By Dan Murphy
A new Korean restaurant in Downton Crossing, Somaek was the only dining establishment in the city, as well as the state, named to the New York Times’ recently published list of 50 restaurants recommended for 2024.
The restaurant debuted at 11 Temple Place in March under the auspices of BCB3, a new hospitality group which includes venerable Boston restaurateur Babak Bina, together with Chef Jamie Bissonnette and Andrew Cartin, one of Bina’s enduring business partners.
Somaek opened in tandem with two sister establishments: the neighboring Temple Records, a cocktail lounge inspired by Japan’s ‘listening bars’ of the 1950s; and Sushi @ Temple Records, its downstairs sushi bar.
“In a minimalist space on a quiet side street in busy Downtown Crossing, Somaek presents Korean cooking in all its magnificence and abundance. Chefs often say their mothers taught them to cook, but Jamie Bissonnette’s jangmonim (wife’s mother), Soon Han, gets full menu credit for its focused flavors. Alongside robust classics like chilled pork belly, seared beef and stir-fried squid with rice cakes, Somaek serves a master class in banchan like chive-garlic salad, radish kimchi and pickled perilla leaf. The restaurant is named after a cold fizz of soju (clear liquid) and maekju (beer), popular for chugging and on Korean reality shows; it’s just part of a full and festive bar program here. Mr. Bissonnette, a veteran of Boston’s fine dining kitchens (and the tapas juggernaut that was Toro), has built his dream chef cave, with a vinyl listening bar next door and a sushi speakeasy downstairs,” wrote Julia Moskin in her description of Somaek in the Times’ unranked restaurant list published on Sept. 24.
Of receiving this accolade, Bina wrote, “We at BCB3 Hospitality are tremendously honored to have been chosen by the NYT to be in the Top 50 Restaurants of 2024 in the country. We will continue to bring our loyal followers, Bostonians and visitors alike unique restaurants to enjoy.”
For more on Somaek, visit somaek.com.