'Top Chef' Finalist Brings Korean Bar Food To Evanston

A Top Chef finalist will be cooking Korean bar foods like pork belly pancakes and bi bim bop at Evanston’s new pop-up restaurant this August. 

Beverly Kim and her husband and co-chef, John Clark, will be presenting a concept called “The Hof” on Monday, Aug. 26, at Company, 1307 Chicago Ave. Kim was a finalist on season nine of Top Chef, according to a press release.

Founded by Eric Singer of Lucky Platter and Craig Golden of Union Pizzeria and S.P.A.C.E., Company hosts a rotating series of dinners from established chefs and beginners alike at the 500-square-foot, 18-seat space.

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Previous guests have included Feast and Imbibe, a partnership of two former employees of Chicago’s Michelin-rated Moto Restaurant, and a team dinner by Erwin Drechsler of Erwin’s in Lakeview and Stephanie Samuels of Angel Food Bakery. 

Kim is planning a menu of traditional Korean bar food that will be served family style, according to the release. Dishes include Korean chicken wings with honey vinegar and chili; cured pork belly pancakes with mung beans, pickled pineapple and mizuna; and bi bim bop made with smoked lake trout, fennel kimchi and wood-grilled romaine. 

“We are really excited to cook at Company because it affords us the opportunity to showcase our food at an intimate location that has the feel of a real restaurant,” Kim said in the release. “We plan to use the space to curate a dynamic food and beverage experience, to create excitement about a kind of restaurant we would like to create.” 

Cocktails made with the sweet rice wine Slow City Makgeolli—brewed in Niles—will accompany the meal. Tickets are $49 per person and can be purchased in advance on the Company website.