Korean food — ranging from the fine cuisine that wins chefs James Beard awards to the gooey corn dog cheese pulls trending on TikTok — is surging in popularity across America.

• The big picture: Although most Asian restaurants in America serve Chinese, Japanese or Thai food, there's clearly an appetite for more Korean restaurants, Carly Mallenbaum writes.

🇰🇷 Catch up quick: First came Korean fried chicken. Then, kimchi turned into a go-to condiment, and ready-to-use Korean barbecue sauces hit shelves, says Tim Fires, president of global food service at market research firm Circana. "The spicy and sweet flavor profile really resonates."

• Now you can buy Korean corn dogs at Costco. "That's when you know it's hit mainstream."

By the numbers: In 2024, there was a 10% increase in the number of Korean restaurants in the U.S., per Circana data.

• And the number of fast food chains that offer Korean fried chicken and corn dogs has increased by about 15% each from last year.
• Meanwhile, Korean fine dining establishments are also taking off.

📈 Zoom in: Two Hands Corn Dogs is one of the biggest Korean food chains in the U.S.

• It opened its first store in California in 2019, and now has more than 70 national locations.

"Before the increased popularity of Korean culture in the U.S., I wanted to introduce urbanized Korean street food to friends and colleagues in America," CEO Paul Yoo tells Axios.

• "For me, (eating a Korean corn dog) invokes ... the good old days of earning allowances from parents for a quick bite with friends at the local fair after school," he says.

🍽️ What we're watching: As Korean cuisine gains traction in more U.S. cities, expect to see more inventive fusion flavors on the menu, like the crawfish fried rice at a Creole-tinged Korean spot in New Orleans, and Korean beef tacos at a Korean Mexican restaurant in Detroit.

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This shot of Pyramid Lake in Jasper, Alberta, Canada, was snapped by reader Steve Ward while on vacation last week.