San Francisco’s Korean restaurant scene is experiencing a mini revival, and Oakland’s Telegraph Avenue has long been home to a host of solid soondubu and KBBQ spots. When it comes to the depth and breadth of its Korean food offerings, however, the affluent South Bay suburb of Santa Clara remains undefeated. Here, in an unofficial Koreatown mostly centered on almost-exclusively-Korean strip malls all along El Camino Real, diners will find huge, luxurious Korean supermarkets, and restaurants that serve some of the Bay Area’s very best versions of standard offerings like tofu stew and tabletop barbecue. But there’s also enough of a concentration of Korean businesses and customers here that the market can support specialists that are only known for one outstanding dish, as well as bakeries dedicated to hard-to-find traditional treats that are relatively little known to non-Korean customers.
In short, it’s where the Bay Area’s Korean Americans tend to go themselves when they want the very best Korean food. Here, then, are 13 of Santa Clara’s most exceptional, destination-worthy spots.
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