New Restaurant Highlight: SUGO Social By Writer and Contributor Emily McGinn
For the first time in years, a new sit-down restaurant has opened on the Hill. SUGO Social has joined the PV Promenade and is currently in its soft-opening phase.
Co-owner Gloria Lee and her husband decided to sign a lease at the Promenade, even amid questions from those around her about if a restaurant could survive there. A native of the South Bay herself, Lee has experienced firsthand how difficult it is to find high-quality restaurants on the Hill for a night out.
“A lot of people have asked me: Why here? Why PV and why this mall? Because it's not a very popular mall. It's not bustling with people,” Lee says. “But I told them that I'm from South Bay. I lived here for 20 years, and there's not enough places to eat in PV and we wanted to be another spot. We want to be a hip spot where people can come have a drink right before the movies or after the movies.”
The restaurant is designed to appeal to all ages and types of people. Bright and airy with plenty of space for large parties, the spot offers both a casual and high-end feel. Lee said she envisions it as a gathering place and private events space for the community.
“Sugo’ stands for ‘a job well done’ in Korean, and it also stands for ‘sauce’ in Italian,” Lee says. “We came up with this name because we wanted to be a place of comfort, so anybody from any walk of life, any age, can just come in, feel comfortable and enjoy a meal here. Then the social aspect of it is that we want to be a place where everybody can celebrate any milestone.”
SUGO Social’s website pegs the cuisine as New American, but it contains plenty of fusion from different cultures, especially Korean cuisine. This influence stems from Michael Castaneda Bryant D’Roma, the executive chef at SUGO Social. He ran a brunch restaurant in Korea before heading back to the South Bay, and he previously did training in downtown Los Angeles under Chef Steve Samson, owner of Rossoblu.
“I did my best to create a menu exclusively for SUGO Social,” D’Roma says.
SUGO Social’s menu finds strength in its variety, ranging from bone-in ribeye to pastas and pizzas. D’Roma highlights the sweet-and-tangy pork belly baos (braised char siu in Korean seasoning, pickled shallots, red cabbage, garlic flakes and fresh cucumber between steamed buns) and the stone pot Korean bibimbap (bulgogi beef, carrots, spinach, mushrooms, stir-fried zucchini, bean sprouts, chopped romaine salad, gochujang sauce, fried egg, house-made kimchi and white rice) as the signature dishes on the menu. Both draw on his experience with Korean cuisine.
D’Roma emphasizes that the meals are designed to be shareable, once more underlining the social aspect of the restaurant.
“It's a great place to get together,” D’Roma says. “Especially in the morning when the sun is there, it's really pretty. There's enough space for a lot of people. I just hope people that come here enjoy our menu that we’re offering.”
On my way out, I had the chance to try the potato gnocchi with Korean squash so I could experience the unique fusion of flavors in a SUGO meal. The house-made gnocchi is fried and the dish, which contains cream cheese and parmesan with the Korean squash, offers a sweetness that complements the starch of the gnocchi. I also recommend grabbing the pão de queijo — their baked Brazilian cheese popovers — which offer a new, lighter take on Brazilian cheese bread, as an appetizer.
The team is still in the process of getting its alcohol license and Lee says they plan to add another 30% of food to the menu alongside a full beverage program prior to a grand opening, which she expects to host in a month or two.
For Lee, opening SUGO Social is about more than just the restaurant — it is about being part of the revitalization of the Promenade. With more tenants on the way (read more here), Lee hopes that in the coming months and years, the Promenade will return to the family-friendly environment it once was. She plans on SUGO serving as a big part of that change.
“I think what's important about us is we're trying to be here for the long run. A lot of people reach out to me and they say, ‘We're looking for a good place to eat. We're looking for quality ingredients, quality service.’ And that's what we're trying to provide. I know that it's been hard for some other businesses to survive up on the Hill,” she says. “So any decisions that we make, or any food that we introduce, are things that we know can be sustained for a long time. And we're investing a lot of our time, our passion, our talents and, of course, money, and we're just giving it our all. We're hoping that the community sees that so that the business can thrive.”
Bio:
Emily McGinn is a journalist based in the Los Angeles area. She enjoys reporting on and writing about a variety of topics from lifestyle to news, especially in her areas of specialty, environmental science and political science.
