Parachute

We first reviewed Parachute back in 2015 while using words like “exceptional,” “legit,” and waxing philosophical about their baked potato bing bread.

A lot has changed since then. One thing (thankfully) is that we no longer use “legit” to describe a restaurant. Another is Parachute’s menu. They also updated the space, with subtle upgrades like a new sound system playing everything from Oasis to Diana Ross, and new windows that they’ll open on a nice day. But what hasn’t changed is that this small Avondale restaurant is still exceptional.

The menu is no longer Korean American, but now straight Korean, with nary a fusion dish to be found. This means the excellent bing bread is gone, but the short menu (there are only about nine dishes) still has plenty of things for us to wax philosophical about. 

photo credit: Haas and Haas

The delicate seafood pancake is stuffed with so many spring onions and chives, it might spark a friendship-ruining debate about herbs versus vegetables. The refreshing golbaengi muchim features a sweet and spicy gochujang sauce that clings to cold noodles, vegetables, tender snails, and begs the existential question When does a noodle dish become a salad?  followed closely by Who cares? The pork bossam has a perfectly rendered belly, tender pork collar, and a spread of banchan so delicious it will provoke yet another conversation about how banchan this good deserves to be a main course all on its own.

Parachute is exactly the kind of relaxed restaurant you go to for conversation, which will probably be centered around the excellent food. The charming, narrow space let’s you check out whatever the other tables are eating, and there’s an open kitchen so you can keep an eye on the progress of your haemul pajeon. The servers are friendly, and will patiently listen to your philosophical musings as well as help you find the perfect soju to go with your meal—which is guaranteed to be totally legit.

Food Rundown

photo credit: Haas and Haas

Hwe

This is a simple selection of six pieces of perfectly sliced raw fish (a rotating selection) and some sheets of nori. It won’t be the flashiest dish on the table, but it’s delicious.

Haemul Pajeon

This seafood pancake is airy and crammed full of delicate pieces of shrimp, squid, and a ton of chives and onions. Dip it into the onion chile sauce and you have yourself a perfect bite (and onion breath, but it’s worth it).

photo credit: Haas and Haas

Twigim

Parachute has frying down to a science. Each tempura-battered vegetable—things like asparagus, sweet potato, and fiddlehead ferns—is coated in a batter so light it practically floats off of the plate.

photo credit: Haas and Haas

Pork Bossam

When the pork bossam and its attendant banchan arrived, conversations stopped and we found ourselves concentrating solely on wrapping tender pieces of roast pork and belly in lettuce and betel leaves. It comes with four plump oysters, which we also recommend wrapping with the meat.

photo credit: Haas and Haas

Golbaengi Muchim

We appreciate a refreshing cold noodle dish, and we’re big fans of this one in particular. The chewy noodles are heavily coated in a sweet and spicy sauce, and tossed with vegetables and tender snails. Order this.