The Team Behind the Korean, Beef-Centered Bonyeon Share Their Chicago Favorites

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Every month, people from Chicago's hospitality industry share recommendations for food, drink, ingredients, and more as part of our Chef Picks series.

When it comes to dessert, Sangtae and Kate Park, owners of Bonyeon at 651 W. Washington Blvd. (along with TenGoku Aburiya and Omakase Yume) put their trust in executive pastry chef Alana Wang for exquisite seasonal closing dishes that tell a cultural story. Meanwhile, executive chef Alex Ching, a Honolulu native, oversees Bonyeon’s precise ten-course tasting menu, which focuses on beef executed with Korean flavors and technique. Together, Wang – who hails from the West Coast and is of Taiwanese heritage – and Ching bring years of fine-dining experience to the 12-seat chef’s counter. 

We asked them for their picks from Chicago’s deep reservoir of dining and culture. The two chefs overlapped with a number of their choices, evidence of a shared taste and approach to food.

Favorite restaurant

Wang: JJ Thai Street Food. You can’t go wrong with anything there, but the N6 บะหมี่น้ำหมูแดง or “egg noodles with BBQ pork with broth” is the perfect hangover/cold-weather cure. 

Ching: JJ Thai Street Food has this amazing BBQ pork noodle dish and also chive dumplings that I always order when I go there. They used to have a homemade fermented sausage that I hope they bring back soon. But you truly can’t go wrong with anything there. Plus, the staff is so joyful. 

Favorite dish

Wang: 黑白切 or “sliced pork cheek and tongue” at Taipei Cafe in Bridgeport. Just simple traditional Taiwanese street food. I could eat this everyday, honestly. 

Ching: Any of the tavern Tuesdays pizzas at Bungalow by Middle Brow. Their crust is like a thin soda cracker. It’s so good.

Favorite place to drink

Wang: Golden Years in West Town. They make a killer highball and overall just good riffs on classics. The team there is absolutely amazing. 

Ching: Golden Years by a mile. The staff is amazing. They do half-off industry Mondays. They absolutely have the best highball (my favorite drink) in the city.

Favorite place to shop or buy ingredients

Wang: The Super H Mart in Schaumburg or 88 Marketplace in Chinatown. Probably the closest selections I’ll get to the Seattle Asian supermarkets. 

Ching: The Super H Mart out in Schaumburg. I can get lost in there for hours. It also has a similar selection of fun groceries that I can find back in Hawaii.

Favorite local brand

Wang: Volition Tea. I recently had the opportunity to meet and work with Annie [Xiang] for a collaboration and absolutely fell in love with her products and intentionality. 

Ching: PAWS Chicago. I truly believe in their no-kill animal sheltering model. I also adopted my dog from them.

Favorite place in the city to bring an out-of-town guest

Wang: Milli by Metric. My girl Lou Turner is killing the lamination/pastry game out here in Chicago.

Ching: I still feel like a tourist here, so when I have out-of-town guests, we usually do the architecture tour. It’s a fun way to learn about the history of the city, as well as see all the amazing buildings in the Loop and the surrounding neighborhoods. As for restaurants, Obélix. My buddy Sam [Handwerger] is the chef de cuisine there and was one of my first friends when I first moved here. He’s an amazing cook and is doing some really fun things there.

A person in the industry you admire

Wang: Riley Brown. He is someone who is not only talented but also shows me what it means to be a thoughtful leader and kind manager. I’m truly grateful to have worked with him at Oriole. 

Ching: I have a couple. He’s gonna hate this, but I’m gonna shout out Riley Brown. He was my chef de cuisine when I worked at Oriole. An extremely talented, passionate, and hardworking individual who also taught me how to be a kind and fair leader in a two-Michelin-star environment. I’ve spent my fair share in Michelin-starred or Michelin-star adjacent kitchens, and I have only met a handful of people who can encompass all of those qualities. The other individuals here that I look up to are Tim Flores and Genie Kwon. I’ve personally never met them, but as an Asian American who is partially Filipino, I am so proud that my culture's food is being represented in the city in that way.