In The Dish, Weijia Jiang profiles the founder of Seoul Spice, a fast casual Korean chain that started in Washington, D.C., and is now setting its sights on national growth.

Washington

Seoul Spice, a fast casual Korean restaurant chain founded by Eric Shin in Washington, D.C., is preparing for national expansion. Shin, who drew inspiration from his family's recipes and his experience as a professional musician, opened Seoul Spice in 2016 to offer traditional Korean dishes with unique twists, such as cilantro lime ranch and purple rice.

The restaurant recently opened its first location outside the D.C. area in Chicago, with additional expansion plans underway. Shin and his team aim to introduce Korean cuisine to a broader audience, sharing family traditions and culture through food.

Korean fast casual chain Seoul Spice eyes national expansion

Try one of these. Eric Shin can barely remember a time when he wasn't in the kitchen with his mom and sister. Eric definitely always had a flair for cooking after he started learning his family's recipes. That flair fueled a dream to become a restauranteur. We just always say stuff like, oh, wouldn't be great if there was just like a place to just grab a quick grain bite in Washington DC where Shin lives. A place like that did not exist. Our famous eggs. These are incredible, so he created it himself. Opening soul spice in 2016 kimchi crunch. It's a fast, casual Korean concept offering traditional Korean favorites like beef bulgogi, chapchae noodles, and kimchi. Paired with unexpected twists like cilantro lime ranch and their famous purple rice. Look at that. While Shin's passion for cooking started at home, his love of sharing it with others was sparked here. At his day job as the lead percussionist for the National Symphony Orchestra, the pinnacle for a professional musician. So this is your other office. This is my other office. It's a little bit different from the kitchen, a little different, but similar in a lot of ways. It's those similarities that Shin said made jumping back and forth between his two gigs somewhat seamless. If you think about a kitchen, right? You have a group of really talented people working together, building something amazing. Percussion, right? We're not always playing the melody, but we're really thought of as the toppings, the sprinkles, the jimmies. If you will, and the ice cream sundae, exactly the spice and of course the soul required to bring something to life, be it a sheet of music or a recipe. And this recipe came from her grandmother, I believe, but just has kind of come down the family tree. When creating soul spices menu, Shin and his wife took his family's recipes dating back generations. And figured out how to cook them at scale. So this is the best part. Oh my goodness. It just tastes like home. So what does it mean to you that you're able to share your mom's cooking with so many people every day? It's it's reaffirming in a lot of ways, right? Just like knowing that as a kid growing up in the South, second generation Korean kid, I've always known this food is awesome. You just want other people to know exactly his risk paid off this year. Soul Spice opened its first location outside of the DC area in Chicago, with more plans in the works to keep expanding. It gives me so much joy like when I see, you know people from all walks of life come into Soul Spice and just enjoy something they can, you know, maybe not even pronounce, you know, but they're trying and it's just such a great gateway to culture. Food for CBS Mornings. I'm Weeja Jang in Washington DC.

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