The completion of an era: Beverly Soon Tofu in Koreatown

 

This Pandemic has been an extremely trying time. On the list of horrors are so many of our favorite places closing; cafes, stores, businesses, family shops, etc. How could we expect any of these places to survive under these dire economic hardships?

Case in point, K-Towns beloved Beverly Soon Tofu.

As I have mentioned in previous posts, I'd been going to Beverly Soon Tofu when it was actually on Beverly, around 1986-87. My then gf and I loved to explore the culinary regional landscape and someone recommended this place.

I had never had Soon Tofu. I had never heard of Soon Tofu. I ordered spicy. The moment it arrived on the table, I was transported to another world. The sauna-like trance, the heat, the spice, the deep flavor, I may had been silent for 15 or so minutes, devouring, gasping for air, diving back down into that boiling pot, determined to finish, albeit in a state of perspiration and daze. I hadn't yet been told to eat the rice simultaneously to cool the burn. When I finished, it was as if the ceiling pried open and the food gods bathed me in light; I was converted.

In the decades of meals at Beverly Soon Tofu, not once did the quality drop or something was missing or not prepared in the usual manner. This place was completely and utterly consistent.

Maybe it's the loss of something you could count on, is what makes this specific cafe closure uniquely sad.

I would get married, have two kids, a divorce, raise the kids, college, marry one of them off and still this place was still there, a consistent line of Korean magic through time.

Every and any Soon Tofu, I, my Son or Daughter ever ate was measured to Beverly Soon Tofu's. nuff said.

Thank you to Beverly Soon Tofu for an amazing run. We will miss you, deeply.