Soju

Soju is officially on the map! The 38 map that is. Out of all the “best of” lists and dining guides I reference the eater 38 most often when I travel. The map feature is great for when you want to find something close and convenient allowing you to get a good feel for the different neighborhoods where dining is available. What I enjoy most about these lists though is that they don’t try to rank restaurants. Im ok with ranking a single congruent item such as a best burgers list but I don’t really think restaurants as a whole should ever be ranked. I really love the fact that with the eater 38 a hole in the wall ethnic restaurant can be found on the same list as prix fixe Michelin joint. I’m very proud to share the space with each and every restaurant included on this list. The short descriptions of the restaurants are always spot on too letting you know exactly what you are getting into. They were damn right when they said Soju is a deeply personal endeavor. Not only for me but for every member of the team including the folks that come through for pop ups. I’m beyond grateful for each and every person who has ever walked through these doors!

It’s hard to describe how much mushrooms mean to me. They put me in direct touch with the divinity of Mother Nature. They speak to me in a foreign language that I somehow comprehend. This is why I am proud to present to you todays special:

Wild Mushroom Ramen
-wild mushroom stock fortified with mirin, white wine, and soju
-6 kinds of grilled mushroom (white and brown beach, seafood mushroom, oyster, king trumpet, and seafood mushroom)
-hard boiled egg (the jammy kind)
-parsley compound butter
-scallion

🍄 🌎 🌳 ❤️ 👁️ 🧠🪺🍜🍄

Skip the $8 pickle on a stick in the hot sun and come enjoy mandu and fried oyster shroom in the AC

The 4th is all about the red, the white, and the pretzel!

Closed today because the above ground pool is calling my name.

Happy 4th yinz!

After some unfortunate issues with a broken belt on our hood fan, we are back at it today! Stop in tonight and let your BBQ festivities begin early without having to sweat it out in the heat.

We are closed tonight due to equipment failure. We will reopen as soon as we can!

What is better than a great sandwich?…
A great sandwich with a outstanding pickle!

Sojus own has been toying with with his pickles and sandos for as long as I’ve known him. It is often the highlight of my week when I come in for a shift and see him arrive with some of his famous pickled curry eggs for family meal. One thing is for sure is that this man is gifted with balancing flavors from his many years behind Pittsburgh best bars. And today is the day where he will once again share his gift with all of you. So please stop by Soju from 4-9pm and show your support for the fam!

Great food…great people!

Mandu 🥟 day!

Filling du jour- beef, pork, wood ear shroom (foraged out of dead man’s hollow by yours truly!), kimchi, ginger, garlic, scallion

From the pages of the post gazette right to your mouth!

Come and get em cause they don’t last long!

Love yinz!

Specials today!

Mandu- pork, beef, ramps, onions, tofu, kimchi

Kimchijiggae- pork belly, kimchi trio (apple, radish, cabbage), red wine reduction, onions, kimchi juice

Brings me great pride to announce the next pop up happening this Monday 5/20. Starting at 4pm. Anyone who has been to Soju has seen and probably met a.k.a. . Mike has been a proud member of the Soju front of the house family for over 5 years! And when I say family I really mean it! Shortly after he started he even brought on his brother Max who has been holding it down on prep and dishes since then. Mike is synonymous with great service, fantastic drinks and now delicious deli sandos plus outstanding soups. I was privileged enough to try some of his test batches last week and trust me you are not going to want to miss this one. So please come out on Monday and support this man and his family because they truly deserve it. See you there!

For those of you that aren’t acquainted with this man already, let me introduce you to . If you have dined out in Pittsburgh over the last 10 years or so, chances are you have had some food that has come from his hands. He has worked in some of Pittsburghs best kitchens including but not limited to Soba, E Squared, The Commoner, and Station. And for the last year and some change he has been working the sauté station at Soju. In this time his standards and practices have undoubtedly changed Soju for the better. Over the past week he has been working hard on putting together a pop up dinner that showcases his take on various dishes that he has cooked over the years. Essentially he will be telling his story of working in Pittsburghs restaurants. As a chef this requires tremendous courage and reminds me of when I started Soju. Please come show home your support tomorrow Monday, May 13th from 5-9pm. I’ll see you there!

I’ve only been to Korea once in my life. It was back in 2005, the summer after I graduated high school. My grandparents pulled my entire extended family together and planned a three week trip covering the entire country by bus. After covering our airfare and chartering a bus for over 20 of us, there wasn’t much of a budget for food. So most meals consisted of what us spoils American kids dubbed “the bowl dinner”. This was when each person was served a bowl of rice and there were communal banchan for the table to share. For those of you who are unaware banchan are traditional Korean side that are often salty, fermented, and downright funky. The ingredients used are unrecognizable to the average American. If we were lucky there were a few pieces of fatty, salty fish or meat to go with it. This is a traditional Korean meal. This was a far cry from the from the “Korean food” we were used to eating in the states where Grandma would serve us large portions of very tender beef with hearty stews and rice. This was Americanized Korean food that my grandmother evolved into cooking after many years in this country. As a kid who was used to eating Americanized Korean I turned my nose up at the strong, funky banchan we were fed night after night in Korea. It got to the point where my cousins and I begged the bus driver to stop at McDonalds. But now as an adult with alittle more perspective, I’m alittle embarrassed of my behavior. Now I sometimes crave the traditional Korean bowl dinner. So tonight I found myself all alone in my home enjoying just that. Thinking about my grandparents and the long strange trip that eventually culminated in opening Soju…a restaurant that is based upon my life experiences…not a traditional Korean restaurant. Yinz say you want traditional Korean until I put the bowl dinner in front of you and you beg me for killer tofu 😂. No but for real I’m going to try to start integrating this into the menu and gauge your reception.

