The Times’ 2024 Restaurant of the Year centers on Kwang Uh’s lyrical modern Korean tasting menu, priced at $115 per person and reasonably paced to soothe Angelenos impatient with prix fixe dinners. The emphasis is on vegetables and herbs and seafood; one course features densely delicious short rib or pork collar meat alongside a singular bowl of rice seasoned with things like dried shepherd’s purse (a plant in the mustard family) and XO sauce fashioned from chorizo. Uh is a maestro of fermentation: In his hands, kimchi, pickles, soybean-based jangs and even buttermilk (paired in one sauce with lemongrass) open doors to unseen worlds of flavor. Traditional expressions of the cuisine define much of Korean dining culture in Los Angeles. Baroo stands alone in its innovations.

Many of the restaurant’s longtime fans (I’m among them) remember when the project began nearly a decade ago in an unassuming Hollywood strip mall, serving wild, satisfying grain bowls and pastas that sold for under $20. Mina Park, who is married to Uh, deserves no end of credit for refashioning the ephemeral, short-lived legend into a viable business. The Arts District room is comfortable and flatteringly lit. The service is gracious. Emphasizing Korean spirits, beverage director Jason Lee masterfully complements the cuisine. And Uh continues to evolve in his craft. With 24 hours’ advance notice, for example, you can order a vegetarian version of the tasting menu. Its many wondrous and detailed components channel Korean temple cuisine, and it is immediately one of L.A.’s most brilliantly realized feasts, plant-based or otherwise. — B.A.

905 E. 2ND ST., #109, LOS ANGELES, (213) 221-7967 l BAROOLOSANGELES.COM