“The California Restaurant Foundation (CRF), a nonprofit that invests in and empowers California restaurants and their workforce, has awarded 278 independent restaurants with $5,000 grants as part of its fourth consecutive Restaurants Care® Resilience Fund. The grants were made possible via thoughtful donations from SoCalGas, The PG&E Corporation Foundation (PG&E Foundation) and San Diego Gas and Electric (SDG&E), which have contributed to the fund since 2021. Recipients can use the $5,000 assistance for equipment and technology upgrades, unforeseen hardships, employee retention bonuses and employee training, all of which allow California’s independent restaurant owners and caterers to invest in the longevity of their business and employees.”
“Notably, 76 percent of the grant recipients identify as female, and 73 percent identify as people of color. More than 70 percent of this year’s recipients plan to use the $5,000 grants for kitchen equipment or technology upgrades, and 17 percent will dedicate the funds to employee retention bonuses. To qualify, the restaurants and caterers needed to have fewer than five units, and less than $3 million in revenue.”
Christina Hong of Seoulmates in Los Angeles (W. Third St.) and Santa Monica is one of the fortunate recipients of a $5,000, 2024 California Restaurant Foundation Restaurants Care Resilience Fund Grant. We’ll meet her and learn her story.
Seoulmates’ Mission : “Our mission is to share a twist on Korean food so ridiculously good that you have to talk about it, that before anyone even considers taking a bite, you’ll have to snap a picture for the ‘gram. Being a family-owned business, our aim is to deliver our heart and Seoul in every bite.”
This is Anne-Marie Panerinkin, Culture OC's food columnist. You can follow me online at cultureoc.org. When I want the best in food and dining news outside of Orange County, of course, I tune in to the SoCal Restaurant Show on AMA30KLAA. - Anne, welcome back. It is the Labor Day weekend version of the SoCal Restaurant Show, and we're here with you every Saturday morning from 10 a.m. until 12 noon, right here on AMA30KLAA, the home of Angels Baseball 2024, and it can also catch us on the AMA30 Angels app. I'm Andy Harris, the executive producer and co-host of the show, putting it all together. My colleague, Chef Andrew Grool, will be joining us a little later in the show with his usual Ask the Chef segment, and we're gonna be talking about lobster rolls, and we're enthusiastically presented each and every week by Melissa's World Variety Produce. We were just speaking about the California Restaurant Foundation's Restaurants Care Resilience Fund grants. 278 independent restaurants and caters were just awarded $5,000 grants in California that really is a big help to small restaurateurs and caters. And we wanted to chat with one of the recipients to get a more direct feel for how this grant benefited them. And we are going to be talking with Christina Hong, who is the founder of Soulmates, and she likes to bill herself is the best K food outside of K town. That's quite a promise. Christina, good morning and welcome to the show. - Hi, thank you for having me. - I think you have a fun story, Christina, that we wanna share with our audience. Now, I know you have a food truck now, but did you start with the food truck, or did you start with the little brick and mortar that you have on that very busy area of West 3rd Street within walking distance of Jones on 3rd, which is of course an institution in that area. - Yeah, actually started with, excuse me, the restaurant on 3rd opened it about two years ago. Congratulations. And so then the food truck you mainly use for your catering operation? - Yeah, so that will we do for catering, and then also open the second location in Sawtell as well. - Oh, so in terms of the Sawtell location, that is a dedicated Soulmates location, and do you still have the cloud kitchen in Santa Monica? - Oh, so that, yes, that is the cloud kitchen. It's on Santa Monica, but it's technically I would say like in Sawtell, but it's on Santa Monica Boulevard. - Got it. Now, just, you know, wanna get the game planned, Christina. Give our audience a feel, if you will, in terms of what your menu is, and definitely do not neglect that Bulghogi, which is for easier to say for us non-Koreans, is a Bulghogi Hogi, which is quite delicious. - Yeah, of course. So I would say Soulmates is essentially a translation of my mom's love and her cooking. And so you see a lot of the traditional Korean dishes, as well as kind of fusions of flavors, fusing my cultural Korean culture, as well as my American upbringing. So you'll see that in the Bulghogi, which as you said, is a Bulghogi Hogi, that has traditional Bulghogi meat with melted provolone, we have slaw, we have a secret kimchi sauce in there, Korean pickle cucumbers. So you have all those traditional Korean flavors in a American traditional sandwich. We also have things like Korean tacos. So you'll see Korean fried chicken in our tacos, as well as cubby, which is a marinated short rib, which you'll see in Korean barbecue. So you'll see those in taco versions. But like I said, we also have traditional Korean dishes, familiars like zing bop, as well as ging bop, which is Koreans take on sushi and things like that. So we like to definitely pay homage to our Korean culture, but also put a twist on things, and especially kind of be that gateway for people who have never tried Korean food and wanna try it in something familiar, like sandwich as a tacos. - No, definitely your staff is very welcoming, and if you walk in there clueless, they will definitely help educate you and make you feel most welcome. How did you originally hear, you've been in business for a while, how did you hear about the Resilience Fund Grant Program? - So I heard the Resilience, about