In Italy it’s risotto. In Indonesia it’s rijstaffel. In Spain it’s paella. And in Korea it’s sot bap, which like the other named dishes is a special gastronomic event that begins with the humblest of ingredients — rice.
If sot bap is less well known, even to the most learned of local foodies, it is because the dish turns up so infrequently on New York restaurant menus. That’s the bad news, but the good news is that Hortus, the Asian fusion restaurant in NoMad, has begun to feature sot bap on its lunch menu.
The house offers ten variations on the dish, whose name translates to “pot rice,” after the heavy stone or metal pot in which it is traditionally cooked. (Hortus employs state-of-the-art Korean pressure cookers to cut down on the cooking time.) Prices range from $18 for the eggplant version to $48 for one made with A5 Miyazaki Wagyu.
Hortus NYC, 271 Fifth Avenue (bet. 29th and 30th Sts.), 646-858-3784, is open for Monday through Saturday for lunch, and seven days for dinner.
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