To me, there are only a few touchstones of Bend left anymore when it comes to the food scene. The landscape of cuisine has always been fluid and ever-shifting, but now, more than ever, it seems like we can’t take any of our favorite spots for granted. Whenever I’m showing out-of-state filmmakers around during the BendFilm Festival or have someone I really want to impress, I take them to Yoli. What Joe and Laura Kim have created at the unassuming spot on Wall Street isn’t just an indelible Korean restaurant, but a very welcoming space where I have had two or three of the greatest meals of my entire life.
Three-time James Beard award nominee Chef Kim’s pop-up French cuisine night is easily in the top two meals I’ve ever had, so whatever he has planned, I’ll be there with an empty belly and a smile on my face. Luckily, we don’t have to wait any longer for Joe and Laura’s next concept: Yoli Pojang, a Korean food truck at Ballers and Brews.
First off, the menu is eclectic and delectable (Eclectable?) with a Bulgogi Cheesesteak ($14), fried chicken sandwich, BiBim tots, K-Dogs, his legendary banchan (small, shared side dishes) and quite a bit more. The Bulgogi Cheesesteak was layered with flavor as the sliced short rib (marinated in a sweet garlic tamari) met with the onions, crispy peppers and house-made four-cheese sauce on a large, crunchy sub roll and combined into a lovely mid-west/South Korean fusion.
The BiBim Tots with beef ($16) was also a comforting treat, with the perfectly crisp tots buried under layers of short rib, sirloin, onions, scallions, shredded cheese, red onion, cilantro, sour cream and pickled jalapeños. The high quality of the bulgogi and the complex deliciousness of the flavor profile are another very playful way for Chef Kim to elevate comfort food into remarkable new areas.
From the flawless Napa cabbage kimchi, pickle daikon and spicy daikon banchan to the perfectly breaded Korean battered hot dog stuffed with mozzarella, there isn’t a single dish on the menu I wouldn’t have again. Yoli Pojang allows Chef Kim to really experiment with some of the more classic Korean flavors in ways both exciting and innovative. I’ll be back as soon as I can.
I had a chance to talk with Chef Kim about his history with food and some of his inspirations. Here is our chat, edited for length.
the Source: Could you talk a little about yourself and your history with cuisine and, more specifically, Korean cuisine?
Joe Kim: My father is Korean. He was born in Japan during World War II, in a bomb shelter, actually. Korea was such a poor country at that time that you were better off being in a country where people hated you than in your native country. After the Korean War, my family returned to Korea, so he grew up between Korea and Japan, which is why he had Japanese restaurants when I was a teenager. My mother was an American, so I grew up eating out of the Betty Crocker cookbook with her. When I was with my father, I was eating Korean food and Japanese food, not knowing the difference between the two. I started working in my father’s restaurant around the age of 12 or 13, still not knowing the difference between Korean and Japanese food. I didn’t realize many dishes that we served at his restaurant were Korean. After college, I wanted nothing to do with the restaurant business and went into finance. When I found out I hated that, I went back into restaurants, specifically Japanese, and then transitioned to American fine dining, but I was always trying to learn as much as I could from whoever I could, which led me to learn about Korean cuisine from my aunt in Ulsan, South Korea. As all Korean Americans say, Korean food was looked down upon. It was thought to be gross, smelly, and it was a pretty tough sell to Americans who weren’t adventurous eaters. When I was at our last restaurant, there were many Korean influences and dishes on the menu, but Yoli was the first full Korean restaurant for me. As South Korea has been emerging into American culture, it has been easier to embrace my heritage and my cuisine.
tS: What inspired you to open Yoli Pojang? What was the initial concept?
JK: During COVID, we did a pop-up ghost kitchen for delivery that was called BAP culture, which is where I first made the chicken sandwich, the Korean corn dogs, and the bulgogi tots. When I was writing the menu for Yoli, there were so many things I wanted to do, but many of them did not fit into the type of restaurant that we were creating, so Pojang is the overflow for creativity that does not fit in the restaurant. Some of it is street food. Some of it is a blend of cultures, which is truly what Korea has been creating for some time now.
tS: Do you want to keep the menu fairly locked down or fluid?
JK: We will keep the core menu the same, but there will always be specials, like there are at the restaurant; always new items just because I want to share different flavors, textures, and creations with our town.
tS: What are some of the main differences people will notice between the restaurant and the truck?
JK: At the restaurant, we try to create an environment that is comfortable for everyone, whether you are in shorts and flip-flops or going out for your anniversary. We try to give you a comfortable but upscale experience. We also offer the 5-course menu and the Chef’s tasting menu at the restaurant, which is definitely going to be more upscale/fine dining. Whereas at the food truck we get to serve corn dogs and tater tots, things that would not necessarily fit in the restaurant, but are great when you’re sitting on a patio with a cold beer. We are also able to serve things at a lower cost to our customers because our overhead is lower at the food truck than at the restaurant.
tS: What do you hope people take away from a meal at Pojang?
JK: I hope that people see more about Korean food, and that people just realize it’s not as scary as Anthony Bourdain made it look on TV. I hope the people that eat at Yoli will discover the food truck and some of the more modern/fusion dishes at Pojang and the customers from Pojang will discover some of the more elevated dishes at Yoli.
tS: Do you find in the Pacific Northwest it’s easier to attract customers with fusion or more traditional dishes?
JK: I think that the community of Central Oregon has so many transplanted people that it’s a 50-50. You have so many people here that were in Korea because of a job or the military and so they want the flavors that they may have had before in Korea and then you have the people that have not been exposed to that yet, and this is their first taste of Korean food so when you put those Korean ingredients on top of tater tots or as a cheesesteak, it’s a little more familiar and an easier step to take into a new cuisine
Regardless of whether you’re after the upscale vibe of Yoli or the elevated comfort cuisine of Pojang, Joe and Laura Kim exemplify fine cuisine and hospitality. You feel so welcomed by them that it’s honestly hard not to eat there every day. For this food writer, they signify Bend at its very finest.
Yoli Po-jang
Thu-Mon
Ballers & Brews
20869 Redside Ct., Bend
yolipojang.com/
This article appears in the Source July 23, 2026.
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