She worked with Stegner at Prairie Grass Cafe and then became executive chef of Opera and then Aria in the Fairmont Hotel in Chicago.
[3] In 2011, Kim competed on season 9 of Top Chef in Texas, winning the "Restaurant Wars" episode and the "Last Chance Kitchen" competition before finishing in fourth place.
She then returned to her alma mater to teach a fine dining course at Kendall College's School of Culinary Arts.
[2] In 2014, Kim and her husband, Johnny Clark, opened their own restaurant, Parachute in Avondale, Chicago, serving modern Korean-American cuisine.
[9] In 2019, Kim and Clark won the James Beard Award for Best Chef, Great Lakes.