THE BORDER BETWEEN NoMad and Koreatown in the eastern part of Midtown Manhattan is cacophonous on a Saturday evening in summer, with people moving between cars at stoplights, and diners queuing up outside their favorite spots as the sunlight wanes. K-pop and hip-hop compete for attention, blasting from bars and restaurants hoping to draw in undecided customers. Walking through this neighborhood, which is only a few city blocks, means entering a swirling mix of sounds and smells reminiscent of South Korea, thousands of miles away yet also distinctly New York.

If you head southeast from Herald Square on 30th Street, the scene becomes quieter, and you’ll eventually come to a black-iron gate outside a row of town houses. Look for the small sign, and you know you’ve arrived at Atomix, the Michelin-starred Korean fine-dining restaurant open since 2018.

Crossing the threshold into the cream, gray, and beige interior, diners are introduced to the world of Junghyun “JP” and Ellia Park, husband-and-wife restaurateurs and co-founders of Atomix, Atoboy, and Naro in Rockefeller Center. JP curates the culinary program at the restaurants, while Ellia manages the group’s front-of-house operations.

At Atomix, guests are guided through a two-hour-long tasting menu in the restaurant's lower level. They sit at the dark wood rectangle counter as Chef JP, along with his kitchen team, prepare and serve each course. Reservations are tough to come by and typically book out months in advance.

The Parks moved to New York 10 years ago when JP became the head chef at Jungsik in Tribeca, a high-end Korean restaurant with locations in Seoul and Manhattan. While working there, Park says he realized “new Korean cooking had a lot of potential in the fine-dining scene of New York City.” So he and Ellia began thinking about how they’d want to bring their unique brand of Korean cooking to the city. “We opened Atoboy first because we thought a tasting menu might not be as easily approachable for everyone because of the price point, so we wanted to build something more casual and easy,” he explains. “I wanted it to be a place that I’d want to invite friends and family.” Two years later, the couple opened Atomix, a lab-like space to showcase their innovative contribution to Korean fine dining.

How do you add something new to a culture that has existed for hundreds of years? This is what Chef Park thinks about when creating menus for his restaurants. “It’s about going back and looking at history but also creating something that works for this generation.” Various types of Korean seaweed are used during a meal at Atomix, highlighting the versatility of this ingredient: saltier varieties are used as a garnish, while mellower ones are used for cooking. The uni (sea urchin) may come from Japan, and the duck from upstate New York, but they’re prepared at Atomix with Korean elements, highlighting how well the cuisine works with flavors from all over the world. The atmosphere is lab-like because each plate is an experiment.

Their new restaurant, Naro, is about “going back to the traditional banchan [small dish] culture, our first step to teaching and sharing culture,” Ellia says. She adds that it's a casual restaurant focused on introducing patrons to traditional Korean ingredients and their names — like ganjang, or Korean soy sauce. Consumers think they know this ingredient but may not appreciate it in its unique Korean form, as an aged artisanal product that adds depth and umami to dishes.

It’s also about bringing others into the story. “Naro isn’t about us; it’s not Ellia and JP’s story, it’s about our team,” JP says. But telling a story about the past and future of Korean food is still at the forefront. “I hope service-wise, we hold up the art of hospitality, build up that culture and transfer that to the next generation,” Ellia says.

The couple hopes to impart that intergenerational story and that it lasts well beyond the meal. At Atomix, each guest is given a menu card at the end of their experience, listing the evening’s courses and beverage pairing. “If you buy art, you can see it, you can listen to a song over and over again; but food is fleeting,” JP says. A menu card is a reminder of the story guests participated in and a memory to keep. “We want to bring that kind of memory and feel that can be part of a conversation. We want to bring a memorable restaurant experience.”

When I ask if exploring the past and future with their restaurants is challenging, the Parks look at one another, and Ellia answers. “It’s exciting,” she says with a smile. Naro has two meanings: the first is the name of South Korea’s first space vehicle to launch into Earth’ orbit, and the second meaning is the Korean phrase, “나로," which can be interpreted as “with me” or “through me.” It is the first restaurant in the Park’s hospitality group not to contain “Ato,” meaning “gift,” as the prefix. It was an intentional choice on their part to signify that this next phase is about bringing other people’s perspectives into the fold. “Atoboy and Atomix have been such gifts for both of us. It’s time to share that with others.”

Header image: Photography by Peter Ash Lee