Mister Tiger, a Korean restaurant that opened as an ode to a grandmother’s home cooking, has become a new chef’s culinary coming of age.
Min Lee co-owns the business, which debuted in West Town in May 2025, with her brother Charlie Park and her husband, Brian Lee.
Park, a product manager, also leads the bar program and front of the house. Brian Lee, an attorney, oversees operations. Chef Min Lee was previously a structural engineer.
“I grew up with my grandma, eating her food,” she said of Bong Kim, who cooked and cared for the family after they emigrated from Busan, the seaside city in South Korea. “I just wanted to bring that to Chicago.”
The meaty dino rib is not her grandmother’s galbi.
“We bring traditional food,” said the chef. “But I also wanted to bring what’s really hot right now in Korea.”
Her interpretation of modern woodae galbi balances grilled bite-size slices from beef short ribs along a dramatic dinosaur-size bone for a potentially perilous presentation.
“We want to share good food with good people,” said chef/owner Min Lee at Mister Tiger, Aug. 13, 2026. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune)
Chef-owner Min Lee, center, is among a collage of family photos that adorn a wall at Mister Tiger, 1132 W. Grand Ave., in Chicago, Aug. 13, 2026. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune)
Mister Tiger is located at 1132 W. Grand Ave., in Chicago, Aug. 13, 2026. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune)
Art adorns a wall behind the bar at Mister Tiger, Aug. 13, 2026. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune)
The sign for Mister Tiger features the mythical Korean tiger wearing a traditional man’s black hat, Aug. 13, 2026. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune)
The interior at Mister Tiger, 1132 W. Grand Ave., Aug. 13, 2026. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune)
Show Caption
1 of 6
“We want to share good food with good people,” said chef/owner Min Lee at Mister Tiger, Aug. 13, 2026. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune)
Expand
The labor-intensive bestselling dish begins by deboning the rib meat that’s then marinated overnight, before it’s cooked sous vide and finally grilled.
Each carefully crisped and charred slice reveals umami-packed soy sweetness and an impressively tender center. A gentle wasabi onion relish and hearty roasted vegetables accompany a bonus bounty of meat on the platter.
I ordered the smaller boneless plate on my first visit, and while it’s a nice option with the same impressive beef, you can’t deny the drama of the big bone that I had to have my second time around.
The lacy jeon weaves kimchi or chives with the tradition of women who’ve made the savory pancakes for generations.
“It’s home style,” said the chef. “Because when you make food at home, you’re not cheap about using ingredients.”
Her grandmother made jeon often. She stood at the stove turning out one batch after another, while the family begged her to sit down and eat with them. After returning to Busan, and nearly a decade with Alzheimer’s disease, the family matriarch died at 92 on June 2.
The kimchi jeon with spicy house fermented vegetables at Mister Tiger, Aug. 13, 2026. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune)
Lee’s striking kimchi jeon, easily my favorite dish, entwines the spicy house-fermented vegetables into an intensely thin and crispy pan-fried personal statement. It’s unlike the many I’ve had across the city and the area I dubbed New Koreatown in the northwestern suburbs.
“I put a lot of kimchi in my pancake,” said Lee. “And I always tell my chefs it’s chive pancake, not batter pancake.”
A lovely uni rice upgrades albap, the Korean Japanese tobiko roe rice, with buttery sea urchin roe, along with colorful pickled gems and more kimchi heat, all loaded over a pearlescent sizzling bowl.
The uni rice with sea urchin roe, along with colorful pickled gems and more kimchi heat, all loaded over a sizzling bowl at Mister Tiger, Aug. 13, 2026. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune)
The handsome classic hot stone dolsot bibimbap, which I ordered with ribbons of tofu, arranged with an assortment of vegetables under a sunny fried egg, comes crackling even hotter, creating a coveted hidden crust of scorched rice.
The desserts play with the connections between Mister Tiger and its neighbors. Tangy yuja tiramisu swaps espresso with yuzu marmalade tea to soak the ladyfingers and orange powder-dusted mascarpone that’s bright and not too sweet. Brilliant banana chocolate cannoli hold chocolate ganache and silky custard made with the utterly nostalgic Banana Flavored Milk from Korea.
But it’s the seasonal sweet corn ice cream dessert that’s most touching and simply stunning.
“We get corn gelato, but I wanted to add a different texture,” said Lee, who created the dish with chef Esteban Nunez. “So we have soybean paste custard on top.”
