Born in Seoul, South Korea, Shim initially dreamed of becoming a professional soccer player. When that failed to pan out, he dived headfirst into cooking, an activity in which he applied the same attributes he had shown in sports: high energy, total dedication, and rigid discipline.
Shim began his culinary career at New York’s Gramercy Tavern before working as chef tournant at Veritas, master cook at L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon at the Four Seasons Hotel, then taking over as Executive Chef at Kristabelli. Next came a job as chef de cuisine for the M. Wells Steakhouse in Long Island, and it was while here that Shim was approached by restaurateur and fellow Seoul native Simon Kim. Kim was about to open his dream Korean steakhouse in NYC’s Flatiron District and wanted Shim to run the kitchen. The Cote Korean Steakhouse opened in 2017 with Shim as Executive Chef and has since earned a Michelin star. After more Cote Korean Steakhouses opened, Shim is now Executive Director of Cote Culinary Operations.
Zagat included Shim as a top Under the Radar Chef, while Gotham Magazine named him Hottest Male Chef of the Season.
Restaurant(s)
Owned by Korean restaurateur Kim, Cote Korean Steakhouse blends the dining experience of Korean barbecue with aspects of the traditional American steakhouse. Every table comes equipped with a smokeless grill where a server sears the meat to perfection. Cote is the only Korean steakhouse in NYC with a dry-aging room, allowing it to dry age its steaks in-house. A second Cote opened in Miami in 2021. It was followed by a third in Singapore in 2024, and a further outpost is scheduled for launch in Las Vegas in 2025.
Under Shim’s culinary direction, Cote NYC has earned numerous accolades. Within a year of opening it earned its first Michelin star, becoming the first Korean-style steakhouse in the US to receive this honor. (The second was Cote Miami in 2022).
It has also been included in GQ’s Best New Restaurants in America and Thrillist’s Best Steakhouses in America, and received two-star reviews from The New York Times and New York Magazine.
Cote has been recognized by the prestigious James Beard Foundation Awards, including being a Best New Restaurant and Outstanding Wine Program semifinalist in 2018 and 2019, respectively.
In 2023, it was designated as a Best Overseas Korean Restaurant by South Korea’s Ministry of Agriculture, Food, and Rural Affairs.
Recipes and dishes
Shim’s best-known dish at Cote Korean Steakhouse is the Butcher’s Feast, which comprises four different cuts of beef including galbi or Korean-style short ribs and comes with a variety of banchan (Korean vegetable side dishes), as well as an egg souffle, and two stews.
For maximum flavor, Shim prepares his galbi with two marinades. He starts by scoring the meat in a diamond pattern, to maximize absorption of the marinade, then adds a coating of pureed onion, pear, ginger, and garlic before tossing it in a soy-mirin wet marinade. He believes in preparing the short ribs the night before or early in the morning of the day they are to be served.
A highly popular limited-edition feature on the menu in 2023 was a dish Shim named Legend of the Seven Jades. It involved guests creating their own tartlets from a raw bar filled with seasonal ingredients such as caviar, bluefin tuna, rainbow trout roe, hamachi, uni, truffle, and beef tartare, accompanied by crème fraîche, pickled mustard seeds, and more, all served in custom jade glassware.
Another of Shim’s classic dishes is his Steak and Eggs, which combines a steak tartare of beef tenderloin with caviar, served on toasted milk bread and sprinkled with chives.
