Eunjo Park

Eunjo Park is on a mission to get the world to respect the rice cake, the chewy Korean staple that has long been seen as the base for humble, everyday dishes. But at Kāwi, in New York City, alongside a menu of candied anchovy–stuffed kimbaps and bold, spicy raw seafood, Park chops up rice cakes like an East Asian gnocchi and showers them in Parmesan and black truffle or buries them in a jammy ragù made from extra-fatty Wagyu beef. At lunch, she serves up a gorgeous, snake-like coil of rice cake that has been pan-fried; dunked in a chile jam made with plenty of raw garlic, mirin, and gochujang; and topped with a translucent layer of Benton’s ham with a flourish of rice pearls for crunch. There is nothing humble about this rice cake, which comes with a $26 price tag and gold shears for serving.