The sweet corn ice cream at Mister Tiger is a soybean paste custard sprinkled with caramel corn kernels for a sweet and salty mix, Aug. 13, 2026. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune)
The banana chocolate cannoli hold chocolate ganache and silky custard made with the nostalgic Banana Flavored Milk from Korea at Mister Tiger, Aug. 13, 2026. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune)
A few caramel corn kernels add to the sweet and salty flavors significant to the city that’s home to Garrett Popcorn.
“I want to nicely mingle with what we have here,” said Lee. “So I do want to make sure that I show my respect to Chicago culture.”
A zesty nonalcoholic Home Remedy drink mixes citrus-forward Seedlip Grove 42 with yuja, garnished with a delightful bit of candied ginger. The Faithful Sue cocktail with pisco, the strong South American grape spirit, hints at a refreshing hwachae, the summery Korean fruit salad meets punch, but I missed any actual fruit.
Glazed baby back ribs, satisfyingly sticky and spiced with gochujang, come smothered with melting mozzarella for crazy long cheese pulls on Chicago-style, falling-off-the-bone pork. Korean fried chicken nuggets, tossed with chewy tteokbokki rice cakes so good that I wish they were available on their own, lost their highly desirable crust in the sauce.
The Faithful Sue cocktail, left, and the nonalcoholic Home Remedy at Mister Tiger, Aug. 13, 2026. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune)
The spicy soft tofu stew, served boiling furiously, as one does with sundubu-jjigae, was uncharacteristically a bit bland. A kimchi fried rice was seasoned well, but not hot enough.
The seasonal cold bibim noodles, though, were perfect and chilled, as bibim-guksu should be.
Thin yet beautifully bouncy buckwheat noodles are drenched in a house-made spicy sweet umami sauce, then topped with pickled radish and cucumber, hard-boiled egg and an aromatic drizzle of sesame oil.
“We recommend that with our dino rib,” said the chef. “And a ssam platter to accompany any Korean barbecue dish we have.”
The bibim cold noodles are drenched in a spicy sweet umami sauce topped with pickled radish, cucumber and hard-boiled egg at Mister Tiger, Aug. 13, 2026. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune)
I skipped the platter of dipping sauces and lettuce with the ongoing cyclospora outbreak. But ssam platter refills are complimentary and unlimited upon request, as are white rice and four kinds of banchan not on the menu, which can be confusing. No one offered me any, but when I asked, they were apologetically and enthusiastically served. I’m always amazed and appreciative of any side dishes with rising food costs and the disappearance of free bread.
“That’s how Korean dining should be,” said Lee. “Right now I have radish kimchi, cucumber kimchi, fish cake and potato salad.”
They’re all made in-house, as her grandmother and mother, Inae Park, and the chef did herself at home.
“I’m not a trained chef,” said Lee. “I don’t know what industry culture is, but I know what we want to do. We want to share good food with good people, and that includes our staff.”
My servers, Simon Yun and Michael Richards, skillfully handled busy dining rooms from the first seating on a Friday evening to the last seating on a Tuesday night. A new side-street sidewalk dog-friendly patio adds outdoor seating when weather permits. The dark minimalist interior features a neon art depicting the mythical Korean tiger wearing a traditional man’s black hat.
It’s curious why, with such powerful matriarchal energy, the restaurant’s spirit animal has a masculine title.
A neon tiger is illuminated on the wall at Mister Tiger, 1132 W. Grand Ave., in Chicago, Aug. 13, 2026. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune)
“We had many, many, maybe too many ideas,” said the chef. “I wanted something that is very Korean.”
The tiger is one of the most symbolic animals in Korean culture. But there’s a more modern explanation too.
“We also just wanted to keep it cute and simple and catchy.”
Mister Tiger
1132 W. Grand Ave.
312-219-5211
mistertigerchicago.com
Open: Tuesday to Friday from 5 p.m., Saturday from 4:30 p.m., daily until 9 p.m.; closed Sunday and Monday
Prices: $32 (uni rice), $15 (kimchi jeon), $16 (cold bibim noodles), $13 (banana chocolate cannoli), $12 (sweet corn ice cream), $16 (Faithful Sue cocktail), $13 (nonalcoholic Home Remedy drink)
Sound: OK (74 to 76 dB) indoors
Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible with restrooms on one level
Tribune rating: Very good to excellent, two and a half stars
Ratings key: Four stars, outstanding; three stars, excellent; two stars, very good; one star, good; zero stars, unsatisfactory.
Meals are paid for by the Tribune.
lchu@chicagotribune.com
Big screen or home stream, takeout or dine-in, Tribune writers are here to steer you toward your next great experience. Sign up for your free weekly Eat. Watch. Do. newsletter here.
Dining and Cooking