to eat a lot of rice,” says Joo. “You can think of it as an analog for bar snacks— food that makes you want to drink a lot of beer or alcohol. It's higher on salt and other seasonings and makes you salivate.” Joo says that the type of greens and veggies can be adjusted according to preference and
S T E P H E N L A M /S A N F R A N C I S CO C H R O N I C L E / P O L A R I S
BY JEFF HAGAN ’86