When you’re in Miami, it’s easy to find a Cuban sandwich… and wash it down with a cup of Cuban coffee. But Jennifer and Michele Kaminski were craving something different—more along the lines of the Korean food they grew up eating. So the sisters started a restaurant. They called in 2 Korean Girls, and it’s one of the most buzzed-about restaurants in South Florida.
The star of the restaurant is bibimbap, a traditional Korean dish that the girls grew up eating in Northern Indiana.
Bibimbap translates to “mixed rice”—a bowl of rice, vegetables, protein, a fried egg and gochujang, a sweet-and-spicy condiment that’s as ubiquitous as ketchup in Korean households.
“You take a spoon and kind of mix it all up. It’s hearty, but it’s nutritious, and it’s comforting,” Jennifer says.
Their mentors in the industry include their mother, Sunny, who for decades has run a Korean restaurant in Indiana.
“I really am my mother’s daughter,” says Michele.
They’ve also found a role model in James Beard Award-winning chef Allen Susser.
“The idea that the 2 Korean Girls concept is a ghost kitchen, with delicious comfort food, is so right to our 21st-century hospitality,” says Susser, who met Jennifer seven years ago when she did pro bono social media work for Miami’s No Kid Hungry campaign, which Susser led. “They are on the cutting edge of the newest technology that is being applied to hospitality. The growth is amazing, and they are going to work their way to the top.”
Jennifer and Michele recently spoke with The Zest about the foods that remind them of childhood and the role their restaurant plays in the movement to stop Asian hate.
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