NYC's Kuku Korean Cuisine opens in Huntington

James Chen and Chris Pak are betting the farm on Korean food. Their new Kuku Korean Cuisine in Huntington is big, bold, stylish and unabashedly Korean. It takes over the East Main Street location that, from 2012 until last year, housed the Asian fusion restaurant, Ting. With almost 150 seats, it’s the biggest Korean restaurant on Long Island, and bigger than the two locations Chen and Pak own in Queens.

The renovated space is barely recognizable. Gone is Ting’s bling, replaced by blond wood tables and chairs, white-brick walls and a soaring white ceiling with recessed lighting.

Chen acknowledged that the area had no large Korean customer base but that "we are very confident about our food and we wanted to open in Huntington to introduce authentic food to the community."

Kuku’s menu — extensive, but not overwhelming — covers a large swath of Korean cuisine. You might start your meal with seafood pajeon (pancake studded with mussels, clams, squid and shrimp, $15.99), japchae (stir-fried vermicelli, $19.99), tteokbokki (rice cakes simmered in a spicy sauce, $21.99) or chilled kudzu noodles ($17.99). That’s right, that pesky, invasive vine has a root that can be made into noodles so elastic, they have to be cut with scissors before you can eat them. At Kuku, they are served in a beef broth so cold it has slush in it, with boiled egg, pickled radish, cucumbers and shredded apple. There could not be a more refreshing summer dish.

When colder weather hits, you’re going to want to curl up with some soon dubu ($19.99), a hearty stew centered around silken tofu that might also feature beef, crab, mixed seafood or mushrooms. Grilled dishes ($23.99 to $48.99) include beef short rib (galbi) and rib-eye (bulgogi), pork, chicken and whole mackerel or croaker. There are nine variations on bibimbap ($23.99 to $31.99), the famous rice bowl that comes topped with meat and fresh and pickled vegetables.

Kuku has also pioneered the chi-bap, delectable chunks of fried chicken over rice ($19.99). The chi-bap is an outgrowth of the restaurant’s fried-chicken menu which includes wings, drums, tenders and tiny "poppers."

In fact, it was chicken that inspired the restaurant. James Chen, a seasoned Chinese restaurateur, had always been a fan of Korean food. "I first had it when I was 10," he recalled, "and it was a completely unique taste — the bibimbap, the kimchi [fermented vegetables], the soon dubu." He became an aficionado and eventually a regular customer of Chris Pak, who was leading the kitchen at Tang in Bayside, Queens. When the two decided to go into business together, their initial idea was to open a Korean chicken shop called "kuku," which is, according to Chen, the sound you make when you are trying to tempt a chicken to eat. The concept soon morphed into a full-scale restaurant, but they kept the name. Long Island City opened in 2021, Forest Hills in 2023.

Chen lives in Roslyn Heights and started looking for a Long Island location two years ago. Initially he was set on Huntington Village but, shuttling his sons to sports practice in the area, he came upon the vacant Ting and changed his plans. (A Roslyn Heights location, in the old Attilio’s Pizza spot on Mineola Avenue, has been in the works for years; Chen said it would open later this year.)

Because it’s so much bigger than the other Kukus, Huntington has a full-scale sushi bar. The regular bar offers soju (a Korean spirit), sake and a number of Korean beers, in addition to standard American offerings.

Kuku Korean Cuisine, 92 E. Main St., Huntington 631-888-3818, eatkuku.com