Joule Plans Charitable Collaboration with Michelin-Starred Chicago Restaurant

West Coast meets Midwest, for a good cause. This Sunday, Fremont’s acclaimed Korean restaurant Joule is launching a charitable partnership with Chicago’s Parachute, a Michelin-starred modern Korean food destination known for its excellent bing bread. That celebrated dish will be on offer at Joule from August 30 to September 6, with proceeds from sales going to help women in the hospitality industry.

It’s all part of a new effort that the restaurants are calling “Dining in Movement” meant to foster more collaboration among chefs in different cities. While the Seattle and Chicago spots are the only ones officially involved so far, Joule’s chef and co-owner Rachel Yang tells Eater Seattle she and her Parachute counterparts are in the process of trying to get more participants.

“This is an awesome opportunity for our restaurant to be able to cook signature dishes from great restaurants, and our dish at theirs,” she says.

But, as Yang notes, it’s been a challenge to plan any sort of event during the COVID-19 pandemic. Since Parachute is currently closed for both takeout and dine-in services until September, this is mainly a one-way effort at the moment. When the Chicago restaurant does open again, it plans to bring a Joule dish to its own menu (Yang says her popular rice cake could be a possibility).

In the meantime, diners at the James Beard Award-nominated Joule — open for takeout and limited dine-in — are in for a treat with Parachute’s bing bread next week. Noted as one of the city’s most iconic dishes by Eater Chicago, it’s a substantial appetizer stuffed with potato, bacon, white cheddar cheese, and scallions. Parachute even released a mini, single-recipe cookbook to help people make the fluffy bread with the crispy exterior at home.

Proceeds from the bing bread sales will go to a cause that’s close to the hearts of the “Dining In Movement” partners. Parachute chef and co-owner Bevelry Kim is in the process of establishing a nonprofit called The Abundance Setting, which has a mission of supporting mothers to succeed in the food and beverage ecosystem, from farms to restaurants. Kim (a mother of three) and Yang (a mother of two) realize how much support is needed for families working in the industry.

“We are both lucky enough to have some flexibility, but we are painfully aware that’s not the case for the majority of moms,” says Yang, adding that — as the collaboration grows — she hopes that the charitable efforts will expand. “We will be asking partner restaurants and chefs to pick a cause that means a lot to them to donate the proceeds of the sales.”

• Joule [Official]
• Parachute [Official]
• All coverage of Joule [ESEA]
• All coverage of Parachute [Eater Chicago]