Giuk Opens in Flatiron With Korean American Childhood Memories on the Menu

Giuk opened Tuesday, October 27, at 41 West 24th Street in Flatiron, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. The name is 기억, gi-eok, the Korean word for memory. Owner Matae Lee built the restaurant around childhood years in Korea and the life that followed after he moved to the United States at fourteen, first in Atlanta and later in New York’s Korean hospitality circuit. Hall PR lists Austin Changki Jo as executive chef. The Infatuation has not reviewed the room yet, though it already has a short note on the books.

Lee’s team page walks him through leadership jobs at Miss Korea BBQ, Barn Joo 35, and Don Chicken in Little Neck and Manhattan. CMO Lynn Lee moved from Korea to New York at six. She spent six years at missKOREA BBQ, two of them managing more than a hundred employees, and holds a master’s in social work from Columbia. Beverage director Eunah “Chloe” Jeong grew up on Jeju Island. She ties her Jeju Mandarin Spritz to winter boxes of mandarins passed among family and neighbors, the everyday sharing Koreans call jeong. The Dirty Bong Bong turns Bong Bong grape juice into a rum drink with lime, mint, and coconut jelly. At a preview dinner the night before opening, The Knockturnal tasted her Sujeonggwa, an Old Fashioned of cinnamon-infused bourbon, rye, and a syrup of dates, ginger, and cinnamon.

Lunch centers on bibimbap and soondubu soft tofu stew with banchan. NewYorkNews, citing Eater NY’s openings roundup, calls both bowls customizable. Dinner puts the childhood memories on named plates. Staff at the preview pointed to Slow Braised Galbijim & Burdock Risotto as the house signature. The Knockturnal reported the short ribs sold out that night. The Infatuation groups that galbijim with a rosé shrimp cream pasta and a steak finished in minari chimichurri, and says all three land under $30. Giuk’s own menu page still reads “Coming Soon,” with a note that dishes and pricing will post once the list is confirmed.

Preview tables also got Korn Ribs: corn ears split lengthwise, fried until the edges brown, then streaked with perilla mayo seasoned with citrus and wasabi. The Knockturnal called that bowl the best plate of the night. Early boards also listed doenjang shiitake pasta, chilled buckwheat noodles in toasted perilla oil, a garden salad with lotus root, grilled peach, and house tofu feta, citrus-glazed shrimp, and soy-glazed pork belly over tofu cream with kimchi coleslaw. Seared steak with a stripe of minari chimichurri, roasted potatoes, and blistered tomatoes showed up on The Knockturnal’s table and in Rebecca Gilbert’s press photos. Guests get pasta, steak, fried corn, and a short-rib braise over risotto. Perilla, doenjang, and minari do the Korean work.

Claire Soojin Kim of Team Design fitted about 1,500 square feet with light oak. Custom wallpaper by Aerosyn-Lex Meštrović runs deep blue with metallic gold. A bar sits near the entrance. Resy takes bookings from the restaurant’s site. Hours are still unpublished. Ask early for the galbijim if that is the plate you came for, then let Jeong’s grape juice or mandarin spritz finish the table.