Serge, because of the large (and growing) Korean community here, there are several very good Korean restaurants in Metro Manila - owned/run by Koreans, for Koreans.
I’m just saying…
N
Frank:
This is the one! I missed their burning charcoal! If someone in the bay area know somewhere similar, please post. I asked my Korean colleague about bay area Korean restuarnts, he basically said there is nothing good and gave me a list of places in LA. Unfortunately I lost the list.
Jan, glad I could help. I don’t know California but I think Sunnyvale is in the “Bay Area” – try this:
http://www.yelp.com/biz/palace-bbq-buffet-sunnyvale" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
To generate your own list of L.A. Korean restaurants try Google or Yelp.
Serge and Alan, my house doesn’t work either. It’s a 3 family, so our space is small-ish. Fortunately as the owner I get the basement, and that’s how I have such a good place to keep my wine.
Frank:
I have been to Palace BBQ and am quite familiar with that area. That area is very similar to Forte Lee, many Korean restaurants with different specialties. There is one other place around there with burning charcoal, but it is just not the same. Palace BBQ is an all you-can-eat place. I have to admit I have prejudice against all-you-can-eat places. I have never had any good all-you-eat places except recently. Specifically, freshness of the beef in Palace BBQ is in question. However, if anyone is really hungry, he/she will be impressed by that place.
Speaking of Yelp, I just started using it. I was mightily impressed when I first used it in Reno last month. It helped me find the first and the only all-you-can-eat place I really like. http://www.yelp.com/biz/sushi-pier-reno Now, I am willing to drive four hours to Reno just to go to this place. It has a Korean owner. So I am not drifting away from the thread too much.
To stick to the Korean theme and sushi, I really like this place http://www.yelp.com/biz/shindokdo-sushi-santa-clara. Again, I have prejudice against Korean sushi. Frankly, I think they suck in general. However, Korean sashimi is unique in that you can point to a swimming fish in a fish tank and the chef will pick up the exact fish and do sashimi for you. It is kind of cruel but I am a Chinese, what do you expect? I cannot see a fish tank in Shindokdo so I just trust there is one inside. However, the one in Forte Lee has it!!! That is my lament for the state of Korean food in Silicon valley.
So, you want the sort of place where you can just point to a cow…
Have you seen “Eat Drink Man Woman”? Well worth the rental if you haven’t. The father is shown plucking a fish out of his tank and killing it by shoving a pair of chopsticks down the throat. It is an impressive display of Chinese culinary art, but later in the movie when he has started to let his caring side show, he can’t quite bring himself to treat the fish that way.
Glad you have “Yelp” working for you. Nearly all of our sushi places in NY-NJ are run either by Koreans or by Chinese people. The fish tends to be pretty acceptable, but sometimes the rice isn’t quite up to Japanese standards IMO. Japanese rice has a meaty texture and is just sticky enough to make the sushi adhere to itself.
I think we are going to try out a new Korean restaurant tonight. Will report back if it’s worth writing about…
Eat, drink, man, woman, great film! I am a big fan of Ang Lee. According to my friend, a film editor in NYC, the story was based on the story of her father…
Well, “Eat Drink Man Woman” is an epic, and one of the best movies made anywhere, at least in my opinion. “Tampopo” is wonderful but quirky and comedic – with episodes intercut that bear no relation whatever to the main plot. I think Tampopo could almost be read as being “about” foreign influences on Japan. The main character (“Gun”) wears a cowboy hat. Ramen is universally understood as something Chinese in Japan – the sign outside a ramen shop says 中華 chuu-ka or “chinese food.” And when the couple goes looking for the best noodle recipe, the chef who makes the noodles is from Fukien province in China. Later, when the couple goes out to celebrate the restaurant’s success – they are eating Korean kalbi (with scissors to cut the meat). Even in one of the inserted bits, the point is that some Japanese understand the intricacies of French haute cuisine. There is not much in the way of “real” Japanese cooking in the movie. “Eat Drink Man Woman” is saturated with the various levels of Chinese cooking, although shot in Taipei.
