A Korean Vegetarian Cafe From One of Ann Arbor’s Most Celebrated Chefs Arrives in Kerrytown #DetroitFood

Chef Ji Hye Kim always visits her favorite Buddhist temple when she’s back in Korea — but not just for the spiritual experience. She discovered the temple’s kitchen also serves up top-notch vegetarian food. “I was blown away by how delicious it can be,” she says.

Back at her flagship restaurant, Miss Kim — consistently recognized as one of Ann Arbor’s best — some patterns emerged: vegetable dishes were among the most popular on the menu, and vegetarian-themed dinners sold out fast. And on a personal level, Kim started eating less meat for health reasons.

Kim tells Eater that all of these experiences inspired Little Kim, a fast-casual restaurant with an all-vegetarian menu, opening on Thursday, July 31. The 24-seat restaurant with counter ordering is next door to Miss Kim in the Kerrytown courtyard, in a spot formerly occupied by Eat.  

Little Kim’s menu prices are lower than her full-service restaurant, but Kim wants to make something very clear about her latest concept: “We’re not going to have [plant-based] Impossible Meat or fake chicken nuggets.”

Instead, featured proteins include tofu, tempeh, kidney beans, chickpeas, and eggs. For the make-your-own bowl, diners choose their protein and pair it with a base of jasmine rice, greens, or french fries. From there, they can add fresh and house-pickled vegetables — like tangles of pickled red onion, carrot salad, or refreshing bites of smashed cucumber — and finish off their bowls with toppings such as sambal hot sauce, garlic vinaigrette, toasted seaweed, or fresh herbs. 

The menu draws inspiration from Korea, Japan, China, and India, but tastes of Ann Arbor also come through in the partnerships with local businesses. A fried tofu sandwich with red cabbage, cucumbers, and seaweed mayo is served on crusty Zingerman’s Bakehouse bread. Kim also partners with her Kerrytown neighbor Tracklements, known for its smoked fish, to create smoked tofu, and with the Brinery for smoked tempeh.

Little Kim also has a mini-mart with grab-and-go items, including bean salad, seasonal kimchi, and homemade marinades and sauces — a sweet and spicy gochjung-based “marinara” can be tossed into freshly cooked noodles at home.

While the restaurant doesn’t yet have a liquor license (Kim hopes to extend Miss Kim’s to the new space), the drink menu features homemade sodas made with fruit juices, sweet vinegars, and bitters, alongside iced tea, cold brew, and Vietnamese coffee.

If all that sounds bold and original, consider the source: Kim has been recognized as a James Beard Award semifinalist five times and was named one of Food & Wine’s Best New Chefs of 2021. In August, she’ll appear alongside other award-winning chefs at the inaugural Traverse City Food & Wine event.

Kim calls the Beard recognition a “great honor” and credits it to Miss Kim’s consistency. “But on a community level, it’s a recognition of smaller towns and smaller markets,” she says, and especially meaningful from a foundation historically focused on restaurants in New York, San Francisco, and other big cities.

Kim’s origins are as humble as the small Midwest city she calls home. She trained not in culinary school but in the kitchens of local restaurants such as Zingerman’s Delicatessen and Zingerman’s Roadhouse (another top-ranked A2 restaurant). Her greatest culinary inspiration? Her mom, a talented home cook who made batches of kimchi every fall with seasonal vegetables, dumplings for New Year’s, and rice cakes for harvest festivals. Her personal favorite was seaweed soup. 

“It’s known as birthday soup, because every Korean child gets it on their birthday. So American kids get cake; Korean kids get seaweed soup.”

She’s especially excited about the local Michigan produce that shines at Little Kim. Cucumbers, green beans, and radishes are in now, but things really get going in August as tomatoes, corn, and other late-summer crops hit their peak.

It seems appropriate, then, that Little Kim is just steps away from the Ann Arbor Farmers Market, whose stalls are now overflowing with produce and people every Saturday. The cozy restaurant is a simple yet welcoming space with leafy plants and traditional Korean earthenware. “I like clean white spaces filled with green things,” Kim says, adding that she decorates her own home in a similar motif. 

Customers eating onsite will order at the counter, and staff will bring food to their tables. Online ordering through Grubhub and Uber Eats is coming soon.

However you enjoy it, Little Kim offers a special kind of vegetarian experience in Ann Arbor: deeply flavorful, refreshingly unfussy, and rooted in both tradition and community.

Little Kim is located at 407 N. 5th Avenue in Ann Arbor; opening Thursday, July 31; hours are 11:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday; takeout and delivery via the restaurant website, Snackpass, UberEats, and Grubhub.

from Eater Detroit