There was a time when Korean food and culture were obscure and challenging to find in Louisville. In the 2010s, visiting Sarang Well-Being in the Highlands and Oriental Supermarket in the Lynnview Shopping Center on the same day might have felt like a whole journey.
But recently, Korean-owned food and beverage businesses have been blossoming in the Clifton and Crescent Hill neighborhoods thanks to new Louisville residents and no doubt inspired by the success of Chef Edward Lee's Korean Steakhouse Nami.
These businesses create a Korean corridor that brings the aromas, flavors, and essence of Korea to Frankfort Avenue and beyond.
Miki's Karaoke Bar & Korean Restaurant
Miki Miller opened Miki's Karaoke Bar & Korean Restaurant at 2230 Frankfort Ave. in 2023. She moved to Louisville from Korea more than 30 years ago, and gained experience in the American restaurant business working as a server at Fuji Steakhouse for 23 years. She describes her experience over those years as developing meaningful rapport with regulars, serving through many milestones of many lives. Opening her own business felt like a natural progression of her place in the community.
Although there is a diverse array of cultures in Clifton—and businesses that reflect that diversity—there were no other Korean businesses in the neighborhood when Miller decided to open a restaurant of her own. She says she feels fortunate that a space was available at the same moment she was ready to get started.
Her decision served a dual purpose: "Karaoke hubs throughout Louisville are staples in their neighborhoods," she says. "Frankfort Avenue was missing a spot dedicated to karaoke that served as an intermediary for a fun night out and a quick, affordable dinner with dishes from a culture that didn’t already have a presence in Clifton."
The origins of karaoke might be in Japan, but it is a longstanding favorite activity for people across east Asian cultures and among the Asian diaspora. Karaoke is not only about singing into a sound system backed by instrumental versions of our favorite songs—it is also about social connections.
"That's what we want Miki's to be for Frankfort Avenue and beyond" Miller says, "a place for lighthearted fun and connection, free of embarrassment and full of encouragement."
Food is another foundational part of Korean culture that Miller enjoys sharing with Louisville. There are perennially delectable dishes like fried rice and ramen noodles, augmented by less common dishes like kimchi stew and a spicy squid stir-fry. Miki's will continue to offer a rotating menu of Korean dishes—and an ever-expanding list of songs to sing—as the business continues to grow.
KIWA
Soo Young Cho lived in Seoul for almost 30 years before she relocated to Louisville with her husband Jea, who is a student at University of Louisville School of Dentistry. The couple had planned to move back to Jea's hometown of Atlanta after he graduated, so opening a business was not something on Soo Young's mind.She studied architecture in Korea, and worked in construction as well as at the accounting firm KPMG Korea. Her first job was as a residential designer, but she soon shifted her focus to real estate. "I wanted to know more about sustainability and affordable housing in the U.S." Cho recounts. So she transferred to a school in New York to take graduate-level courses in real estate. "But I just found that real estate is not what I want to do now, and desserts or culinary is what I really want."
Cho decided that she would rather start a pop-up dessert kitchen in Louisville during Jea's last year in school. That pop-up turned into the understated yet elegant cafe now beloved in Clifton as KIWA.
She chose Clifton as the permanent residence for her culinary business because Frankfort Avenue seemed different than any other place in Louisville. "It's vibrant, energetic. People jog, walk, and wander around here, and our neighbors are so nice and sweet."
Opened in December 2023, KIWA has already found success in sharing Korean culinary traditions with Louisville. As the business continues to develop, Cho hopes to share something even more nuanced: the diversity of Korean culinary traditions.
"A lot of people think that Korean food and culture are really spicy," she says. Indeed, anyone who has tasted buldak (affectionately known as "fire chicken") understands that spiciness is a part of Korean food. "But I want to show something more authentic."
Cho explains the phrase geom-i bullu, hwai bulchi, which means humble yet not impoverished, glamorous yet not extravagant. "I think this is the essential beauty of Korean culture. I want to introduce food, tea, arts, and crafts with these values.” And she has already begun. For Korean culture beyond the kitchen, KIWA also offers a gallery of work by Korean artists and workshops based in Korean crafts and rituals.
CM Chicken of Louisville
Husband and wife Viet Tran and Soyoung Chon met while in the same degree program at University of Kentucky College of Pharmacy. "Some of the best memories that we made were of us cooking for each other and recreating our favorite childhood dishes, hers being Korean and mine Vietnamese," says Tran. Growing up in Korea, some of Chon's fondest memories are of "the vibrant street food scenes and eating Korean fried chicken and other favorites like tteokbokki and Korean corn dogs."While there are Korean restaurants in Louisville that serve some of these dishes, each with their own flourish, Tran and Chon began to feel that to find truly authentic Korean fried chicken, they had to travel outside of Louisville. The couple has visited Atlanta and tried the CM Chicken there on several occasions. Everything about the experience—from the range of sauces to the distinctly Korean crunch—reminded Chon of her childhood in Korea. "One day we asked ourselves, why don't we just bring this experience to Louisville?"
Both Tran and Chon work as full-time pharmacists and thought it might be impossible to realize their shared dream of bringing Korean street food to Louisville, until they approached family and friends to propose a business partnership. Tran's childhood friend San Luu and brother-in-law Quyen Pham were immediately on board.
After searching the Highlands and St. Matthews "mainly because of the thriving culinary scene in those neighborhoods," Tran, Chon, and their partners were finally able to find a place on Frankfort Avenue, in the space that Comfy Cow once occupied. "The history of the building (and its infamous pink exterior)" as well as the diverse culinary offering along Frankfort Avenue practically made their decision form them.
CM Chicken is a franchise established in South Korea in 2009, so it was important to the partners to stay local with the designer, furniture maker, and muralist at the Louisville location. Along with their distinctly Korean-style fired chicken, they will be offering other Korean street food favorites like tteokbokki, savory pancakes, corn dogs, and patbingsu (shaved ice) along with a selection of beer and soju.
"We were also pleasantly surprised to see that Miki's Karaoke Bar and KIWA were also going to be our neighbors," Tran says. "Thoughts of our visits to Koreatown in bigger cities came into our heads and who knows, maybe Frankfort Avenue can be the Koreatown or Asiatown of Louisville."
Beyond Frankfort Avenue: Nami & Top 1
Korean food and culture has touched Louisville in a way that feels like a global kinship. Whether by way of chewy rice cakes cooked in a spicy broth, tea infused with yuzu fruit, or BLACKPINK songs on karaoke, the Korean corridor is inspiring our entire city.
Outside of Clifton and Crescent Hill, there is a spectrum of Korean food, from the award-winning Korean steakhouse Nami in Nulu to Top 1 Korean BBQ and Hotpot in the Highlands.
Marlie, a teen student at the Korean School of Louisville, says: "I'm so glad that there's been so many new Korean restaurants opening lately. The food and service at all of them has been great! I absolutely love the atmosphere and food from KIWA, and I'm so happy that there's finally a restaurant that has both K BBQ and hotpot in Louisville." Marlie is not the only one who feels that way.
