Insa – Kimchi Fried Rice

Sohui Kim was born in Seoul, Korea, and lived there until the age of ten. She grew up in a household where gatherings focused on food and entertaining was a regular occurrence. In 1981, her family immigrated to the United States and settled in the Bronx. After acquiring a Bachelor of Arts degree from Barnard College, Sohui, like many post-college grads, was on a hunt for life’s meaning. She discovered that meaning and her true passion for cooking.

Sohui enrolled herself in the Institute of Culinary Education and upon graduating from the school, she started her career at Blue Hill under the tutelage of chefs Dan Barber and Michael Anthony. She then went to work for a number of accomplished NYC chefs, of which included Chef Anita Lo at the celebrated restaurant Annisa in the West Village where she quickly rose through the ranks.

In 2006, with encouragement from her husband Ben Schneider she ventured out on her own, and together they opened The Good Fork in Red Hook, Brooklyn. Thirteen years later, Sohui’s highly personal, totally accessible style of cooking has ensured that The Good Fork remains both a beloved neighborhood eatery and a destination restaurant.

In 2015, the duo opened Insa, a beautifully designed Korean restaurant in the neighborhood of Gowanus, Brooklyn. The restaurant also has five karaoke rooms where guests can sing, eat, and drink to their heart’s content. Insa was well received by the city and has been awarded 2 Stars by the New York Times.

Sohui is one of the partners to re-open the historical restaurant Gage and Tollner in its original landmark space in Downtown Brooklyn. Sohui had authored two cookbooks, The Good Fork Cookbook (2016) and the highly lauded, Korean Home Cooking (2018). You can find this James Beard nominated chef residing a block away from the Good Fork in Red Hook, with husband Ben and their two very amusing children.