A Korean Pop-Up Is Going Permanent in Tucker This Summer

Korean street food pop-up the Bite of Korea (BOK), run by Gavin Lee and Chloe Jung, opens as a permanent restaurant in Tucker this summer.

Slated to open at the Publix-anchored Hugh Howell Marketplace in September, the Bite of Korea should serve a similar menu to the pop-up, including its popular bulgogi quesadillas, soy garlic Korean fried chicken, so-dduk skewers, and japchae noodles.

The South Korean natives were set to open the Clairmont Cafe in a former cafeteria in Atlanta, securing the space on Century Place just a week before the start of the pandemic in March 2020. Lee and Jung quickly pivoted the business to a mobile kitchen, frequently popping up at restaurants along Buford Highway and at Italian restaurant A Mano in the Old Fourth Ward, as well as at festivals throughout Atlanta.

“This has been the biggest blessing that happened to us, and thanks to the incalculable amount of support and love we received from our guests, we are finally opening our first brick and mortar in an up and coming area,” Jung says in a press release. “We are excited that this is going to be the first Korean restaurant in the city of Tucker.

The Bite of Korea joins Antico owner Giovanni Di Palma at Hugh Howell Marketplace, who plans to open a petite version of his Home Park pizzeria called Antico Sporto there this year. Antico Sporto will offer a smaller menu of the Neapolitan-style pizzas found at the original restaurant in Atlanta.

Locations of Atlanta-based salad and grain bowl restaurant Gusto and all-day breakfast and brunch chain First Watch are also opening at the Tucker shopping complex.

Atlanta’s pop-up and underground dining scene has become a rich breeding ground for the development of new restaurants over the last five years, including Talat Market and Little Bear, both of which opened permanent locations in Summerhill two years ago.

Many restaurants around the city regularly offer kitchen and dining room space to chefs and culinary entrepreneurs on days the establishments are closed in an effort to offset the cost of rent and other overhead costs or as a way to invest in a more robust dining scene in Atlanta. Some pop-ups are even hired to keep a restaurant dining room full while the regular staff is on vacation.

4650 Hugh Howell Road, Tucker.