The unctuous aroma of rich broths fills the air and sizzling rice crackles in stone bowls at Step Korean Bistro in Sparks on McCarran Blvd.
“I really want to introduce Korean food to the local people,” said owner Jeonju Lee better known as Jay Jay. “Korean food is a good balance of everything.”
Reno has many greasy, cheap, and lackluster-tasting Asian options. Step Korean Bistro offers the exact opposite, delivering authentic and delicious home-cooked meals that don’t sacrifice quality or integrity.
“I was twenty years old when I started learning cooking skills in a Korean casual restaurant,” Lee, a native of South Korea, says. “Then I went into the army and that’s when I really wanted to learn more professional things about food.”
Lee went to a culinary school in South Korea, focusing on French techniques. Even though he was learning to cook in Western ways, his love for Korean cuisine remained.
“I usually worked at non-Korean restaurants but in my mind, I always knew I wanted to cook Korean food,” says Lee. “So when I had time, I tried a lot of Korean dishes and tried to make them myself.”
Lee then continued to work as a chef in hotels and restaurants, in both Korea and America.
In 2016, Lee opened his first offering of Korean food to Reno, with Bab Cafe located in the city’s downtown.
“When I opened Bab Cafe I realized a lot of local people didn’t know that much about Korean food but I kept explaining and selling it,” said Lee. “Then when they tried it, they really liked it.”
Bab Cafe focuses primarily on the classic Korean dish of Bibimbap, which translates to mixing rice. Vegetables, meats, and sauces are served on top of warm rice.
With the success of Bab, Lee had now opened up Reno’s taste buds to more Korean food. He wanted to further this, knowing his next business venture had to be different.
“A lot of people are moving here from California and the population is going up, so now these people already know Korean food,” Lee explains. “I knew this time I had to open a more traditional restaurant.”
“Step specializes in JJIM (dishes made by steaming or boiling meat, chicken, fish, or shellfish which have been marinated in a sauce or soup) which encompasses both stews and braised meats, featuring a diverse range of popular Korean dishes,” explains a sign inside the restaurant.
Step Korean Bistro has only been open for about several months now but is quickly finding its footing.
“We’ve had a good amount of business come through. It was very slow at first because not many people know that we’re open,” employee Lydia Doan said at the time of this reporting. “Technically we haven’t done a lot of advertising yet nor have we done a true grand opening with a grand opening sign outside. But as word of mouth has been spreading, we’ve slowly been getting busier and busier.”
Doan said they look at Yelp and Google reviews closely, and take any complaints or suggestions they receive seriously, all the while remaining true to their mission.
“We do want to become a staple for Korean food here since the things that have been popping up are more fusion and less traditional. We definitely want to bring those traditional flavors from Korea,” Doan explains.
Reporting by Elijah Dulay for Reynolds on the Record shared with Our Town Reno