By Yuka Kondo and E.J. Papa
Reno, NV - When you think of Korean flavor and cuisine normally what comes to mind? If burgers and pasta didn’t that’s exactly what TJ, owner of Arario in Midtown, along with his wife are exactly doing. Taking something most people here in Reno are not too familiar with and introducing it in a familiar way.
TJ has been living in Reno now for about 20 years since he moved from Korea. Previously he managed a breakfast place, however when the prospect came to open a Korean restaurant both him and his wife quickly jumped on the opportunity.
"We thought that it would be a great idea to create something different, which Reno never had before" said TJ.
Owning and managing Araio has been a wonderful experience for TJ. Besides offering something different, cuisine-wise, there was an additional opportunity to also introduce Korean culture here in Reno.
"The whole purpose of opening this wasn't just sharing food it was about sharing culture, which was very challenging because Reno isn't really renown for Korean culture. So explaining it, showing it, sharing Korean food culture has been really fun"
said TJ.
While being successful in their venture, there were some initial difficulties with opening the restaurant as well as preparing some of the dishes on the menu. For starters, Reno is not widely renowned for its presence of Korean culture. Additionally not many of the residents living here may know about Korean cuisine. This was most prominent when TJ and his wife mentioned this to clientele and customers about his next venture at the time.
“When I told them that we are thinking about opening a Korean place, local Reno clientele, the first impression for this is that they were against it. Reno’s population is a little more older than other cities, they don’t like change, they’re already used to what they’ve grown up with.”
With that in mind, both husband and wife came up with an adjustment to their idea, make their Korean restaurant, a fusion restaurant.
“So we wanted to tweak it a little bit, we wanted to make it more approachable. We wanted to help people to come in and try and get the taste of Korean food, but it doesn’t have to be traditional Korean food. We knew we were able to do it by putting it in other types of food, so that people don’t have to be scared about trying something that they don’t know.”
Being a fusion restaurant the some of the menu item range from traditional items such as the ‘Hot Pot Beef Bulgolgi’ to some of the fusion items such as the ‘Kimchi Fries’ and ‘Galbi Burger’. Not only have the two of them managed to create dishes that have a sense of familiarity but TJ’s wife has also managed to keep the flavor authentically Korean despite the lack of access to ingredients that you would find in Korean cuisine.
“A lot of people think that when it comes to fusion, is that they tweak the flavors of the food to make it more Americanized. But we actually tweaked that thought and made a flavor to be as authentic as possible even with a lack of certain ingredients. We put that into the other forms of dishes that people are used to such as pasta and other items.”
Photos taken by Yuka Kondo
It amazing how food can be this unique way of communication, when asked if food is a good way to introduce someone to a different culture, this is what TJ had to say.
“For us, we cannot hide, we cannot lie about the quality of our food. And it shows the effort and it really shows the heart of the person who prepares the dishes. When it comes to good food, you don’t really need to talk about it. They will know, especially with Korean food being ‘slow food’; it takes time to marinate, prepare, ferment before it goes out to the table. People see it as that is the culture, that is the Korean culture.”
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