Every table at the old Baekjeong had a stainless-steel duct rising out of it, a short chimney bolted above the grill to pull smoke off the short rib before it hit the ceiling. That fixture, more than the neon or the queue outside, was the room's real signature. It is gone now. The space at 1 East 32nd Street still smells faintly of char and sesame oil, but the restaurant that made the smell famous has closed, and its next chapter is still being built two doors down.
Karpo can tell you whether the new Baekjeong location on West 32nd Street has actually opened its doors yet, and what's seated and pouring on this block right now if it hasn't.
The duct above the table that's gone cold
The original Baekjeong dining room ran on a simple industrial logic: concrete floors, thick communal wood tables, and those tabletop vents standing over every seat like ductwork in a kitchen rather than a restaurant. The room was loud and dim by design, lit less for atmosphere than for grilling, with music thumping under the clatter of tongs and scissors. It was a working room, built around the grill, not around the view.
That version of Baekjeong closed on January 1, 2024, after roughly a decade in the space at 1 East 32nd Street, right at Fifth Avenue. The duct fittings may still be there physically, but nothing is cooking under them anymore under that name. What's left is a gap in the neighbourhood's Korean BBQ map that the brand itself is now trying to fill from a different address.
What actually happened at 1 East 32nd Street
The same ownership group did not walk away from the address. Within weeks of Baekjeong's closure, they opened Ahgassi Gopchang in the vacated space, in February 2024. It is a different restaurant with a different focus: beef intestines and other cuts that don't usually make it onto a mainstream Korean BBQ menu, grilled with the same tabletop setup the room was built for.
So the building didn't go dark, and the ownership behind Baekjeong is still active on this exact block. But anyone walking in expecting marinated short rib, USDA Prime, and corn cheese under the Baekjeong name at this address will find a specialty offal restaurant instead. It's a related business, not a reopening.
Where Baekjeong is actually heading
The relocation plan points to 49 West 32nd Street, inside the landmarked Martinique building, under the working name Baekjeong Black. The design that's been described has the ground floor running as a lunch room that converts into a cocktail bar at night, with a full Korean BBQ dining room upstairs anchored by a butcher display case modelled on a Seoul meat market, meant to sit near the grill floor as a visual centrepiece rather than a service counter.
It's a bigger, more layered format than the old single-room grill house, and it puts Baekjeong in serious company: the basement of the same Martinique building holds Noksu, a Michelin-starred restaurant, which changes the character of the address considerably from a straightforward BBQ room to a building with two very different dining identities stacked on top of each other. Additional Baekjeong locations are reportedly planned for Long Island City and Downtown Brooklyn as well, suggesting the brand is expanding rather than retreating even as this flagship rebuilds.
The catch is timing. Reporting on the opening has been inconsistent, with a fall 2024 target that slipped, and more recent mentions pointing toward a much later opening. Whether the restaurant will still trade as Baekjeong or fully rebrand to Baekjeong Black is also unsettled as of now. Confirm before making a special trip.
The block, day and night
West 32nd Street between Fifth Avenue and Broadway is the dense core of Manhattan's Koreatown, stacked floor over floor with restaurants, karaoke rooms, and dessert cafes, and it's a short walk from Herald Square and the 34th Street–Herald Square subway station, one of the busiest interchanges in the city. During the day it reads as a fairly ordinary midtown block; after dark it turns neon-lit and loud, with the kind of after-dinner-drinks energy that comes from 24-hour Korean cafes and karaoke bars running late into the night.
It's also a block in flux. Several Korean restaurants nearby have closed or relocated over the past two years as rents have risen, and Baekjeong's own move is part of that pattern rather than an exception to it. Neighbours worth knowing in the meantime include Jongro BBQ and Let's Meat for classic tabletop grilling, and Turntable Chicken Jazz for a very different register of Korean comfort food, all within a few minutes' walk.
What's actually open on this block right now
Until Baekjeong reopens somewhere, Ahgassi Gopchang is the nearest same-owner substitute, sitting in the exact former Baekjeong room, with the same tabletop grilling format but a menu built around intestines and other cuts that read as a specialist restaurant rather than a general Korean BBQ stop. It's worth treating it as its own destination, not a stand-in for marinated short rib and corn cheese.
One detail worth flagging directly: as of now, the ownership group's own promotional channels have kept pushing Ahgassi Gopchang as the current option on this block rather than confirming a reopening date for Baekjeong itself. That's a reasonably strong signal that the new location isn't operating yet, and it's worth verifying directly before making plans around it.
The old rules, worth remembering if they carry over
The original Baekjeong ran on a booking system that frustrated plenty of regulars: parties of six or more had to prepay a reservation, while smaller groups couldn't book at all and simply queued, often waiting at a nearby bar until a table opened. Walk-in waits were routinely long, especially on weekends. On Fridays and Saturdays the kitchen historically ran until 2am, making it one of the few genuine after-hours Korean BBQ options in the neighbourhood, though that detail needs reconfirming once the new location is actually seating people.
The new format also appears to split the building by function, with a bar and lounge floor separate from the grill floor upstairs, which means a walk-in could plausibly end up seated somewhere that isn't the tabletop grilling experience at all. Given the multi-year gap between the old room closing and the new one opening, any previously known off-menu order or server-recommended cut from the old Baekjeong should be treated as unconfirmed until the new kitchen is actually running service.
Practical notes
The former Baekjeong sat at 1 East 32nd Street, now home to Ahgassi Gopchang under the same ownership. The relocated Baekjeong, expected to trade as Baekjeong Black, is planned for 49 West 32nd Street inside the landmarked Martinique building, on floors above the Michelin-starred Noksu. Both addresses sit in the heart of Koreatown, a short walk from the 34th Street–Herald Square subway station. Historically Baekjeong took prepaid reservations only for parties of six or more, with smaller groups queuing on arrival; weekend service ran late, to around 2am. None of that should be assumed to carry over automatically to the new location. Confirm current hours, booking policy, and whether Baekjeong or Baekjeong Black is actually operating before heading over.
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Ask Karpo first
Wondering whether the new Baekjeong location on West 32nd Street is actually seating people tonight, or whether you'd be better off at Ahgassi Gopchang or another grill on the block? Ask Karpo for the current status of Baekjeong's reopening and a live read on wait times at the nearest tabletop BBQ rooms in Koreatown.
