PORTLAND, Ore. — A crispy chicken laid out on a bed of iceberg lettuce, mixed in with a brown gravy and topped off with sliced almonds — it’s a Chinese American dish that brings a sense of nostalgia for longtime Portland chef Kyo Koo.
Warsugai, which translates to “almond fried chicken,” is making its mark in Oregon not only as a dish, but also as the official name of Koo’s new “80s and 90s edgy, Hong Kong neon” restaurant. It opened on Jan. 31 at 727 Southeast Washington Street.
While Koo grew up in Portland, he said Warsugai pays tribute to some of his fondest childhood memories and Korean heritage.
“My parents loved to go out to eat. We would usually during a weekly basis go out to eat at least two to three times a week,” Koo said. “The Chinese places, the Korean places, the Japanese, Vietnamese, Thai — I always enjoyed that time.”
Koo said he has cooked all over the world, including Spain, Los Angeles and New York. He was a chef at Portland’s Danwei Canting, a Beijing-style Chinese restaurant, which shut down recently. But he said Warsugai shares a deeper feeling of nostalgia in his hometown.
“I always wanted to at some point come back to Portland and develop a restaurant with a really comfortable space,” Koo said, “but also, to be able to kind of trigger those memories of growing up and eating with family and friends.”
The Warsugai menu features a variety of Asian inspired dishes, but it also intertwines elements from Oregon. The Dungeness crab long rangoons feature crab from the Oregon Coast, and the barbecue pork coppa uses local pork. The menu also features chicken and Oregon black truffle wontons.
“I’m really appreciating what the state of Oregon has to offer,” Koo said. “We just wanted to really highlight where we can, just for people to know that ‘Hey, all of this produce is here and available, and it’s probably within a couple of 100 miles of you.’”
The creation of Warsugai has been four years in the making, according to Koo. Even though it’s only been one week of business, Koo said the restaurant is already receiving positive reactions from customers and even his own family.
He said while the first week was an intentional “soft launch,” he’s expecting more people to drop in the next couple of weeks.
“We’re expecting quite the crowd this coming week,” Koo said. “I’ve done the restaurant opening where you have a lot of hype a couple of months out before you even open the doors, and then it’s just mayhem from the beginning, and I didn’t want to do that this time.”
Right now, Warsugai is open for dinner from Wednesday through Sunday from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. He said they are also planning to start a late-night menu for Friday and Saturday, which will go up until 2 a.m.
