Reporting at Louisville Business First, Michael L. Jones has the scoop on a new Asian restaurant coming to downtown Louisville in February.
Jin Doshirak, a new Korean and sushi restaurant, opening in Downtown Louisville
A new restaurant specializing in Korean and Japanese cuisine is coming to Downtown Louisville next month. Jin Doshirak is scheduled to open at 211 S. Fifth St. in mid-February. The more than 2,600-square-foot space was previously occupied by All Thai’d Up, which relocated to Brownsboro Center after closing its Downtown location in May 2023.
According to Jones, Jin Doshirak’s founder is Song Kim, formerly a chef at Osaka Japanese Restaurant, which closed for good following a September fire.
Fire affects Osaka Japanese Restaurant, The Salad Chic and The Grüv Sports Bar
Kim, who is Korean, is an experienced sushi chef and “plans to blend his cultural heritage with his training in Japanese kitchens” at the new Jin Doshirak (it means “lunchbox” in Korean). He plans to focus on the takeaway trade.
Now for some editorializing: Kudos to Kim and others like him, who are putting their money and sweat into the downtown Louisville food and drink community, given that a study released in 2023 by the University of Toronto shows that our downtown’s post-pandemic recovery has been significantly slower than its regional neighbors.
Tourism has returned, but changes in employment patterns mean many workers haven’t. Recently U of L’s basketball program has been absorbing its share of the blame, but it is likely that a number of factors are involved, with the effects of COVID hastening a period of downtown reinvention destined to occur anyway.
None of which makes it easier. Best wishes to Song Kim and his Jin Doshirak eatery project. We need them (and others like them) downtown.
Photo credit: Via Wikipedia – Korea.net / Korean Culture and Information Service, CC BY-SA 2.0
