Korean food pop-up TKO is set to open a brick-and-mortar location in the Southern Feed Store food hall in East Atlanta later this summer.
Short for “The Korean One,” TKO was launched by chef Lino Yi in April 2021, popping up at Atlanta restaurants including Full Commission, Sweet Auburn BBQ, Buteco and Georgia Beer Garden.
Credit: TKO
Credit: TKO
The “familiar yet foreign and foreign yet familiar” menu offered at the 400-square-foot stall in the Southern Feed Store on Glenwood Avenue will include Bulgogi, Korean Fried Chicken Nuggets, Kimchi Fried Rice, Shrimp Baskets and Volcano Hot Dogs with crab salad and eel sauce.
“Much like my own upbringing, I’m forming a bridge between Korean and American cultures and traditions,” Lino said in a prepared statement. “Growing up, our Thanksgiving dinners had turkey and gravy as well as Korean BBQ and kimchi. There is an amalgamation of new and retro called Newtro in Korean culture. It’s modernized retro, which is something I also want to represent in my food.”
Lino first learned to cook at the Korean restaurant his family owned in Orlando, where he grew up. After moving to Atlanta in 2015, he worked at Makan (later Taiyo Ramen) restaurant in Decatur, and currently serves as a sous chef at Atlanta restaurant Lazy Betty, where he will remain until TKO opens.
Chef Aaron Phillips of Lazy Betty, Juniper Cafe and the forthcoming Humble Pie, and Atlanta beverage industry veteran Carl Van Tyle Gilbert, also co-owner of Juniper Cafe and Humble Pie, will serve as partners in TKO.
Southern Feed Store, which opened at the end of 2021 at 1245 Glenwood Ave. SE in the former Graveyard space, is also home to Buteco, Waffle Bar, Woody’s Cheesesteaks and Gyro Gyro.
TKO will be open daily for lunch and dinner, and for late night on the weekends.
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