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Reservations are live for Friday’s opening day of one of Chicago’s most anticipated restaurants of 2019. Eater Young Gun Dave Park and partner Jennifer Tran will unleash Jeong, their long-awaited follow-up to Hanbun — the humble yet genre bending Korean restaurant inside a suburban strip mall that was booked solid for months for its tasting-menu dinners before it closed last year.
Jeong takes over the Green Zebra space, 1460 W. Chicago Avenue, and unlike the former vegetarian haven, the menu features short ribs, sashimi, and pork and kimchi mandu. The path toward Jeong (pronounced like “Chung”) has been long, as Park and Tran saw critical acclaim for their Westmont restaurant and pined to open a city location. Much like the philosophy chef/owner Jennifer Kim takes at Passerotto in Andersonville, Jeong won’t be traditional. Park told the Tribune that he plans to take familiar Korean flavors and reinterpret them. Tran will handle the front of the house, and with more space and time in West Town, Park will be able to refine his menus. They’ll offer a la carte and a tasting menus.
The area around Jeong is suddenly ripe with groups of Korean restaurants at a variety of price points and offerings. Restaurants like Kimchi Pop, Bonchon, and Iron Age BBQ all present Korean food differently, and Jeong will soon join the party with a more fine dining approach. Stay tuned for more coverage.
