Inside the Kitchen: Seven Questions with Chef Junsoo Bae of SSAL

5 Minute read

11 Jun 2025

Journalist

Chef Junsoo Bae of SSAL in San Francisco shares his comfort food cravings, culinary philosophy, and why cheeseburgers—and fried chicken—hold a special place in his fine dining journey.

What Is Your Deserted Island Meal?

Cheeseburger. I didn’t grow up eating cheeseburgers, but at Gramercy Tavern I was eating burgers every day. It’s one of the most famous burgers in New York City for a reason. A steak-cut, medium-rare burger with running juice. It is a simple dish, but reveals a lot about a chef’s technique.

What’s Your Most Poignant Food Memory?

When I was in the military, my sister came for the weekend to visit me, and she bought a gimbap that she had just purchased in front of our military camp. I was talking to my sister and eating it, and that moment—that food—will always be a special memory. It was just a franchised rice roll company, but I think the circumstances made it taste even better.

What Does Fine Dining Mean to You?

It’s not just a place to eat, but a full experience. A lot of people join the restaurant for an occasion—anniversary, birthday, retirement—something to celebrate. From the moment you walk in, it needs to feel special. I want guests to taste some familiar dishes as well as try something new. As a Korean restaurant in San Francisco, there should be some unexpected flavors and an educational moment as well.

What Are Your Restaurant Goals or Dreams?

A lot of restaurants are existing to achieve something, but instead of chasing World’s 50 Best or the Michelin Guide, I want to make the restaurant reflect my life. Oftentimes, I see a lot of failure based on complicated financials behind the restaurant. I want to stay away from investors so that I can always run my business the way I believe is right. I want someone to come as a diner and feel my passion, my story, my flavor—with all the energy that goes in.

What’s On Your Restaurant Bucket List to Visit?

César in New York. Until now, I think Brooklyn Fare was my best meal. I went a long time ago in Brooklyn when he initially opened, and it was BYOB. His cooking is very honest, very ingredient-driven, and a lot of seafood—just like we do.

What Is Your Food/Cooking Philosophy?

I’m a part of nature. I have to accept seasonal changes and product changes. I’m just a cook. Whatever Mother Nature gives to us, I want to help people enjoy it. That’s why we serve fruit just on ice at the end of dinner. We are highlighting what Mother Nature has given to us this week at the farmers’ market—to show something better than they can buy from Whole Foods.

What's Your Comfort Food?

Cheeseburger again. At least once every two weeks, I go to In-N-Out.

The Chef

Born in the bustling seaport of Pohang on South Korea’s east coast, Junsoo Bae grew up watching his mother ferment her own soy sauce, gochujang, and bean pastes. A self-described chubby kid, he equated delicious food with happiness—and by the age of 14, he knew he wanted to become a chef. His father, however, vehemently opposed the idea.

“I wanted to prove myself—and to prove him wrong,” Bae says. His first kitchen job was washing dishes for $3 an hour at a Pizza Hut in his hometown. In an attempt to appease his father, he enrolled in a computer engineering program at a university in Busan, but dropped out after one semester. His heart wasn’t in it. Cooking was.

Following a difficult conversation with his father, Bae agreed to complete his mandatory two-year military service. If he still wanted to become a chef afterward, his father promised to support the decision. He spent those two years driving tanks along the frigid North Korean border, and once discharged, he applied to the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York.

At 24, with little formal experience beyond simple home cooking, Bae found himself surrounded by more advanced students already fluent in terms like mirepoix and mise en place.
Still, his determination paid off: after staging three times, he landed an externship at Blue Hill at Stone Barns. That opened the door to a one-month stage at Per Se, followed by three months at noma.

When Bae returned to New York, he was hired as a sous chef at Gramercy Tavern, where he met his wife, Hyunyoung Bae, then a line cook. After six years, the couple relocated to Northern California, where Bae joined the team at The Restaurant at Meadowood as a line cook.

In 2019, the Baes poured all of their wedding gift money into opening their own Korean-influenced fine dining restaurant, SSAL, in San Francisco’s Russian Hill neighborhood. Bae’s cuisine blends his classical Western training with Korean ingredients and personal memory. “I always wanted to chase fine dining to make myself proud and my family proud,” Bae says.

SSAL earned its first Michelin star in 2022, which Bae has held since. His father, once skeptical, is now one of his biggest supporters. He cold-presses toasted Korean sesame oil and ships it in unmarked glass bottles from South Korea, where Bae uses it as a finishing oil at the table.

11 Jun 2025