Category: Lifestyles

Sung Hee Cho’s Vision: Where East Meets West

Jae-Ha Kim

South Korean artist Sung Hee Cho got her first taste of art when she was 6. Her father bought her water-based paints and taught her to draw Asian characters on delicate rice paper. By junior high school, Cho decided her preference leaned more toward Western art and set her sights on America. Cho didn’t immigrate into the United States right away. She earned a master’s degree in fine arts from the prestigious Ewha Women’s University before relocating to America 16 years ago.

Rolling With It: Midori Follows Clientele to the Suburbs

Jae-Ha Kim

If you live in the suburbs, you know how difficult it can be to find good ethnic food without driving to Chicago. That was a complaint Bonnie Ma heard many times from friends and customers. So when the restaurateur decided to open another Midori – which specializes in Japanese cuisine – she selected northwest suburban Mount Prospect as her site.

Culture Clash: Ethnic Portrayals and Television

Jae-Ha Kim

I don’t necessarily love her semi-autobiographical show “All-American Girl” yet, but I relate to Margaret Cho, the star of ABC’s new comedy. Cho is Korean-American. I am Korean-American. She is the antithesis of the ideal Asian woman (geisha girl). No one would mistake me for Suzy Wong. She snorts when she laughs. I snort when I laugh. She’s big (chubby). I’m big (tall). Once, a Korean friend’s father helpfully advised me to “stop growing” if I wanted to land a husband. She’s not a doctor, but a comedian. I’m not a doctor, but a journalist – kind of like a comedian. Cho dates losers. When I date, they’re usually losers. She’s 25. I’m . . . well, never mind.

Jane’s Is a Winner at Healthy Fare

Jae-Ha Kim

I lost my headache at Jane’s. Let me explain. The first time I ate at the Bucktown restaurant, I reacted in typical American horror when the waitress seated my friend and me right next to the only other couple in the restaurant. But too embarrassed to ask to be moved farther away, we sat there and made the best of it and ended up having a fabulous time.

To Sum Up. . . Lulu’s Has Tasty Asian Menu

Jae-Ha Kim

I’ll be the first to admit I had a bias about Lulu’s the first time I went there for dim sum, the traditional Chinese brunch where diners sample small portions of many dishes. First of all, there’s nothing traditional about Lulu’s. It’s in Evanston, which doesn’t have a large Chinese population. Second, I didn’t see any Asian chefs. And third, does a place named Lulu’s really sound like it would have good dim sum?

Confessions Of a Teetotaler

Jae-Ha Kim

All the liquor I’ve ever consumed in my lifetime would fill a martini glass. OK. Maybe two. When I was in college, one of my cousins – also not a big drinker – told me I would have to learn to drink socially or I would risk being viewed as an oddball. I’ve been viewed as odd for many reasons, but not drinking has never been one of them. Why don’t I drink?

INXS on Fashion Excess

Jae-Ha Kim

Is it an oxymoron to call a music video politically correct?  Perhaps, but more rock bands are diversifying from the babes-in-bondage theme and opting for vignettes that might be (mis)interpreted as art. Following in the same vein as Van Halen’s “Right Now,” which superimposed socio-political phrases throughout its video, INXS is serving up “Beautiful Girl,” which the Australian band says is a tribute to women.

Edo Ya

Jae-Ha Kim

The story behind this sushi restaurant review: AsiAm’s publisher, Tom Kagy, didn’t pay me for my work and wouldn’t even reimburse me for the meal I had to purchase to write this review. I was young and he was an attorney who knew that he could get away with this. It just goes to show that not all Korean Americans stand up for each other. Some steal from their own people and have no compunction about it.

A stroke of genius: He’s young and hungry but the ideas come fast

Jae-Ha Kim

Frank Lindner was too young to buy a copy of Playboy at most stores when he went to work as the magazine’s art historian. Before leaving his teens, he had worked his way into a job that sounds like every man’s fantasy come to life. Today, the 22-year-old bachelor is works as a free-lance art director and illustrator for the Limelight nightclub. His latest work – a series of sensual murals dubbed “Erotic Haze” – is on exhibit through October at the Limelight, 632 N. Dearborn.