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An Ajjuma And Her Banchan

An Ajjuma and her banchan 

Sunny Lee, Gabriela Acero, Josh Hamlet 

Sunny Lee, left, and Julie Shin, right 

Sunny Lee, left, and Julie Shin, right 

 
 

About six months ago, Sunny and I thought about doing a dinner together through Counter Service. About nine months ago, Gabriela and I decided that we would have to work together on an event in some capacity. About a month ago, we realized that the three of us should absolutely team up to put on a cute as hell dinner to span the themes of Issue 13 and 14: Family Style and Comfort. We knew that Sunny Lee’s incredible talents with Korean Banchan were being untapped since she slowed down on her Ajjuma Dinners, and we knew that Gabriela needed to buy some magnums of wine and pour one-offs for really special people.  About a week ago, we put on two back-to-back nights of Banchan realness.

 

This was really the perfect segue between the two themes; Banchan, if you’re not familiar, are the little side-dishes that come with almost every Korean meal (you order Galbi, and you’re getting about 16 other dishes like kimchi and kkadugi and ojingeochae muchim…) that force you to chat with your neighbors about “what is that” and “can we have more”? So, to us, this meant: getting a new family together to share and experience and really get into what is Korean Comfort foods – foods that make you feel great.

 

It was amazing to work with these two powerful, talented, intelligent women and I can’t wait for the next time our paths cross.

 

Photograph by Paul Gordon 

Photograph by Paul Gordon 

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Photograph by Paul Gordon 

Photograph by Paul Gordon