Food & Wine picks Oakland tofu maker for Best New Chef 2025

An Oakland eatery that specializes in fresh-made tofu has landed in the national spotlight On Sept Food Wine reported its winners for Best New Chefs in the United States On it is Steve Joo the chef at Joodooboo in Oakland s Longfellow neighborhood It s a small almost deli-like restaurant with Korean-style small plates and seating on the sidewalk amid planters of vegetables and herbs Food Wine disclosed its Best New Chefs list in Sept and on it is Steve Joo of Joodooboo in Oakland Calif Cedric Angeles Food Wine Joo makes tofu using a careful process that involves domestic organic soybeans and a traditional method of coagulation with reconstituted seawater The product is blocks of jiggling pearl-white protein that customers expeditiously snatch up Also on Joodooboo s menu which leans vegetarian are small-batch banchan made with hyperlocal ingredients and mains like chilled acorn noodles with nori vinaigrette and pickled mushrooms and a rice bowl with seasonal veggies and fried egg Here is what Food Wine had to say about the restaurant in its Best Chefs edition which hits newsstands on Sept At his tofu-centric restaurant Joodooboo Joo interprets Korean food and flavors through a California lens an approach shaped by his training at restaurants like Chez Panisse and sharpened during a transformative year spent in Korea in While seeking to better understand Korean food through the eyes of rural cooks Joo tasted a tofu so remarkable it redirected his life leading to an apprenticeship where he learned to make dooboo the Korean word for tofu Making tofu became Joo s meditation practice and the foundation of Joodooboo His process is still evolving We still have certain curiosity about it he says noting that small changes in temperature stirring and setting time can transform the final product Play curiosity discovery those are key components to the process Silky nuanced and jiggly Joo s tofu is exquisite a revelation almost like a pudding Related Articles After years in Walnut Creek Pizza Oliva changes ownership but the legacy and recipe lives on Wienerschnitzel launches to combos with chili and corn dogs The perfect storm that upended Japantown business owners dreams Football and wings fantastic Bay Area game-day picks Hopscotch s famed fried chicken comes to North Berkeley Joo s backstory fits in well with Food Wine s theme this year which is a chef s embrace of personal history Writes the magazine This year s class reflects a clear shift Chefs are putting their histories at the center of the plate Here is the full list of Food Wine s Best New Chefs for Mariela Camacho Comadre Panader a Austin Vinnie Cimino Cordelia Cleveland Aretah Ettarh Gramercy Tavern New York City Kelly Jacques Ayu Bakehouse New Orleans Steve Joo Joodooboo Oakland California Telly Justice HAGS New York City Phila Lorn Mawn Philadelphia Yotaka Martin Lom Wong Phoenix Colby Rasavong Bad Idea Nashville Jordan Rubin Mr Tuna Portland Maine Details Joodooboo is open noon- p m and - p m Tuesday-Saturday at Industry St Oakland joodooboo co