Yuginong Offers Gluten-Free Korean Fare in St. Johns

Photo credit: Yuginong

When I was at dinner the other night, my friends who live in St. Johns said “a Korean restaurant has finally opened in our neighborhood.” Of course, my interest was piqued so I asked more questions. The restaurant is Yuginong (or Yu Gi Nong), located in the space that was previously home to Sol Bowl and a Starbucks. They opened this past weekend.

Yuginong’s Origins

I reached out to the folks behind Yuginong to get more information and they were kind enough to share some details with me. The owners are a father-in-law/son-in-law duo, Sang and Chris, respectively. They both have experience in the restaurant world—Sang spent many years as a restaurant owner, and Chris worked under a variety of chefs in Portland.

This was a dream for Chris, to open a small Korean restaurant (he grew up eating Korean food), and Sang was totally on board after they talked about the idea and what it would take to put it together. “Ecstatic” is the overall feeling they had as they started to actively pursue this dream. It has taken several years to get to this point, and everyone behind Yuginong is thrilled to make this dream become a reality. They also love being in St Johns.

Yuginong’s Food

As the headline says, the restaurant offers gluten-free Korean food, and they also try to source local and organic ingredients when they can. In fact, “yuginong” means “organic” in Korean. “We are really looking forward to serving this community with good, nourishing food made with a lot of love,” says Yuginong’s owners.

They has a terrific opening night (Friday, January 13)—they had to close earlier than scheduled because they sold out. The menu is small but well-curated with a mix of small bites (edamame, cheese corn, jap chae, and a house salad) and entrees (gahn-jang beef, dwen-jang pork, gochu-jang chicken and salmon, and a vegetarian bibimbap). A few addition things include mint and black garlic butters and dressing. See more details of the menu here.

You can eat there Mondays through Saturdays, from 11am to 3pm for lunch and then 4:30pm to 8:30pm for dinner, or until sold out. They are closed on Sundays.

I’m really looking forward to stopping in and trying their food. I love Korean food and flavors, and the seasonal/organic aspect is really appealing to me, too. I wish them lots of good fortune and am glad the community is supporting them. See you soon, Yuginong!

Yuginong [opened January 2023]
8539 N Lombard Street, Portland
Instagram | Yelp

This article was updated on January 20, 2023.