About
A part-time restaurant that became a place for other cooks to start.
Changsu Kristopher Lee opened Korean Dad in the spring of 2021, in a small building on State Street in Veazie. "Running a small restaurant in a small town had been my dream for 20 years," he said. He cooks on his day off. The rest of the week he teaches at a college.
That left a licensed commercial kitchen sitting empty five or six days out of seven, so he started handing the keys around. Cooks who wanted to find out whether their food could support a business got a dining room, a kitchen and a Saturday crowd without signing a lease or buying a hood.
The result is a restaurant incubator that still looks like a small cafe. Filipino one night, Japanese ramen the next, Cajun on a Sunday, Ecuadorian ceviche at lunch, Korean when Lee is cooking. The room stays the same and the food changes every day.
Some of these kitchens will eventually move into buildings of their own, which is what the arrangement is for. Until then the schedule matters as much as the menu, so check who is cooking before you drive out.
Who cooks here
Each of these is its own small business, run by its own cook, out of the same room on State Street.
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Family recipes, cooked by the guy whose name is on the building. Bulgogi, bibimbap, japchae, gimbap.
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Filipino home cooking, sold as takeout by the tray.
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Mediterranean staples, made to order.
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Japanese-style ramen and a rotating tray of handmade dumplings.
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Authentic Ecuadorian cooking out of Cuenca. Ceviche, empanadas, fritada.
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Gumbo, etouffee and muffalettas from a Cajun kitchen that started as a food truck.