Chef Sunhui Chang and his partner Ellen Sebastina Chang are about to open FuseBOX, a small 20-seat restaurant located on Magnolia Street near West Grand in a compound called O2. The site of a former oxygen plant, it is now the studio of Outsider Artist and wood sculptor, John Abduljaami see On YouTube. With design and construction by Joinery Structures Joinery Structures, also a West Oakland business, FuseBOX should look as good as its food tastes.
"I’m excited to open FuseBOX," said Mr Chang, a native of Korea. "The restaurant will be serving Korean and some non-Korean cuisine in an Izakaya format." Izakaya is a Japanese drinking establishment which also serves food, in this case featuring traditional Korean fermented fair.
"I’m passionate about this because I feel it’s the perfect platform to showcase Korean cuisine. We’ll have a well-informed staff that can explain away any mysteries. What I’m going for is quality food in an atmosphere that is fun, lively, relaxed and affordable."
For the past year, Chang has been furthering his education in Korean cuisine techniques, with a focus on food preservation (kimchi, pickles and dried fish), the making of small batch tofu, and the aging "go chu jang," a traditional Korean chili paste that is fundamental to Korean cooking. Today, most Koreans, including restaurants, purchase their go chu jang off the shelf. Since it takes at least 60 days of aging, making it has become a bit of a lost art.
Kimchi, a traditional Korean fermented pickle, will also be prepared on site. A good cancer fighter, kimchi can be made with a variety of ingredients from Nappa cabbage to Korean radish/daikon, or “gakdugi,” and cucumber, or “oi."
“We bleed kimchi at FuseBOX,” says Chang.
He will also be making small batch tofu, using his own tofu molds, which can be a piece of art in itself. "This is my passion," Chang adds, "To be able to continuously break new grounds with humble but valuable ingredients."
If the 20-seat FuseBOX is successful—which it will undoubtedly be, considering the dearth of evening venues in West Oakland—Chang hopes to expand to the 1200 sq.ft. space next door, where he will not only make and serve these items but retail them.
