826: Korean Drinking Culture Got the Book It Deserved with Irene Yoo

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**Irene Yoo** (1:07)
I think there's less of like a, oh, you have to drink less alcohol to be healthy mentality in Korea, because I think similar to let's say like British pub culture, like drinking is not as much of like a taboo as it is in some parts of American culture.

**Matt Rodbard** (1:23)
This is TASTE. I'm your host, Matt Rodbard.
Irene Yoo's groundbreaking book Soju Party just won a James Beard Award for teaching Americans to drink like Koreans. That's rounds, rules, anju, all of it. It's a big topic to cover and we get into it about the Soju Tornado, the convenience store hangover industrial complex in Seoul, and how a pop-up turned into Orion Bar, the Bushwick bar she co-owns with her husband and cocktail collaborator, Nick Dodge. I hope you enjoyed this episode. Irene Yoo, welcome to This Is TASTE. This is a long time coming. Great to see you.

**Irene Yoo** (2:09)
I know. I'm so happy to finally be sitting down and talking to you.

**Matt Rodbard** (2:12)
We've known each other for a long time, I feel. We've all been in similar circles, covering similar things. Yes. And now you're here. And last week, you won a James Beard Award.

**Irene Yoo** (2:21)
I did.

**Matt Rodbard** (2:23)
So huge. Major congratulations. I have spoken about Soju Party on the show many times. Truly one of my favorite books. Well deserved.
Did you drink Soju in Chicago that night?

**Irene Yoo** (2:35)
I did not that night, but I did the next night, because I went to a TAF event for AAPI, like culinary people, and definitely the Soju got brought out.

**Matt Rodbard** (2:45)
Got brought out. Okay, cool. Before we get into it, let's talk about where you've been dining out in New York, because I want to know, you run your own bar, restaurant, Orion, your work in service, but you probably have some time to go hang out, go to some spots. Where are you going?

**Irene Yoo** (2:59)
Yeah, I feel like whenever I go out, I have to be very choosy.
So I was going through my phone feed to be like, where have I been? I've actually recently went to Donahue's for the first and last time.

**SPEAKER_3** (3:12)
First and last? Wow.

**Irene Yoo** (3:14)
My friend is a regular and he's a diehard, and he was trying to go every day until they closed. So we went on the last day, had the burger, had the martini, loved the whole pint glass sidecar. That is a clutch move.
And then otherwise, I went to Lay recently, also James Beard Award winner. I went the day before they got nommed. So I loved their seltos salad with that savory chili oil. It was so good, very good wines.
And then where else? I've been really loving, my friends just opened up this new bar called The Museum. It's very new, like opened last week. So it's a cocktail bar that's inspired by natural history. So it's kind of like, they keep tagging like American National History Museum in all of their posts.

**Matt Rodbard** (4:05)
Tell me more, what neighborhood?

**Irene Yoo** (4:06)
Yes, so it's off the Jefferson Ave stop. And yeah, it has lots of, you know, like has like the faux rhino head, has like skulls, lots of like oddities, curiosities type of things. And all the cocktails are sort of inspired by different, like he, Misha, the owner is like, it's like has to be pre-civilization, has to be like pre-human. So everything is sort of inspired by like mammals, or like algae, or things like that. And the drinks are so good. And then they also have dino nuggets, which I think is-

**Matt Rodbard** (4:37)
What is a dino nugget?

**Irene Yoo** (4:38)
It is a dinosaur shaped chicken nugget.

**Matt Rodbard** (4:40)
That's the best thing.

**Irene Yoo** (4:40)
Exactly.

**Matt Rodbard** (4:41)