’m usually a little more disciplined, but I didn’t stand a chance against that bing bread. The second order seemed like the right move, until it wasn’t. Don’t get me wrong: I’d do it again. Parachute’s crispy, greasy-in-just-the-right-way, pancake-like bread, loaded with potato, bacon, and scallion and served with sour-cream butter for slathering, was easily the most addictive thing I ate all year.
Johnny Clark and Beverly Kim’s modern Korean-American restaurant is the latest of the Avondale neighborhood’s overachieving, no-nonsense spots. Sit at the long concrete table and start with the house pickles paired with a slightly fizzy pét-nat wine from the fun, well-curated list. From there it’s a slippery slope to more snacks: fried tapioca with furikake (East-meets-West croquettes), fried sesame leaves, and, okay, another order of bing bread.
Thanks to chefs like David Chang, pork buns, bo ssam, and gochujang hot sauce have bum-rushed American menus over the past decade. Clark and Kim continue the trend by putting their own smart spin on it. A lighter take on the often gut-busting mandu (dumplings) gets a backdrop of Thai-style green curry, while dukbokki (a kind of Korean pasta Bolognese) combines rice cakes, dried beef, and perilla seeds. Even bibimbap, Korea’s signature rice dish served in a sizzling stone bowl, feels reinvented under their direction, with an ever-changing roster of toppings that might include albacore and tripe or kale and barbecued onion.
So yeah, come to Parachute for the bing bread, definitely. But stay for everything else.
Get the recipe below
See how bibimbap becomes an art at Parachute:
The marble-topped communal table
Steak and Egg Bibimbap
Bing bread. These loaves are stuffed with bacon, potatoes, and cheese. Did we mention the side of sour cream butter?
Bibimbap is a regular fixture at Parachute's staff meals.
Chefs Johnny Clark and Beverly Kim with their son, Daewon.
Bibimbap with pulled smoked chicken, fava leaves, charred garlic scapes, spicy chicken skins, and a fried egg.
A hostess at Parachute.
Kim plates a crispy mung bean pancake.
Clark plates in the kitchen.
Bibimbap with Swiss chard, fried ginger threads, zucchini curls, pickled king trumpet mushrooms, squash blossoms, and a fried egg.
Prepping the Bing Bread dough.
Oysters with soju granita.
High-fives all around at the end of service.
Not ready to commit to a special dolsot bowl? Toast the cooked rice mixture in a generous splash of vegetable oil in a large skillet until a crunchy layer forms, 10–15 minutes, then pile on the ingredients as described.
Servings: 4
Steak
¼ Asian or regular pear, peeled, cored
1 1” piece ginger, peeled
1 large garlic clove
½ cup tamari soy sauce or soy sauce
2 tablespoons light brown sugar
1½ pound hanger steak, center membrane removed, cut into 4 pieces
Rice
2 cups Korean white rice or Japanese sushi rice
½ cup sweet Korean brown or short grain brown rice, rinsed, soaked in warm water 4 hours
¼ cup millet
¾ teaspoon kosher salt
Gochujang Sauce
½ cup gochujang (Korean hot pepper paste)
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon mirin
1 tablespoon mixed toasted black and white sesame seeds
2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
1 teaspoon unseasoned rice vinegar
1 teaspoon white soy sauce
Kosher salt (optional)
Toppings And Assembly
1 tablespoon vegetable oil, plus more for grill
1 large red onion, quartered through root end
1 tablespoon white balsamic vinegar
Kosher salt
1 bunch scarlet turnips or red radishes, trimmed, halved, quartered if large
4 large eggs
½ bunch broccoli rabe, stems trimmed
2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
Special Equipment:
Dolsot bowls
Ingredient Info:
Gochujang and white soy sauce are available at Asian markets and online.
Steak
Purée Asian pear, ginger, garlic, tamari, and brown sugar in a blender until smooth. Place steak in a large resealable plastic bag or a medium bowl and add marinade. Seal bag and turn to coat. Chill 4–12 hours.
Rice
Place white rice in a large bowl and cover with cold water, stirring by hand until water is cloudy; drain in a fine-mesh sieve. Repeat rinsing until water is clear, about 6–8 times (this removes surface starch from the rice, so the grains will be fluffy and separated when done).
Combine white rice with brown rice, millet, salt, and 3 cups water in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover, and simmer until rice is tender, 20–25 minutes. Increase heat to high and cook until any excess water evaporates, 1 minute. Remove from heat, uncover, and let sit 10 minutes to allow rice dry out slightly, then cover until ready to serve.
Gochujang Sauce
Whisk gochujang, lemon juice, mirin, sesame seeds, sugar, oil, vinegar, and soy sauce in a medium bowl to combine. Taste and season with salt if needed.
Gochujang sauce can be made 1 day ahead; cover and chill.
Toppings And Assembly
Prepare grill for medium-high heat; oil grill grate. Grill onion, turning occasionally, until tender, 30–40 minutes. Let cool slightly, then slice into 1” pieces. Toss in a small bowl with vinegar; season with salt. (You can also cook onions in a cast-iron pan over high, turning occasionally, until charred, 8–10 minutes.)
Grill turnips, turning just until lightly charred, about 2 minutes; transfer to a plate (or, do this step in a hot cast-iron pan with a little vegetable oil).
Remove steak from marinade, letting excess drain off; season very lightly with salt. Grill, turning occasionally, until charred in spots and crisp, 8–10 minutes for medium-rare. (Or, cook steak in a cast-iron skillet over medium-high.) Transfer to a cutting board and let rest 10 minutes before slicing against the grain.
Meanwhile, heat 4 dolsot bowls directly on stovetop over high until extremely hot (water splashed on side should sizzle and dissipate immediately); how long this takes depends on your bowls and your stovetop. Heat them as long as you like, they won’t break..
Add rice to bowls, dividing evenly, and toast 5 minutes (you should be able to see a crunchy layer forming along the side of the bowl). Remove from heat.
While the rice is toasting, heat 1 Tbsp. vegetable oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium. Cook eggs, sunny side up, until whites are just set, about 3 minutes. Place an egg on top of rice in the center of each bowl and drizzle some gochujang sauce around yolks. Arrange onion, turnips, broccoli rabe, and sliced steak around eggs (you can add the egg and other toppings while the rice is still toasting).
Drizzle sesame oil around the inside edges of bowls so it drips down into the bottom (you should hear the rice hiss and crackle). Serve with remaining gochujang sauce alongside.
Parachute's Steak-and-Egg Bibimbap
Bing Bread
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