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Steve Joo with his Oakland restaurant Joodooboo makes 2025 Food & Wine “Best New Chefs” list. (Food & Wine )
OAKLAND, Calif. – A Bay Area chef was named among Food & Wine’s “Best new Chefs” in America, the only California chef on the list.
Steve Joo was one of 10 talented culinary experts named by the publication as “the most dynamic and promising up-and-coming chefs in the country” as part of the 37th class of F&W’s annual selection.
Joodooboo in Oaklan
Joo’s restaurant, in Oakland’s mostly residential Longfellow neighborhood, offers a taste of Korean cuisine reimagined “through a California lens,” Food & Wine wrote.
Called Joodooboo, a play on the chef’s last name and the Korean word for tofu, the restaurant serves up flavorful small Korean side dishes known as banchan with a specialty in tofu plates.
Food & Wine said Joo’s culinary expertise was shaped by his time at renowned restaurants like Chez Panisse in Berkeley and Terra in the Napa Valley, as well as the chef’s life-altering training in Korea for a year in 2014, when he discovered the magic of tofu.
“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,” the publication shared.
The backstory:
Joo started his business as a deli. His food has also had a popular presence at Bay Area farmers’ markets from the Marin Civic Center, to Clement Street in San Francisco and downtown Berkeley.
As a full-service restaurant, Food & Wine highlighted Joodooboo’s dishes, like his albacore ssam platter, fried dooboo, and “the refreshing and bright nori acorn noodle bowl, with bouncy chilled acorn noodles topped with nori vinaigrette, pickled mushrooms, cucumbers, and kimchi.”
The publication said the chef’s creations intertwined his Korean heritage with the Bay Area’s freshest ingredients available to him, which also noted that the availability of some of the restaurant’s favorite specials were seasonal.
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“Joo asks himself, ‘If you transplanted a Korean grandma to Northern California, what would she do with the produce here?’ Sourcing directly from local farmers and friends, he lets the produce guide him. ‘Ingredients are very expressive,’ he says. ‘We prepare them in a way where they are able to speak very well for themselves,’” Food & Wine quoted him as saying.
Feeding ‘with care’
What Joo offers is a cozy, laid-back cafe-like atmosphere where his dishes are prepared with “intentionality, playfulness, and a deep respect for ingredients,” according to Food & Wine.
The approach the chef takes toward those he serves is one he handles with care and one that’s based on community, as he uses food, as it’s done universally, as a bridge that brings people together.
“‘Just make sure that you’re taking care of them as you would take care of a friend,’ he tells his team,” Food & Wine wrote, adding, “That philosophy extends to his community, where he sees himself and Joodooboo as ‘a thread in the fabric of a neighborhood.’”
What they’re saying:
A readthrough of Yelp reviews found comments from patrons who praised the restaurant for offering fresh and light dishes, calling the eatery “a hidden gem,” with “very farm to table vibes.”
With an overall 4.6 rating, fans enjoyed Joodooboo’s “veggie-forward banchans” and unique tofu creations, with some noting it as a nice alternative to traditional Korean barbecue spots.
There were some who complained that the portions were small and pricey.
Honoring the past
Food & Wine praised Joo and his cohort of best new chefs as those who were “redefining American dining by translating their personal histories into deeply expressive dishes.”
The influence of the chefs’ past interwoven with their present offered their patrons a map of a culinary journey that transcends time.
“The result is food that’s inventive yet nostalgic, that honors the past while looking to the future,” Food & Wine said. “This year’s class reflects a clear shift: Chefs are putting their histories at the center of the plate.”
What to order
Food & Wine shared the items in its “perfect order” at Joodooboo:
Fried sand dab with saucy Sun GoldsSquid jeotMelon and white nectarine spritzFried dooboo set 
Food & Wine honored Joodooboo’s chef Steve Joo. (Food & Wine)
Complete list of F&W’s 2025 “Best New Chefs”: Mariela Camacho – Comadre Panadería in Austin, TexasVinnie Cimino – Cordelia in ClevelandAretah Ettarh – Gramercy Tavern in New YorkKelly Jacques – Ayu Bakehouse in New OrleansSteve Joo – Joodooboo in OaklandTelly Justice – HAGS in New YorkPhila Lorn – Mawn in PhiladelphiaYotaka Martin – Lom Wong in PhoenixColby Rasavong – Bad Idea in Nashville, Tenn.Jordan Rubin – Mr. Tuna in Portland, Maine Food and DrinkOaklandRestaurantsNewsInstanews
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