To get terrifying out of the way, it’s a terrifying list if you’re ITB, as I am, simply because it is tiny: There one sparkling wine (glass and bottle), three white wines (all available btg) and three reds (two btg). The good news is that the three wines I tried are all excellent, well-chosen for the food and reasonably priced. The bad news is that this place is hopping, but cocktails are obviously more important to them, and by inference their clientele. The beer list parallels the wine list, with two American drafts (one from Maine – yay!) and a few Korean bottles.
After three nights of working tasting dinners of my wines in New York, I took my guest to Her Name is Han, off of 5th Avenue in Koreatown. Glad I reserved, because the people in front of us left when told the wait was 1½ hours. This is a great restaurant, with wholly merited buzz, correctly described as Korean soul food. The clientele was about 80% Asian (mostly or all Korean). My guest and I were the oldest customers by about 30 years.
Our appetizer was corn and potato croquettes with green salad. No idea what’s Korean about this, but an outstanding dish that didn’t need the good house-made ketchup. So savory, so comfortable. Dish of the night by a hair.
With the app, they brought typical Korean sides. I didn’t taste the kimchi which had far too much red pepper apparent. I just tasted the mackerel, well prepared but with all the tiny, abundant, bones threatening to cut or choke me. The calamari was fine, the mushrooms just as good and a salad with what I think was a cheese that tasted like unsalted feta was excellent.
I ordered a glass of the sparkling wine:
2014 Bohigas Cava Gran Reserva Extra Brut – Cava isn’t my go-to, but I wanted bubbles and this was the choice. An excellent choice! This did not have the rather drying, grassy character of many Cavas, tasted nothing like Champagne, rather like a really good, reasonably aged Loire Cremant made from Chenin Blanc. Small intense mousse, bone dry but still with a hint of melon, a real and appropriate pleasure rated 91.5.
My guest ordered one of the two red glasses:
2018 Presquile Pinot Noir Santa Barbara – Never heard of this, had a taste, glad I did. Even considering the dim light, this looked dark for Pinot Noir and the plummy ripe aromas were confirmation. The palate however was very deft, not at all heavy or overripe, with more cherry than plum. This did not taste rudely young, surprised at the vintage, but very pleased with the wine. Rated 90.
We split main courses of country fried chicken and braised short ribs with root vegetables. I’ve never had fried chicken like this, the incredibly crisp crust tasted like a cross between corn meal and panko, the chicken was essentially unseasoned, perfectly moist, this was a great dish, almost up to the croquettes. The short ribs were also excellent, albeit a little chewy. They gave us metal spoons which I needed to dissect the ribs, before using the chopsticks. The root vegetables were fabulous, the soup / sauce was sterling. Take me home!
We split a glass of 2017 Clusel-Roch Syrah ‘Serine’ that was lovely. Aromas of black cherry led to an intense mouthful of pure Syrah fruit, very open-knit, not totally primary a good match with both mains. Rated 90.5.
This is a destination restaurant, strikingly original, excellent in all respects. It’s crowded and noisy, but cheerful and friendly. Old white wine geeks can enjoy something that could be completely new to them, without remotely leaving any comfort zone, including the available wines.
Dan Kravitz