No. 2: Lines form at door of Noori Pocha in Clawson when family-run Korean gastropub opens

For its authentic Korean dishes, familial cultural details and uniquely designed dining room, Noori Pocha lands at No. 2 on the 2024 Detroit Free Press/Metro Detroit Chevy Dealers Top 10 New Restaurants & Dining Experiences list.

Imagine this: You’re sitting inside the dining room of a new Southern food restaurant, slurping collard greens drenched in a vinegary broth and spooning mounds of candied yams into your mouth. The space is outfitted in artifacts from the American South and the tea is as sweet as sugar itself.

If you didn’t drive yourself to the place, you could be convinced you were dropped into a mom-and-pop diner in Kentucky. But the fried chicken on the menu is a recipe from its sister restaurant, the fast-food franchise with which it shares a wall — and a kitchen. You might’ve heard of the place. They call it KFC.

This is the experience at Clawson’s Noori Pocha, only in this case, the new, family-owned Korean gastropub is attached to Noori Chicken, the fast-growing Korean fried chicken chain with locations in Michigan and other parts of the country.

Physically, all that separates Noori Pocha and Noori Chicken is one narrow doorway, but the characteristics that set the two apart are vast.

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Both owned by the Kwon family, Noori Chicken has been slinging crunchy fried chicken served naked — baring nothing but a beautiful golden batter — or slathered in sweet, spicy, umami sauces since the end of 2021. Yeol “Andy” Kwon, co-owner of both businesses, said he, his sister and brother-in-law happened upon the chain during a vacation in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where Noori Chicken opened its first location.

“We came across Noori, and the chicken tasted exactly like the chicken that we had back in Korea when we were young, so we thought this would become a big hit in the Detroit area,” Kwon said.

A big hit it was, and soon, the first-time restaurateurs developed an idea to expand.

“There’s a serious drinking culture in Korea,” Kwon said. “The amount of alcohol consumed in Korea is very large compared to other countries and people just love to mingle and drink in tight spaces.”

The trio, having witnessed the success of pochas in Korea, where street food is served out of small, tented outdoor areas, saw the potential in bringing the trend, paired with Korean beverages, to metro Detroit. They sought to re-create the essence of the pocha, where neon lights illuminate tables and crammed spaces foster conversation among strangers. Noori Pocha would serve a range of Korean beers, wines, spirits and traditional Korean dishes.

By day, diners visit Noori Chicken for their fast-food cravings. At around 4:30, 30 minutes before Noori Pocha opens, a line forms around the perimeter of the building. Each person in the ambitious crowd is hoping to nab one of the 11 seats in the quaint space. At 5 p.m., they’ll fill in, eyes widened at the transportive ambience.

Posters of BTS, the heartthrob Korean boy band that has penetrated the American teeny bopper realm, are plastered to the walls and metal tables that reflect colorful lighting, bounce darts of purple, red and blue around the dining room. A replica of an aluminum bus stop newsstand decorated in Korean newspapers, magazines and snacks calls to mind the look and feel of a Seoul streetscape — even for those who have never seen the South Korea capital with their own eyes.

A projection of Seoul landscapes streams in a loop on a wall, and Korean music reverberates through the sound system.

More than traditional beverages like soda and beer, Noori Pocha stocks the bar with classics that would be served in a traditional pocha, such as soju, a distilled grain spirit, and beers like Cass Fresh and Terra.

“Koreans love to mix their drinks,” Kwon said. “Soju is basically the most popular drink in Korea — it’s like vodka but weaker. So, what they’ll do is mix it with beer and that’s our best seller.

With a relatively small Korean population in southeast Michigan, especially when compared with larger cities like Chicago, Noori Pocha is challenged to prove a demand for Korean beverages to international distributors. Terra, for example, the restaurant’s most popular beer, has recently halted its distribution to Michigan. Still, the Kwon family is committed to introducing new Korean beverages and traditional foods.

Here, chewy rice cakes that start every meal sit in a pool of red gravy and kimchi fried rice is so spicy you’ll chase it with ice water. There’s sweet and savory bulgogi filled with crisp onions and slivers of carrots. The portion size is enough to feed a table of two or three. The platter comes with a metal cup of fresh, raw, leafy greens for ssam, a small bowl of steamed white rice and three accoutrements of Korean omelet cubes, kimchi and ssamjang, a fermented bean paste. A plate of gizzards studded with roasted garlic cloves and scallions and sprinkled with toasted sesame seeds reinforces the restaurant’s commitment to Korean tradition without pandering to Western preferences.

In the kitchen, Noori Chicken and Noori Pocha share just six burners to satisfy the needs of both restaurants. But Noori Pocha, Kwon said, is entirely the family’s own. The siblings designed the space with their own hands, even planting small symbols throughout to honor their family.

The makeshift newsstand market that the family built is called "Youjin Market," named after Kwon's brother-in-law, and just next to that is Andy's legal Korean name, "Yeol." At another nook in the space is "Nali’s Stationery Store," named after Kwon's sister.

The Kwon name is quite literally written all over the space.

Noori Pocha

1 S. Main St., Clawson. 248-850-7512; nooripocha.com

Ticket sales for the upcoming Detroit Free Press/Metro Detroit Chevy Dealers Top 10 Takeover dinner series benefit Forgotten Harvest, an Oak Park-based nonprofit committed to fighting food insecurity in the Detroit area. Dates for the 2024 dinner series will be announced later this month. Visit freep.com/top10 for updates on the events. For a chance to win $500 to dine at five restaurants on the 2024 Detroit Free Press/Metro Detroit Chevy Dealers Restaurant of the Year and Top 10 New Restaurants & Dining Experiences list, visit freep.com/roycontest24. Contest ends March 11 at 11:59 p.m.