Junghyun "JP" Park
🇰🇷 South Korea / USA · Korean cuisine · b. 1983
The Atomix chef-patron who turned a 14-seat counter in Murray Hill into the highest-ranked Korean restaurant on The World's 50 Best.
Biography
Junghyun Park, known professionally as JP, is a South Korean–American chef and the chef-patron, with his wife Ellia (Jiyou) Park as restaurant manager and beverage director, of Atomix and Atoboy in New York City. Atomix — a fourteen-seat omakase-style Korean counter restaurant in Murray Hill that opened in May 2018 — has held two Michelin stars since the 2022 Michelin Guide New York, was ranked No. 8 on The World's 50 Best Restaurants in 2023 and No. 6 in 2024, making it the highest-ranked Korean restaurant in the history of the list.
Born in Seoul in 1983, JP did not initially plan to become a chef. He studied hotel management at Kyung Hee University in Seoul, completed his mandatory South Korean military service, and only afterwards enrolled at the Le Cordon Bleu campus in Sydney, Australia. He worked at the modern Australian restaurant Tetsuya's in Sydney under Tetsuya Wakuda — an experience he has described as decisive — and then at the influential Sydney Thai restaurant Sailors Thai before moving to New York in 2011 to work as a sous chef at the modern Korean restaurant Jungsik in Tribeca, which earned two Michelin stars during his tenure.
In September 2016 JP and Ellia opened Atoboy in NoMad — a casual Korean ban-chan (small-plates) restaurant with a three-dish prix-fixe format — using their own savings of US$300,000. The restaurant was a near-immediate critical hit and won a James Beard Foundation Award nomination in 2017. The success funded the much more ambitious Atomix, which opened on East 30th Street in May 2018 as a fourteen-seat counter restaurant with a single tasting menu, served on hand-painted Korean ceramic 'menu cards.' Atomix earned its first Michelin star four months after opening, its second in 2022, and ascended The World's 50 Best Restaurants list with unusual speed: No. 43 in 2021, No. 33 in 2022, No. 8 in 2023, No. 6 in 2024. The Parks added Naro at Rockefeller Center in 2022, the casual Seoul Salon Atoboy at Doosan Tower in Seoul in 2023, and the bakery NARO Bake in 2024.
Cooking Philosophy
Korean cuisine in its proper place at the haute-cuisine counter. JP rejects the idea that Korean food should be 'translated' for non-Korean diners; Atomix's menu, set out on hand-illustrated ceramic cards, explains every ingredient and technique with anthropological precision, and the tasting itself is structured as a meditative twelve-course argument for the formal sophistication of Korean royal cuisine. Each dish is built around a single Korean ingredient or technique — gochujang, jang fermentation, jeotgal — presented without compromise.
Restaurants
- AtomixNew York (Murray Hill)
14-seat counter restaurant opened May 2018; two Michelin stars since 2022; ranked No. 6 on The World's 50 Best Restaurants 2024.
- AtoboyNew York (NoMad)
Casual Korean small-plates restaurant opened September 2016; the Parks' first New York venture.
- NaroNew York (Rockefeller Center)
Mid-size modern Korean restaurant opened 2022; one Michelin star (2023).
- Seoul Salon AtoboySeoul (Doosan Tower)
Korean outpost of Atoboy opened in 2023 — the Parks' first restaurant in their home country.
- NARO BakeNew York
Korean-American bakery opened 2024.
Awards & Recognition
- 2 Michelin stars (Atomix, since 2022)
- 1 Michelin star (Naro, since 2023)
- Ranked No. 6, The World's 50 Best Restaurants (Atomix, 2024)
- James Beard Foundation Award — Best Chef: New York State (2023)
- Best Restaurant in North America, The World's 50 Best Restaurants (Atomix, 2023 and 2024)
Iconic Dishes
Cookbooks
- The Korean Cookbook (with Ellia Park, 2023)
Recipes in Junghyun's Style
These recipes from our database reflect the korean cooking tradition that Junghyun works in. They are not direct reproductions of Junghyun's copyrighted recipes, but traditional dishes inspired by the same culinary heritage.
In Junghyun's Own Words
“We do not translate Korean food. We explain it.”
— The New York Times interview (2018)
“Every course at Atomix is a small thesis about one Korean ingredient.”
— Eater profile (2023)
Career Timeline
Completes mandatory South Korean military service; enrols at Le Cordon Bleu, Sydney.
Joins Tetsuya's in Sydney under Tetsuya Wakuda.
Moves to New York to work as a sous chef at Jungsik in Tribeca.
Opens Atoboy in NoMad, Manhattan, with his wife Ellia.
Atoboy is nominated for a James Beard Foundation Award for Best New Restaurant.
Opens Atomix in Murray Hill in May; earns its first Michelin star four months later.
Atomix enters The World's 50 Best Restaurants at No. 43.
Atomix is awarded a second Michelin star; opens Naro at Rockefeller Center.
Atomix ranked No. 8 on The World's 50 Best (Best Restaurant in North America); JP wins the James Beard Best Chef: New York State award; opens Seoul Salon Atoboy.
Atomix ranked No. 6 on The World's 50 Best, retaining the Best Restaurant in North America title; opens NARO Bake.
Mentors & Influences
Frequently Asked Questions about Junghyun "JP" Park
Who runs Atomix?
Atomix is co-owned by the husband-and-wife team Junghyun 'JP' Park (chef-patron) and Ellia (Jiyou) Park (restaurant manager and beverage director). The two met in Seoul and moved to New York together in 2011; they have run all their restaurants jointly since opening Atoboy in 2016.
How many Michelin stars does Atomix have?
Atomix has held two Michelin stars continuously since the 2022 Michelin Guide New York. It earned its first star in the 2019 guide, four months after opening.
Is Atomix the highest-ranked Korean restaurant on The World's 50 Best?
Yes. Atomix's No. 6 ranking in 2024 (and No. 8 in 2023) makes it the highest-placed Korean restaurant in the history of The World's 50 Best Restaurants list, surpassing Mingles (Seoul), Jungsik (New York and Seoul) and Toc Toc (Seoul).
What are Atomix's 'menu cards'?
Each course at Atomix is served alongside a hand-painted, postcard-sized ceramic card that names the dish, illustrates its principal Korean ingredient and explains the regional or historical context. The cards are designed by Ellia Park and changed with the menu; guests are invited to take them home at the end of the meal.
Has JP cooked in Korea?
Apart from his pre-culinary career, JP did not cook professionally in Korea until 2023, when he and Ellia opened Seoul Salon Atoboy at the Doosan Tower in central Seoul — a casual Korean outpost of the New York Atoboy. Atomix itself remains New York–only.
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