Oseyo, meaning “welcome to my home” in Korean, draws inspiration directly from Owner Lynn Miller’s mother’s Korean home cooking, with the menu featuring her tried and true recipes, coupled with Executive Chef Mike Diaz’s diverse culinary background. With extensive education and experience in the hotel and restaurant industry, Miller began her food career in New York City, where she worked at The New York Palace Hotel and Savoy Restaurant. She later moved to Austin, where she co-founded The Brandon Miller Group and consulted on the opening of Kye’s in Santa Monica. Miller is joined by Diaz, who has spent the past 11 years in Austin at McGuire Moorman Hospitality, Olamaie, Bufalina Due, and, most recently, Dai Due Taqueria.

“As a Korean-American, I’ve spent my life with one foot in each culture, never fully immersing myself in either,” says Miller. “I would educate my parents on the finer points of American culture and turn around and explain to my friends what the strange foods were that filled my fridge. Koreans show their love through their food and, for as long as I can remember, I’ve wanted to share this amazing cuisine with as many people as I could. Oseyo is an expression of my Korean-American story. It’s a balance of sharing what I know about the beauty and depth of Korean food and arts while working with people with whom I’ve shared a story and within a setting that is approachable and fun.”

With traditional Korean dishes at the forefront of the Oseyo menu, Diaz and the culinary team collaborated with Miller’s mom along with friend Rene Ortiz to develop the restaurant’s recipes. The menu features small plates, rice and noodle dishes, and wood-grilled items, in addition to Korean extra-small plates, called banchan, which are side dishes that function much like condiments to offer complementary and contrasting flavors to each bite. Traditional banchans, like kimchee and soybean sprouts, are featured alongside chef-inspired seasonal items that are inspired by Korean flavors. Small shareable plates include pa jeon, savory scallion pancake, and tong dak, spicy-sweet Korean-style fried chicken wings. Wood-grilled items include Oseyo’s bossam, a slow roasted pork belly, to be served with a bright scallion salad, perilla leaves for wrapping, and a soybean-paste dipping sauce. Alongside traditional Korean dishes like bibimbap, kimchi jigae, and wood-grilled Korean BBQ, lesser-known Korean dishes like hwedup bap, a rice bowl with assorted fresh raw fish and seasonal vegetables, and Korean-Chinese noodle dishes are served.

The bar menu features a curated beer and wine list with a focus on local craft beers and wines that pair well with the spicy and flavorful notes of Korean food. Specialty cocktails feature Korean ingredients like the lesser known version of miso, called doenjang, which is a more rustic and funky soybean paste; gochujang, Korea’s mainstay chili pepper paste, which is featured in a spicy tequila-based cocktail; and soju, Korea’s national liquor, is elegantly balanced with a Lapsang syrup and lemon in a specialty cocktail.

A “parent-friendly” restaurant, Oseyo offers a welcoming setting for families with a kid’s portion-size of every menu item, along with a specialty kids drink menu that features fun fizzy drinks.

Designed collaboratively by Miller and Interior Designer Mark Cravotta of Cravotta Interiors, Oseyo unveils a sun-lit modern, yet casual dining room with 62 seats that features warm interiors and a lively bar that opens out to a plant-filled courtyard. With a vision for an understated and organic beauty with elements of industrial grit and fun, Cravotta used concrete floors, reclaimed wood, and treasures collected through a life of travel to complete the space. Finishes include a custom basket sculpture chandelier, layered in with antique Korean textiles and art along with vintage mismatched dining furniture in a communal seating setting.

Located at 1628 East Cesar Chavez, Oseyo is open for dinner Sunday, Tuesday, and Wednesdays from 4pm to 10pm, and Thursday through Saturday from 4pm to 12am. For more information, please visit www.oseyoaustin.com, and follow on Facebook and Instagram @oseyoaustin.