My Hooni Said Shine Two Stars on the World

[sasah maslov for the nytimes]Sam Sifton gave Hooni Kim's "wee little restaurant on 52nd Street" one star in August 2011. That restaurant was Danji, Kim's first in New York. About a year and a half later, Kim opened Hanjan in Flatiron on the same stretch of West 26th Street that's home to Hill Country and Maysville. At Hanjan, Kim turns out Korean fare using the casual, whimsical, and small-plate template borrowed from the izakayas of Japan, where eating and drinking are regarded with the same ferver. Today, Pete Wells awards the newcomer two stars.

"Like Mr. Kim’s slightly older restaurant, Danji," Wells writes, "Hanjan has a menu divided between traditional Korean dishes (the pajeon) and new ideas (slices of raw wild salmon that you wrap around salad greens in a spicy sesame dressing). And once again, the cover versions and the original compositions are so much in touch with the spirit of Korean cooking that it can be hard to tell which is which."

"Mr. Kim may be more confident in his cooking this time around," Wells notes, "or more certain that New Yorkers will get it." He finds ingredients and menu items that suggest "Mr. Kim trusts his audience, and vice versa." Hooni Kim has built a relationhip with New Yorkers via the Korean pantry, and the two-star review reinforces the claim others have already made about Kim: he's the city's king of Korean. [NYTmes]