People

Dennis, Daniel, and David Lee, along with 3 staff members for their market booth.

About

The Lee brothers founded Namu in December 2006 with the intention of serving contemporary California cuisine with an Asian flair. Chef Dennis says, “Many of the treaments are Korean- and Japanese-based because that is my training. I learned to cook from my mother and in her and her sister’s restaurants.” The Lees felt the contemporary American restaurant world lacked diversity and set out to serve food they loved and were inspired by. Namu developed their kim bap tacos as “sort of a culinary touché” to the very popular Kogi taco truck in Los Angeles. Rather than using corn tortillas, however, the tacos are served in more traditional seaweed wraps.

Sourcing

Namu uses local and pasture-raised meat whenever possible. The vegetables come mainly from Heirloom Organic Gardens, County Line Harvest, Full Belly Farm, and Capay Organic, as well as their very own Namu farm.