Danny Shin has been cooking his way toward this restaurant for a long time. He grew up in Korea, launched a Korean-American concept in Toronto in 2018, moved to Texas in 2021, opened a sushi restaurant called Bluefin in 2023, and landed in December at 1628 Oak Lawn Avenue in the Design District with the most personal thing he’s built yet. Jo’Seon Wagyu Omakase is Dallas’s first Korean Wagyu omakase — and six months after opening, with the initial noise behind it, it’s worth a straight look at what it actually is.
Jo’Seon is at 1628 Oak Lawn Avenue in the Design District — the former Pakpao space — and it is Dallas’s first Korean Wagyu omakase. Owner Mike Baird and executive chef Danny Shin developed the concept after a research trip through Korea and Japan together. Shin grew up in Korea, launched a Korean-American concept called Korean Fad in Toronto in 2018, moved to Texas in 2021, and opened a sushi concept called Bluefin in 2023 before landing here. General Manager and Beverage Director JP Park rounds out the team.
The format is straightforward. The main dining room offers a 12-course progression built around Japanese A5 Wagyu — one lunch seating and two dinner seatings daily. Three private rooms offer an expanded 18-course experience, each with its own dedicated chef. Seating is deliberately limited. The menu rotates every two months and highlights more than 30 unique beef cuts across the year. Every cut arrives with its Japanese certification shown tableside before the meal begins, which is a transparency gesture that lands differently than most restaurant flourishes — A5 Wagyu has a grading system that matters, and seeing the paperwork before you eat is the kind of detail that builds trust rather than just atmosphere.
The A5 Wagyu is flown in from Japan six days a week. Shin builds around it with uni, truffle, caviar, and scallops — ingredients that can hold their own next to the beef rather than disappearing behind it. The Korean technique shows up in how he breaks down and presents each cut, drawing on a beef culture that is distinct from Japanese Wagyu tradition even when the raw material is the same. The result is a menu that doesn’t have a direct precedent in Dallas, which is either the most interesting thing about it or the hardest thing to explain to someone who hasn’t been.
The cocktail program from JP Park runs refined classics alongside more progressive builds — smoking, clarification, tableside delivery. The room has AI-enhanced projections that shift throughout the meal, which is either a distraction or an experience depending on your tolerance for technology at the dinner table. The private rooms are designed for occasions that warrant the full 18 courses and the privacy to linger over them.
Pricing for the 12-course sits at $220 per person. The 18-course private room experience runs higher. It is not a casual dinner. It is the kind of meal you book for a specific occasion and plan around, which is exactly how the restaurant positions itself — and, six months in, exactly how its regulars seem to be using it.
Jo’Seon Wagyu Omakase is at 1628 Oak Lawn Avenue in the Design District. Open Tuesday through Sunday 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., closed Monday. Reservations at joseonrestaurant.com. Phone: (214) 501-9806.
