Community Happy Hour:
Jenny Kwak, Haenyeo

Join Pioneer Works staff, artists-in-residence, and friends at Supersmith for happy hour. Each event spotlights a local chef or culinary organization. This month’s Happy Hour features Jenny Kwak of Haenyeo with music by Holy Hand Grenades.

Haenyeo’s Happy Hour menu of free small bites includes grilled oysters in seaweed butter with baguette, grilled pork belly, grilled kimchi, fresh leaves for wrapping, tofu with chrysanthemum, and sesame eggplant.

Haenyeo is named after the iconic “sea women” divers of Jeju Island, South Korea. Known for their iron-will, Haenyeo hold their breath for two to three minutes at a time while diving 30-40 feet deep to forage year-round for seafood like abalone, conch, octopus, urchin, and seaweed. Inspired by these community of women, Jenny Kwak, the original owner of Dok Suni’s and Do Hwa, opened Haenyeo six months ago. Nestled on the corner of 5th Ave and Carroll Street, Haenyeo has been described to have “a sparkle and sweetness you don’t always find in the smoke filled rooms of 32nd Street”  by New York Times restaurant critic Pete Wells. Ryan Sutton of Eater New York calls Haenyeo “a knockout of a Korean hangout in Park Slope.” Haenyeo is a seafood forward restaurant serving up dishes in a comforting, home-cooked Korean style but sometimes, with a playful twist.

Community programs at Pioneer Works are made possible in part through the generous support of the Steven & Alexandra Cohen Foundation.