I’ve had the privilege of working with some badass Puerto Rican chefs over the years and they are probably going to give me a good ribbing over this one. But credit where credit is due. Appreciation not appropriation. Without further a due tonight’s fusion feature.

Dwegibulgogi Tostones- spicy pork bulgogi, kimchi, pork floss, spicy mayo, green onions and cilantro

Today Alexis, Andreas, and Max are in the kitchen with their heads down kicking ass. They are three of the kindest, most good hearted individuals I have ever come in contact with. I can’t help but to feel like a proud father having brought these three to work together. One thing I know for sure is they all care greatly for one another. There is no doubt this will come through in the food today at Alexis debut of her pop up entitled Ryokō Bites. Please come visit them beginning at 5pm today and great food cooked by even better people!

And in the words of the late great David Bowie…

We've got five years, what a surprise
We've got five years, stuck on my eyes
We've got five years, my brain hurts a lot
Five years, that's all we've got

And all the fat, skinny people
And all the tall, short people
And all the nobody people
And all the somebody people
I never thought I'd need so many people

Thank you to all the people who made 5 years of Soju possible!

Meet Alexis! If you eaten Korean BBQ at Soju in the last year chances are she cut, marinated, and grilled it single handedly. Her passion for her work and positive attitude make working along side her a pleasure. Being of German decent her obsession and exploration of Japanese cuisine may be difficult for some to accept, but being a proud member of the q***r community she is no stranger to overcoming adversity concerning her identity. After tinkering for years she has come up with a menu of super crushable Japanese inspired bites which she will be showcasing this Monday April 3rd beginning at 5pm. Please come through and help us turn drams into reality!

Daydream, I dreamed of you amid the flowers
For a couple of hours, such a beautiful day!

Thanks to all who attended and volunteered last night! It took me way outside my comfort zone but sometime that a good thing!

Get out of this miserable weather and into this Korean earthenware dolsot bowl. We are rocking two specials in them tonight! Cuz I is on sauté. Come say what’s up!

Specials!
Grilled squash!
Vegan oyster mushroom po boy!
Shrimp ramen!
Bacalao sando!
Less time posting, more to me cooking!

Beat the rainy day blues with tonight’s special, spicy gumbo! This ain’t no leftover from the pop up last night. We sold out of the vegan stuff. Tonight we have a fresh batch served up the way god intended packed with shrimp, chicken, and andouille sausage. All fortified with shrimp head stock.
Oh yeah, and if you are one of those folks that think god didn’t intend you to eat meat today we got fried bacalao sandwiches done up soju style. Hawaiian bun, spicy mayo with roe, gotchujung pickles and all served up with a side of nori fries. Happy Ash Wednesday 😊

Working the line tonight! Come say hi and order the specials. Gimmari, buldak chicken, n egg drop soup.

Come find out! This Sunday 5-9pm.

Oh baby we like it raw! Seafood stack; shrimp ceviche, tuna poke, 🥑 n at

Getting ready to speak to the University of Pittsburgh Asian Students Association! What a surprising honor it is that anyone would think I have worthwhile insights to share with college students. I feel less than qualified, nervous, and intimidated. Once upon a time great chef told me that our goal is to educate and and inspire and those words really stuck with me. Never would have dreamed then that I would be doing things like this. What a trip!

We back at it today with some 🔥 specials!

I had some kimchi set aside for weeks getting extra sour to make a mean batch of kimchijiggae. Braised pork, radish and cabbage kimchi, bean sprouts, all fortified with beef broth.

Also back by popular demand is gimmari. Japchae all rolled up in seaweed, battered, then deep fried. Served up with some soy vin.

I’m setting a few orders aside for ya 😉

Unfortunately Soju will be closed tonight because we are with out water. Sorry for the inconvenience.

It’s a new year and we are working on some new dishes! This one is a bacalao sliced sashimi style with sweet, salty, sour, spicy, and savory notes. The five S’s of soju flavors. Was lucky enough to take a moment and sit down with and enjoy some last night. We both agreed that the texture was a little off and he recommended a light poach. It was exactly what it needed! I am so proud to call nik a friend and colleague. It is wonderful to observe and take part of his growth. I understand that dishes like this are a hard sell next to soju favs like tofu and bbq. But I’m going to tell you like he told me when I asked him what I should eat at his last pop up. “Idk man, order the weird sh*t.”

Grandma says if the fish isn’t cooked with the bone and the head how will it have any flavor. So in her honor we have whole stuffed pompano today. Warm spices, cilantro, 4 kinds of citrus. Just save me the cheeks and eyeballs, they the best parts! 😜

Yesterday was one of those beautiful nightmares. I left the sinks dripping so the pipes didn’t freeze but that didn’t stop water from freezing in the p trap under the dish washer. I was short staffed but jumped on the line with me and killed it. Of course we got slammed and prep pushed into service. It was all worth it though because I got to feed two badass local chefs .pizzeria and on their day off. I promised them from scratch udon but we didn’t have time to bust it out. But today the sun is shining, the udon is fresh, and I grabbed some beautiful whole pompano to pair with some fresh citrus. Stop in tonight and help me sing my redemption song!