the Resilience Grant Program, actually through one of the companies that booked out the food truck called, oh my God, I'm blanking on it right now, but it will come to me a second. But I, yeah, I heard that they were doing a great thing, and I applied, especially because we were going through some tough challenges. We experienced a break in the last year. - How horrible, this was on West Third Street. You had this break in, and they grabbed your register and did a lot of damage to the store. I mean, West Third Street, Christina, in the area that you're in, I mean, this is not where you'd expect something like this. - No, and I think that's one of those things, like funny enough, like randomly the week prior, my car got broken into too. And I'll tell you, I personally just haven't been robbed in that way, so it was kind of like a funny, how the universe works. But yeah, it's one of the things, you kind of just don't expect those things to happen, and unfortunately, it does sometimes, and, you know, silly enough, the, you know, they broke in through our front window, and the window itself was, like, through almost $3,000. - I was gonna say, there's your $5,000 right there, yeah. - Yeah, yeah, I mean, it's so funny because it's like one large piece of glass, but, you know, that does it. And, you know, things like that, you just don't expect, you know, things like to happen, things like that to happen. And so, yeah, I was really grateful when I heard about this Resilience Fund, you know, it's just awesome group that provide that assistance for, I mean, restaurants, it's such a small business in these times, 'cause it's just, it's always one thing after another, you know? - No, it's, Christina, it's not an easy time, and especially not an easy time in the restaurant business. So, you know, we're definitely thankful for that, and certainly glad that you were a recipient, and you are, obviously, at the restaurant, you are a customer of the gas company. So, that definitely made you eligible, so all good. - Yeah, yeah, definitely. It's kind of awesome in that way where we're, it kind of makes us feel like a small, but vast community, and just knowing that we have that support all around is honestly. So, I don't know how I would have really gone on, without knowing, you know, it kind of balances out that evil in the world, technically, but then also that there's all this, like, these really good groups that are, you know, supportive in that way. - Well, your optimism is wonderful, and you know, that is a thought we want you to hold. Now, with soul mates, you're doing the catering, you have the truck, you have your flagship location on a very busy area of West Third Street, which is really doing well. You have the other location, a cloud kitchen in Santa Monica. Once things are stabilized for you, Christina, what's next? - You know, I would love to continue expanding soul mates into new locations, definitely having different people from different areas, different cities, just experience the food and the love that, you know, I am able to translate from my mom and yeah, just kind of continue just expanding and growing. And that's what I would love to continue on this journey with. - Definitely a great objective. Now, before we need to say goodbye, for someone that comes into soul mates for the first time, and you know, doesn't know too much about Korean cuisine, you know, they've heard about the KFC, and they know the BIMB BOP, but what would be one or two items that you'd recommend for them that might be good gateways to soul mates? - Absolutely, like you mentioned, which I was so grateful to have you come in yesterday to try it out, but yeah, that's bullcoggy, it's definitely our staple. I started as a pop-up before the restaurant during the pandemic actually, and that is the one that I kind of are indeed with the community and so like, okay, like does this work? And everyone has such great reviews. So that's definitely the bullcoggy. It's one I would suggest everyone try. And another item, which is so simple, but we've gotten viral on TikTok and Instagram over it. It's our bologna grilled cheese. Again, very simple, but it's such a fan favorite. I think it brings that comfort from childhood but also brings in those Korean flavors of bullcoggy. So kind of using those two things together. I mean, it's sweet, savory, creamy, it's awesome. So I definitely suggest that. I guess that would be the two good gateway items I would suggest for everybody. - No, no, sounds good to me. Now, Christina, before we need to say goodbye, what is the best website for soulmates? And then if you could give the addresses of your two locations? - Yeah, absolutely. Okay, so website, soulmatesla.com and that's S-E-O-U-L-M-A-T-E-S-L-A.com. And then also that's our Instagram, soulmatesla. And then our address is 8320 West Third Street, Los Angeles, California, 90048. And we're smack dab in the middle of Beverly Grove, as well as the Beverly Center on Third Street. So you can't miss us. - Well, and again, Christina, the reference point for most foodies is you're right down the street from Jones on Third. Everybody knows where Jones is. Ladies and gentlemen, one of the recipients of the California Restaurant Foundations, Restaurant Care Resilience Fund Grants, the very energetic Christina Hong. She has soulmates that she likes to build as the best K food outside of K-Town. So go in there and make her prove it. You are listening to the SoCal restaurant show. When you return, we're going up to Hillsboro, Oregon, and we're gonna be talking about a wonderful 10 room boutique luxury hotel that when you're in that area is definitely worthy of your consideration. It is the SoCal restaurant show. We'll be back before you know it. (upbeat music) ♪ On the way, on the way, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪
