Photograph by Martha Williams
Brian So built a loyal following at his Marietta Square restaurant Spring, which has a Michelin star and multiple other accolades from the James Beard Awards and more. When the chef announced the restaurant would close for renovations, he didn’t deprive Marietta of his cooking for long. He opened his first Korean restaurant, Spring 2nd Branch, blocks away from his first location. Spring 2nd Branch is an entirely different restaurant from Spring, which has always had a boutique feel, with limited days and dinner-only hours. Spring 2nd Branch is the opposite of that. The restaurant is open for lunch and dinner, seven days a week, and takes no reservations.
Spring 2nd Branch was modeled after “the type of Korean restaurant that sent my generation to college,” So said over the phone. “This type of restaurant might not exist in 10 to 15 years. I don’t see many young people lining up to open a restaurant like this. It sounded like a worthwhile challenge.” Spring 2nd Branch remixes the broad menus of his youth with the trendy dishes of today. With a menu spanning stews, rice, noodles, snack-food standards, and hot pots, the food is energetic and rooted in the Korean restaurants that the chef-owner grew up with in Riverside and Marietta. Opening another spot in Marietta made sense to the restaurateur because there is a void of Korean food nearby.
Photograph by Martha Williams
You enter the restaurant through a nondescript storefront with frosted windows that leads into a narrow hallway lined with dry goods. The dining room is moody and dim with black brick walls, neon signs, and TVs looping Korean music videos. The vibe is intentionally lively, a little chaotic, but it suits the menu and the seemingly always-full dining room.
The menu is intentionally large, like what you might have seen at a family-run Korean restaurant decades ago. There is something for everyone. So’s version is more modern, blending traditional homestyle dishes with such trending snack foods as crunchy, sweet, and spicy Korean fried chicken wings, and tteokbokki. The latter is one of my favorite Korean snack foods: chewy cylindrical rice cakes bathed in a red gochujang (Korean chile paste) sauce with slices of fish cake. It’s an exceptional iteration of the dish you get on the street in Korea. There is also a creamy “rose” version that looks like a vodka sauce, but the original is my favorite. Another favorite is an enormous, crunchy fried pork chop served with rice and shredded cabbage. It’s a showstopper with an addictive quality.
Gogi mandu (dumplings) are straightforward and satisfying, but the haemul pajeon (scallion pancake) is too greasy, dulling the flavors and making it hard to finish. Steamed souffle egg dishes offer a welcome pause between spicier plates. The chef wants to show Atlanta that there is more to Korean food than barbecue, even though he does serve a small selection of meat dishes, such as galbi and bulgogi, on sizzling cast-iron plates.
Hot pots and stews are the standout dishes and offer a range of flavors and textures. Among them is the deeply soothing gamja tang, a spicy pork neck stew with potato and perilla leaves, which is supposed to prevent hangovers. There’s also Army stew, a nostalgic and indulgent bubbling stew of Spam, hot dogs, baked beans, rice cakes, Ramyun noodles, tofu, and melted slices of American cheese. In contrast, the kimchi stew with pork ribs delivers spice without tipping into excess.
One of my favorite dishes, the so kkori kalbi jjim, is a soy- and sesame-laced stew of tender beef and oxtail with rice cakes, potatoes, carrots, and daikon. It’s a dish commonly served on Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving), and it’s not cheap—it’s one of the most expensive shareable dishes on the menu—but worth every damn bite.
Photograph by Martha Williams
The kalguksu (soup with thick noodles) fell short compared to the rest of the menu. The broth was over-reduced, making the meal seem heavier than intended, and the packaged noodles lacked the texture and elasticity that handmade noodles would bring to a dish so dependent on balance. In a menu that otherwise is thoughtful, the kalguksu is a clear area for improvement.
Beverages are straightforward and well chosen. Makgeolli, soju, and Korean beers like Cass and Terra dominate, while wine is minimal, which matches the casual, high-energy style of the restaurant. Ice-cold beer with spicy Korean food is the obvious pairing, and the menu confidently leans into it. The sole dessert is a sesame bingsu (shaved ice) with a base of sesame ice cream. It’s a fun spin on the popular Korean dessert. However, I prefer brighter fruit-based versions at the end of heavy meals such as oxtail and fried chicken.
Service is still finding its rhythm. Running lunch and dinner daily with an extensive menu is a different challenge than operating the boutique dinner service at Spring. Some inconsistencies remain, but the staff’s enthusiasm and willingness to learn alongside diners make the growing pains forgivable.
For anyone who has been relying on Duluth for Korean food, this is a welcome alternative minutes from Marietta Square. Brian So is taking risks, leaning into dishes from his past, and proving that he can do more than precise, Michelin-starred tasting menus. It’s exciting to watch, and even with the kinks in service and the occasional dish that misses the mark, you come away impressed by the ambition and the heart behind it.
This article appears in our March 2026 issue.
