Barn Joo 35
Barn Joo 35 sends bulgogi out in a stone bowl still sizzling. The rest of the card comes tapas-style.3
Why go
Charles Tiger Chong founded Barn Joo in the Flatiron District in the spring of 2013. The group describes its card as small plates on farm-to-table ingredients.2 The name is Korean for the drinks that go with a meal.2 Chong put a speakeasy called The Grain below that first room, with live jazz and a whisky list.2
Time Out counted 8,100 square feet at the Flatiron address, hung with suspended swings and climbing ropes.4 Its page for this door calls the room a sister outpost of the Midtown Barn Joo.3
Order this / avoid
- Order: the kimchi pancake.3
- Order: the spicy pork belly tacos.3
- Avoid: planning the evening off the company's own front page. It sells the Union Square room and books only that one.1
What locals & experts say
- Time Out New York, on this room, 18 August 2017: it
gives the peninsula's bold flavors a shareable spin in a cozy wood-clad setting.
3 I have not found anything written about the door since. - Matt Tervooren, then a staff writer for The Infatuation, on the group's Union Square room, 19 February 2019: the bibimbap there
comes with nicely charred rice at the bottom, plenty of spicy gochujang, and a big portion of meat.
7
Good to know
- Which door: 34 West 35th Street. The city register files a second Barn Joo at 35 Union Square West. Barn Joo Nomad keeps its own site.2
- Which door: 34 West 35th Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. Time Out files it Midtown West, in the second of its four price bands.3
- The rest of the group: a room at 35 Union Square West.7 Barn Joo Nomad keeps its own site.2
- The K-town alternative: Bryan Kim, the Infatuation's NYC editorial lead, makes Cho Dang Gol his top destination for homestyle Korean food.8
Verdict
could-visit — Come for a drink and a snack, and keep the bill small. This is not a room to plan a night around.