New Burger Seoul opens next week with a Süperbulgogi on the menu. Here’s a sneak peek

BURGER IS LIFE.

“You forgot the Seoul,” a customer pointed out to Young La after he posted the above phrase on Instagram earlier this summer.

He added a typographical carrot with the Korean capital and reposted the image. Catch that motto painted in white on the black asphalt outside his sleek new brick-and-mortar restaurant at 1701 Division Ave. in Tacoma.

The Burger Seoul Experience — now in all its storefront glory — returns Monday at 11 a.m.

The flagship burger, a half-pound of ground chuck cooked to medium-rare with melted sharp Tillamook cheddar, lettuce, onions and a chili-garlic sauce, will continue to be cooked to order. So will the iconic Fire Soul , featuring hunks of grilled pork with cucumber kimchi and a hotter house sauce, and the beef bulgogi sandwich. New to the permanent menu, where prices have increased slightly to accommodate higher costs, is the Süperbulgogi, for which La grinds the aforementioned meat into patty form.

Pair with simply salted fries or a pile tossed with garlic and butter. As promised, the new restaurant also offers a range of “Cheezy” and Fire Fries, finished with pork, chicken or beef.

La anticipates expanding the menu soon with more sandwiches, including smashburgers, breakfast burgers and buns loaded with Korean-style pork belly, marinated salmon or a fried shrimp patty. (He’s waiting on health department approval of the new items, he said, but needed to get the doors open.)

THE NEW BURGER SEOUL

Burger Seoul is bright and brand new, despite the building’s 1940s-era roots.

Over the past year, La has transformed the old check-cashing Money Mart #1705 into a cool fast-casual restaurant with not one or even just two but three big grills, two fryers, a prep area and a walk-in cooler.

Much of the 1,1100 square feet inside is dedicated to cooking the food that made La and his Burger Seoul brand a local sensation.

“You belong here,” said La on Thursday as he offered a sneak-peek of the space.

His crew was busy wrapping final details, while his mother Soon Ji and a newly hired cook were marinating pounds upon pounds of beef bulgogi. Longtime assistant Jordan Bostic is also back.

A tall glass door slides open to a bright-white space with exposed wooden beams overhead. You’ll order at the counter and can find a seat at a few tables in the main dining room, or the “sky tables,” a clever idea La said he conjured himself, where solo guests or couples could stand and eat. He has also arranged the outdoors with a few picnic tables, protected from the parking lot and dolled up with colorful planters. There you can retrieve your food — served on gold metal trays for here and, naturally, a brown paper bag to-go — from a pickup window. (La hoped to have a drive-thru, but he said the city ultimately would not approve one due to traffic impacts.)

Vacant since 2018, the run-down building needed a lot of love. La received a small-business loan through the city’s Community Redevelopment Authority Board, which, in part, supports revitalizing under-supported areas. He also had some funding from undisclosed sources and the community. Its transformation to Burger Seoul feels like the kind of revitalized-industrial-city stuff that can change the course of a place.

That might sound like hyperbole, but La — as his fans know — is a guy who can handle it.

The plucky entrepreneur has been hard at work, but not doing the thing he loves most: cooking some of the best burgers this side of the Pacific, spinning flavors inspired by his native home, and talking with his plentiful followers who, for eight years, frequented his food trailer on South 19th and Prospect.

The truck has been closed since late last year, when the health department shut down the business at the bequest of the City of Tacoma. The city’s Environmental Services department determined that the 19th Street Grocery and Deli, where La used the commercial kitchen as a commissary, needed a large, in-ground grease interceptor .

He signed the lease for the Division Street storefront last summer, but he never intended to stop cooking so soon at the location that allowed him the chance to expand.

The loss of eight months of revenue has stung, but La has persevered. Some day, the truck, currently parked outside the new restaurant, will also return.

“I do believe detail wins — show the best version you can be,” he said. “It’s a dream come true, really.”

BURGER SEOUL

▪ 1701 Division Ave., Tacoma, burgerseoul.net

▪ Opening Monday, Aug. 26

▪ Starting Hours : Monday-Thursday 11 a.m.-10 p.m., Friday-Saturday 11 a.m.-11 p.m., Sunday 11 a.m.-9 p.m.

▪ Menu : burgers $10-$13, fries $4-6, meaty/cheezy fries $9-$10; bottled beverages for now; follow instagram.com/burgerseoul for updates