Rockridge has a new Korean restaurant at 6200 Claremont Ave., in the space where the Korean fusion restaurant Oken closed in May. East Bay Nosh reported that Chez Maeju opened in September. The name combines the French "chez" with maeju, the dried fermented soybean blocks used to make Korean jang. The restaurant's website spells the chef's name Soojin and Nosh spells it Sujin.
Fermentation first
Most of the menu is seasoned with three sauces made in house: ganjang (soy sauce), doenjang (soybean paste) and gochujang (chili paste). Nosh said Chez Maeju is one of only three sit-down East Bay restaurants serving gejang, raw marinated crab. The other two are Tuum and Don Blanc in Temescal. Other dishes include bossam pork belly wraps, a mung bean pancake, tteokgalbi and a crudité plate with three jang dips. Kim also makes tomato and olive kimchi without fish sauce, so vegans can eat them. Nosh said most of the menu is gluten-free.
The chef
Kim grew up in Seoul and moved to San Francisco in 1998, where she studied at Le Cordon Bleu. She later led corporate dining at Zynga and started a catering business that served companies including Apple, Netflix and Dell. She ran Maejoo in San Leandro's Pelton Center from 2018 to 2022. Nosh reported that Micah Oh's OMC Hospitality Group handles the business side of Chez Maeju so Kim can focus on cooking.
Nosh listed the hours as 5 to 9 p.m. Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, and 5 to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday. It's closed Tuesdays and serves dinner only for now.