Joodooboo

Steve Joo spent a year in Korea in 2014, ate a bowl of tofu that changed his mind about what he was doing, and apprenticed to learn to make it. He makes the dooboo here himself, and the name is his surname crossed with the Korean word for it.

Why go

Cesar Hernandez reviewed it for the Chronicle in 2024 and put the tofu first: It is exquisite, showcasing a true level of craftsmanship; it has a hint of sweetness, a fluffy but not quite silken texture, with jiggly but compact curd formation.4 Joo cooked at Chez Panisse and at Terra in Napa before Korea, which is why the banchan run on the calendar the way a Berkeley kitchen runs on it.5 Hernandez again, in the Chronicle's Korean guide this April: If all calendars suddenly failed us, you could easily track the seasons through owner Steve Joo's banchan.2 Spring brings snap peas and artichoke, summer swirls sweet corn through the dooboo, fall turns to persimmon kimchi and winter to braised kabocha. Some of the produce is gifted: the perilla leaves in the ssam came from Kristyn Leach's farm, Gohyang Fields.4 The room opened in 2022 as a deli with a few seats and now runs lunch and dinner five days a week.4

Order this / avoid

Order: the fried dooboo set. Rice flour and potato starch give the tofu a crunchy, chewy shell, and a spread of banchan comes around it. It was $20 in August 2024.4
Order: a side of the plain dooboo too, with the Meyer lemon-soy sauce and scallions. That is the thing to taste against every supermarket block you have eaten.4
Order: the rock cod if it is up, broiled or fried, in a white wine, olive oil and garlic-chile sauce Joo built off an Italian acqua pazza he learned at Terra.4
Order: the acorn noodle bowl, chilled, with nori vinaigrette, pickled mushrooms, cucumber and kimchi. Food & Wine picked it out.5
Avoid: arriving with one dish in mind. Hernandez's warning: At Joodooboo, seasons are law, so you might not encounter a dish you're hoping for.4

What locals & experts say

Cesar Hernandez, San Francisco Chronicle, 2024: Yet Joo's casual counter-service restaurant and banchan shop has developed into Oakland's most exciting place to experience Korean cooking, focusing on its often overshadowed gentler side.4
MacKenzie Chung Fegan and Cesar Hernandez put it 14th in the Chronicle's 2026 Top 100: Delicate. Subtle. Gentle. These are the words that tend to orbit discussions of Steve Joo's cooking.3
Food & Wine named Joo a Best New Chef in 2025, the only California chef in a class of ten, and explained why: During his time there, while seeking to better understand Korean food and traditional fermentation techniques through rural cooks, Joo tasted a tofu so remarkable it redirected his life, leading to an apprenticeship where he learned to make dooboo.5
The Chronicle gave it the first of its Rising Star Restaurant Awards earlier in 2026.2
Flora Tsapovsky, Eater, 2025: Steve Joo's ode to dooboo and banchan is a sight to behold, especially given that the two foods typically get co-star status to other dishes.6
MICHELIN made it a Bib Gourmand in 2026, one of seven new ones in California.1

Good to know

Ordering: at the counter. There are indoor tables, two bars, one facing the kitchen and one the street, and a few tables on the sidewalk.4
For a cheap lunch: banchan sold four to a pack, or a farmer's bowl of rice, lettuces and whatever is in season. Both were under twenty dollars in 2024.4
In summer they grill galbi on the sidewalk.4

Verdict

must-visit — Joo learned to make dooboo as an apprentice in Korea, and the curd is the argument for the whole room. The fried set at lunch, with a side of the plain tofu and the lemon-soy beside it.