AURORA | Silky, custard-like tofu quivers in a tiny black cauldron of bubbling orange broth spiced with red chili and garlic paste. The spice is enough to clear away any summer allergies. Among them is a soupy mixture of pork-filled dumplings and tofu, one of eleven soft tofu stews offered at the Sogongdong Tofu House, the newest restaurant to line Aurora’s own Koreatown. The restaurant opened on 2353 S. Havana St. in June.
Other stews include kimchi, ramen and squid. The most adventurous stew may be the Spam option. Spam is a staple of South Korean life, and the country is the biggest consumer of the product outside of the U.S.
Owner Steven Woo, who also runs the Jumpoline Park located at East Hampden Avenue in Aurora, said that when the original Tofu House opened in 1962 in Seoul, South Korea, the eatery became so popular it was serving 3,000 bowls of soft tofu stew a day.
“This is my first restaurant,” said Woo, a Korean immigrant who has lived in Aurora for 27 years. He said he became intrigued by that particular tofu house franchise after learning that the restaurant had done well in a New York location. Also known as 1962 Tofu, the Aurora location is the only one in the United States outside of Flushing, New York. That says a lot about Aurora’s cultural currency as an immigrant community. Flushing has one of the fastest-growing Asian populations in the country.
At the entrance to the large, minimalist space that used to be a sushi restaurant, large posters telling the franchise’s origin story line the glass walls. Enlarged, black-and-white prints of the original owners hang on the walls inside set against intricate wallpaper made up of the Korean alphabet. Woo said the franchise could attract both Americans and Koreans with its clean lines and modern aesthetic.
Amidst the chic decor, the serving style is still traditional. The stew comes with a stone pot of rice, and sides of banchan goodies — from cabbage kimchi salad to pickled bamboo shoots to a whole fried yellow croaker.
The Sogong-dong style tofu, comes from a town in Seoul by the same name, where it later caught on in Los Angeles food circles in the 1980s. Today, the Sogongdong Tofu House also has locations in Tokyo, Hong Kong and Shanghai.
Woo said in addition to the soft tofu stew, another specialty at Tofu House is the Jikhwa Bokkeum. That’s a fire-wok cooked beef or pork belly, which comes served like a stir fry, usually mixed in with kimchi and vegetables. The pungent kimchi and smoky pork belly proves to be an especially delicious combination.
Woo added that the food is in many ways straight from the original source in South Korea. He said the owner of the Tofu House franchises visited Aurora in May to train Woo and his staff in the art of recreating signature dishes.
Woo said he hopes to make the chain as much of a household name as the PCD Tofu House is among Koreans living in the U.S. That restaurant got its start in Los Angeles in the 1990s, and now has 16 restaurant branches worldwide.
The tofu house may not exactly stand out in its Havana location. It’s one of 16 Korean businesses located along the Havana Business Improvement District’s 4.3-mile stretch, where some strip malls have nearly all-Korean signs. It certainly has competition with nearby Seoul BBQ, an eatery that has won most every foodie award under the sun, including best Korean from Colorado’s Asian Avenue Magazine in 2012.
Gayle Jetchick, executive director of the Havana Business Improvement District, said Korean businesses today make up 5 percent of the district’s 350 businesses.
At 3,198, Koreans are the largest Asian population in Aurora followed by the Vietnamese, according to the latest 5-year American Community Survey conducted by the U.S. Census. The city is also the center of the state’s Asian population, with more than 10 percent of Colorado’s 155,000 Asian residents living in Aurora.