February 9, 2025
DamSot, a Popular Pot Rice Restaurant From Seoul, Opens in LA

DamSot, a South Korea-based chain specializing in sot bap (pot rice) opened on January 15, 2025, in Los Angeles’s Koreatown. The expansion marks the first time DamSot has opened a location in the United States; there are currently more than 50 locations across South Korea. The restaurant moved into the former Wako Donkatsu space at the historic Brown Derby Plaza on Wilshire Boulevard, transforming the dining room with fresh white walls and a simple, minimalist design.

The menu at DamSot revolves around sot bap, available with toppings including spicy eggplant and ground pork, beef and bean sprouts, eel, abalone, and salmon. A special steak sot bap is also available, but is limited to 15 portions daily during lunch and dinner since high-quality aged meat is used. Each pot is served on a bed of sticky Koshikari white rice, which absorbs the sauce and flavors of the toppings. The sot bap is served as part of a set meal, with sides of kimchi, danmuji (pickled radish), and salad arranged on a wooden tray. On the back of the menu, there are a few smaller dishes served a la carte like cheese-stuffed katsu, eggplant and shrimp, salmon sashimi, and fried whole shrimp. Sets start at $18.99 for the shishito pepper and tofu pot rice, and go up to $27.99 for the steak.

Eel sot bap in a metal bowl sitting in a wooden tray

Eel sot bap.
DamSot

The sot bap arrives on the table with an instruction card to scoop the toppings and the majority of the rice into a side bowl, before pouring barley tea over the remnants of the rice. While eating, the thin layer of rice continues to cook to a crisp in the still-hot pot, turning into nurungji (scorched rice). The hot tea helps loosen the rice from the base, turning the last layer of rice into something between scorched rice soup and porridge.

The more common Korean dish of bibimbap, served across Koreatown, comes with a fried egg, seasoned vegetables, and gochujang sauce. The ingredients in bibimbap are meant to be stirred together and eaten as a mixed rice. In contrast sot bap tends to lean more simple with just rice, a few aromatics like chopped green onions, and a protein on top. It’s not necessarily meant to be mixed, though it can be depending on the diner. The tea poured on the bottom of sot bap to create nurungji isn’t a typical addition to bibimbap.

DamSot is the latest arrival in a wave of restaurants and cafes from South Korea opening in Los Angeles. In May 2024, South Korea-based coffee shop Camel opened its first U.S. location in Silver Lake, immediately drawing lines down the block. In June 2024, one of South Korea’s biggest spicy noodle chains, Jjampong Zizon, opened in Koreatown.

DamSot is located at 3377 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 112, Los Angeles, CA 90010 and is open from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., and 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. every day.


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