Meet JS Kitchen

It may be an itch you didn’t know needed scratching, but Atlanta now has an upscale Korean takeout shop that also offers cooking classes, and it is all kinds of delightful. From the airy design to the pristine cases filled with kimchi and other banchan, JS Kitchen is packed with small pleasures. The shop offers a wide selection of items to go, but you can choose to sit down at a shared table if you must pop open the daily mixed lunch box, filled with a variety of the shop’s Korean delicacies, right away.JS Kitchen is the brainchild of Shelly Lee, owner of Jang Su Jang restaurant down the street in Duluth. Jang Su Jang has been drawing crowds seeking traditional Korean fare for 14 years now, but it has long been Lee’s dream to open a market and cooking studio. She now handles most of the cooking at JS Kitchen personally, and her kimchi in particular is worth seeking out.Seung Hee Lee, co-author of the recently released Everyday Korean cookbook, will be putting together a slate of cooking and wine pairing classes for JS Kitchen to take advantage of the open kitchen classroom that sits next to the shop’s counters. She was hooked on Lee’s cooking from the get-go. “When I tasted their kimchi, I knew I could retire from making my own kimchi from scratch,” she says with a laugh. “It’s definitely better than my mom’s, and comes very close to my grandma’s.” (Sorry, mom and grandma.) Part of the magic is that JS Kitchen skimps neither on time nor technique, employing ingredients like raw oysters or marrow broth to amp up the depth of flavor in various types of kimchi. And, no, not all of them are what you would call spicy or funky — JS Kitchen offers a wide variety, including less common specialties like sesame leaf.Don’t miss the marinated bulgogi (thinly sliced and marinated beef or pork), which, like the kimchi, far exceeds the quality found in typical Asian markets. JS Kitchen will cook it for you on the spot, but all it takes is a few minutes on a hot grill or skillet to prepare top-notch bulgogi at home. JS Kitchen, 3492 Satellite Blvd. #130, Duluth. 470-268-8435.