She expected to see some fans from her emerging days, but what Jiyoon Jang didn't foresee were lines out the door, countless new faces, and sold-out tickets every day.
After years of showing up with black sesame mochi bars, cakes adorned with whole sugared perilla leaves, and some of the best cookies in townJang eventually opened Modu, a coffee shop of her own that expands on sweets inspired by her Korean-American heritage with a full coffee and tea program that's just as inspired.
But on October 9, Modu's opening day, he quickly realized that his popularity surpassed his staff… and his production. The next few days were a crash course in pivots.
He opened with 200 pies, then immediately realized he would need to increase production and increased that to 400 pies by the weekend. “And yet we're running out of them after a few hours,” Jang said.
On Saturday, a line constantly stretched out the front door and onto the sidewalk from 8 a.m. until mid-afternoon. “No one took a break that day,” he said. “Saturday was just survival.”
Baker Jiyoon Jang in the Modu kitchen.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
Jang and his team prepare the dough for the fluffy milk buns, processed over several days, and some must remain hidden as a reserve in the freezer, but even those are used almost immediately. On Sunday they implemented a new rule, one that is also in the croissant bakery nearby Fondry. At Modu, guests are now limited to four cakes per person.
Demand for hojicha mochi muffins, misugaru cookies and ssuk cake is a whirlwind for the baker and her new shop, but her cakes have always been popular, even if her path into baking was never planned.
Jang, a former competitive golfer who studied film, graduated from college in the spring of 2020 and, like many who sought a respite from lockdown, tried baking sourdough bread for the first time. It consumed her. She made her own starters and fell down the rabbit hole of YouTube cooking tutorials; His family gave him a blender for his birthday.
“I'm glad I started with that because it taught me a lot about baking: the process, how complex it all is,” she said. “Just making cookie dough can't teach you. I had to use all my senses to make sure I got good bread.”
She grew up surrounded by great food and with a mother who knew how to cook well, especially when it came to Korean cuisine, but Jang said she never came from “a family of pastry chefs” and even today she doesn't like sweets. She attributes this to being a major influence on the balance of sweet, salty and sweet and sour flavors she uses in her baked goods today.
The pastries at Modu, a Korean-inspired cafe in Highland Park, include hojicha mochi muffins sprinkled with black sesame.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
In early 2021, he moved to Los Angeles from the Palm Springs area, where his parents run the Misaki Sushi & Grill restaurant in La Quinta, and got his first exposure to working in professional bakeries on Clark Street. She dedicated herself to making croissants and taking food photos for the local chain's social media accounts. Photo tags and credits on Clark Street posts began funneling traffic and followers to Jang's own Instagram account, eventually inspiring her to offer a cupcake under her own name, baked in her apartment kitchen. 300 square feet.
Their first customers purchased assorted boxes that sold out immediately and featured items now found at Modu. A few months later, In Hospitality, the local restaurant group behind Chimmelier and Jilli, approached Jang about opening a bakery. He called it Mil, which translates to “flour,” and it ran for less than a year at multiple Koreatown locations, its Korean-American pastries available for pickup, as well as some of the city's best coffee shops, where They bought a thousand baked goods. wholesale goods.
But Jang wanted to maintain control over his product, and as his wholesale accounts grew, he wanted to focus on the quality of the items and opening his own store. He left In Hospitality amicably in early 2023 and returned to his independently run pop-ups and bakeries.
Some Modu cakes include decorations such as sugared perilla leaves, which top the perilla and key lime cakes.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
Launched a newsletter. She dedicated energy to promoting her baking on social media. Meanwhile, his parents encouraged Jang to find a space and open his own store.
“They are very business-minded people,” Jang said. “They were like, 'Eventually, you're going to have to open something if you want to do a real business and give it a proper chance.'”
At the beginning of 2024 he began looking for spaces and his parents became his investors. His sister works at the cafe's front desk. The 1,700-square-foot family-owned establishment is modern and minimalist in its aesthetic: A wooden communal table runs down the center of the room, flanked by small tables, and at the other end is Jang's ordering counter and pastry case, where the day is prepared. Balanced, earthy and citrusy sweets await.
The cupcakes are glazed with tart yuzu frosting; Hojicha muffins sprinkled with black sesame offer a satisfying chew. Kabocha cakes, topped with strips of dried persimmon soaked in rice water, complement a menu of Korean loose-leaf teas, classic espresso offerings, and house-made lattes designed by Jang. I wanted Modu to focus as much on coffee and tea as it does on its baked goods, serving hotteok-inspired creamer coffees made with Korean black sugar; ceremonial matcha with koji milk; and espresso topped with cream and dusted with dark cocoa.
Jang makes ceremonial-grade matcha with koji milk at Modu. The baker-owner designed the new cafe's beverage program, in addition to the pastries.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
In the coming months, Jang hopes to introduce a tasty menu at Modu. The baker, who was born in Korea but moved to the U.S. as a child, wants to expand her use of nostalgic Korean flavors through avocado toast with gochujang bread from Out of Thin Air or Korean porridge with a variety of toppings.
“I just want [Modu] be familiar enough to people but at the same time be something they may not have tried before,” Jang said. “I think because I have no experience in traditional baking, at first it felt like imposter syndrome, but now I think: because my mind has not been molded to how this [pastry] “It needs to be done, it helps me create things that people don't expect.”
Modu, 5805 York Blvd., Unit A, Los Angeles; From 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. from Wednesday to Friday and from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays.
