One of South Korea’s Most Popular Stone Pot Rice Chains Opens in Los Angeles

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. 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. In contrast to bibimbap, which is more widely found across Koreatown, sot bap is cooked all in the same stone pot.

Bibimbap, which means “mixing rice,” is often served with an egg on top, seasoned vegetables, and gochujang sauce; it’s meant to be mixed together and eaten. Sot bap tends to lean more simple, with just rice and a protein cooked together, and nurungji to finish. 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. Related Sign up for our newsletter. Check your inbox for a welcome email.

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