(Image @sodamchicken)
CHS truly did once find a City of Seattle construction permit for a food and drink space on Broadway that simply read, “Replace the old Thai restaurant with a new Thai restaurant.”
In the new era of Capitol Hill restaurants, Thai has given way to Korean fried chicken.
Permit paperwork shows the U.S. subsidiary of South Korea’s Sodam Chicken is preparing to open its second stateside location on Capitol Hill after debuting in Shoreline last year.
When the Chicken Factory opened above Broadway and Pike last summer, CHS compared the trend to the proliferation of coffee shops that once dotted the Hill — a Korean chicken shop on every corner.
This summer, the corner is 19th and Madison where Sodam is lined up to take over the space where Thudsuan added to the city’s rich Thai restaurant culture for eight years. Here’s hoping that owner Boyd Sivatitikul’s exit from the business was successful. We haven’t been able to connect with him about the closure earlier this year.
With Sodam Chicken, the name is a reference to plenty. That’s appropriate for a Capitol Hill where KFC — Korean fried chicken — and Korean cuisine is well-represented. The Chicken Factory opened in 2022 above Pike and Broadway and Pelicana added to the mix with the opening the US offshoot of the popular South Korean chain at Harvard and Pine in 2021. Korean fried chicken chain Bonchon landed on the First Hill end of Broadway in 2019. A local got a head start in building the scene. In late 2017, Seattle’s Bok a Bok expanded from its White Center original to add a new location next to Neumos.
Meanwhile, a new Korean restaurant is lined up to take over the space formerly home to Glo’s on E Olive Way where Imo Pocho has plans for Korean comfort food to neighbor The Doctor’s Office, Stumbling Monk and Captain Black’s.
The trend goes on an on. You’ll need to connect pieces like E Pine’s 2022-born Korn Dog and the arrival of Korean grocer M2M above Capitol Hill Station the same year to complete the story.
As for the why of the sudden proliferation of Korean restaurants and fried chicken joints, that’s a bigger story. With Thai, the nation’s government played a significant role driving culinary diplomacy. South Korea isn’t the only nation to give it a try but something seems to have clicked. In this 2009 story, the New York Times reports the Korean government’s hopes of “quadrupling the number of Korean restaurants abroad and lifting Korean food into the ‘top five rank of world cuisines’ by 2017.” Here in 2023, it seems like the campaign has been extremely successful — in Seattle and on Capitol Hill, at least.
No opening date has been announced for the new Sodam at 1818 E Madison below the Lawrence Lofts but you can follow @sodamchicken for updates.
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I for one welcome our Korean Chicken overlords.
I’m guessing their slogan is “It’s Sodam Good”
Initially read it as “South Korea isn’t the only nation to give it a try but something seems to have clucked.”
This is great news. I am rarely in that area, but I was running an errand up that way and looking for food – I stumbled across Sodam (I love Korean food and it had excellent reviews) and it was absolutely fantastic.
I am so glad they are opening a closer shop so I don’t have to make the trip up north to have it again.