Chef Sung Park in his new kitchen at Bistro Petit. Photo by Todd Barndollar
If Sung Park wasn’t a chef, he would make a wonderful guru. He has charisma, speaks about food and life with unbridled passion, and dispenses his opinions on culinary matters with authority and certainty. Sung owns Bistro Petit, a little French place on South 3rd Street and Driggs Avenue. “It was supposed to be a take-out restaurant for French food, but everybody wants to eat in,” he says.
The charming joint with the hand-painted blue-and white tiles and the flirty French striped awning was designed by his girlfriend, an interior designer. It has a serious kitchen, which takes up two-thirds of the space, with only a few feet left for three short counters and ten backless stools. It’s a tight squeeze. Yet people insist on hanging out, they want to eat their gourmet meals right there and quiz the chef on the ingredients and his cooking techniques.