Simjang

The Restaurant

Simjang opened in 2017 on Shrewsbury Street, the longtime Italian-American restaurant row in Worcester's North End, as the second project of Deadhorse Hill chef Jared Forman and his business partner Sean Woods. The seventy-five-seat dining room — exposed brick, blackened steel, a long open kitchen with a Korean charcoal grill at the centre — was designed deliberately as a livelier counterpoint to the more formal Deadhorse Hill room downtown, and the format reflects that intention: a short à la carte menu of small and shared plates, a charcoal-grill bulgogi-style BBQ for two or four, and a banchan progression that anchors every table. The bar program, run by a senior team that handles both rooms, is one of the most-respected craft-cocktail operations in central Massachusetts.

Chef Forman cooks Simjang's menu as a deliberate fusion of Korean-American technique and Massachusetts ingredient. Signature plates have included a hand-cut bibimbap with grass-fed beef tartare and a slow-cooked egg yolk; a charcoal-grilled bulgogi short rib with ssamjang and butter lettuce; a Korean fried-chicken plate with house gochujang and a kimchi-cabbage slaw; a black-cod with miso, ginger, and a dashi broth; and a hand-cut noodle bowl with brisket and seasonal vegetables that has become the kitchen's late-night calling card. The kitchen's banchan progression — typically five or six small fermented and pickled plates served before the larger courses — uses Korean radish, Napa cabbage, sesame greens, and house-fermented chilis sourced from a small producer in Western Mass. Pastry is short and direct: a milk-bread brioche with brown butter; a soft-serve with seasonal compote; a hand-cut yuzu bar.

The cocktail program is the bar director's signature work: about eighteen rotating cocktails organized by base spirit and intensity, a serious soju and shochu shelf, a tight Japanese and Korean whisky section, and a careful list of low-intervention wines from the same producer network Deadhorse Hill leans on. Service is warm, fast, and conversational; the captains explain dish and producer context without lecturing, the kitchen handles dietary modifications without fuss, and the BBQ-for-two format is the most-recommended seat for a first dinner with a Worcester regular. Simjang has been a James Beard Foundation Best Chef: Northeast semifinalist alongside its sister room, has appeared on multiple regional best-of lists since opening, and remains the room Boston food writers cite when they want to make the case that Worcester now has more than one chef-driven address worth the drive. For a first-date or birthday dinner that signals modern, lively, and serious in equal measure, this is the kitchen.