Japanese cooking came from a tradition of great restraint. Up until the Meiji era, very little meat was eaten for religious reasons. And even now, garlic and hot peppers are rare in “pure” Japanese food. Thus in comparison Korean food is robust, meaty, and flavorful, and I think that makes it popular even in Japan as a change of pace. I love the elegance of Japanese food but I also love the rich flavors of Korean food. And everybody loves Chinese food…
Frank:
I agree with your assessment on Korean Sushi. I did not particularly like sushi for a long time and preferred sashimi, until one day one of my friends took me to Nozawa in LA http://www.yelp.com/biz/sushi-nozawa-studio-city…
I think we need another thread on Sushi…
Growing up in Chicago, me best friend was Korean. Her mother was a wonderful cook- bulkogee, mandu, kimbap, kimchee…yum. I cut my spicy food palate on kimchee. Her mother made and everyday kimchee which I started on, and her father would bury some in the back yard- that was the “blow the roof of your mouth off” version, which I was able to work my way up to. Surprisingly enough, she also made the best fried chicken. I think it had a tempura-like coating. Try as she might, my mother could never reproduce how my friend’s mother did it.
I miss her cooking, but I’m so glad I was introduced to it.
Linda, there are some cuisines which seem to be stronger in the “home” version than the “restaurant” version. The most extreme example of that is probably Persian cooking. Persian restaurant food does not seem to wander too far from the basic “chelokebab” – meat and rice. But there is such a wonderful world of stews and rice dishes and pickles and desserts, mostly available if you visit the home of a good Persian cook.
Korean food seems to be almost similar – you were very lucky to find a good Korean cook willing to share her home cooking.
At any rate tonight we went to Chung Sol Bat. This place is SO Korean that they don’t even bother to put the name in English letters on the sign. It says “BBQ” on the sign and that is it unless you can decode the Hangul writing all around it. Inside we had some really tasty Korean food, along with a bottle of Saké I had brought along. The people inside were super friendly and spoke enough English for us to get by. The Kalbi was fabulous, succulent and beefy, and smoky from the real charcoal fire in the center of our table. I am really glad to know that this place is so close to home for me. I will have to take a picture of it and post it in case others want to try and find it. I gave the URL for the Yelps up a few messages.
This reminds me that one of my favorite Korean dish is beef sashmi (forgot what it is called) with some pear and seasame oil. Again, cannot be found around here.
My brother was taken to a Korean place, maybe in Flushing, for blowfish fire pot on his first trip from Taiwan to NYC. He raved about it so much that I felt jealous and useless. I have beem to NYC so many time and did not even know there was any blowfish fire pot in existence. Someone please help me locate that place please!
Jan, I think you are on your own there – you COULD try asking your brother?
I took a stab at it and found the link below, which freaked me out a little.
Scroll down to see a Korean fugu dish. Scroll down a little farther and you’ll see some “all seasons meat”…
Ho Chiak: Dining in Korea: Bok Chung at Myeong-dong" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Wow. This is a fascinating thread. Agree about Tampopo and Eat Drink Man Woman. Both are great. I watch Eat Drink Man Woman about every other year. Off topic, but re Ang Lee, anyone seen Lust, Caution? The critics weren’t kind, but I loved it for the period sets.
In Culver City, there’s a new Korean BBQ: Gyenari. Great server, Korean from OC who had just graduated from SC [so he wasn’t perfect]. We thought the food was excellent as well. The portions were huge. We ordered a meal for one to two people, and it was way more than we three could have eaten in two meals. There were no Koreans in the restaurant, so I can’t vouch for its authenticity, but as I understand the demographics of LA, there are few Koreans on the West Side to go there. Anyway, for our gringo taste, we thought it wonderful.
I’d love to try your wife’s cooking, Alan. If you ever want to barter a weekend wine tasting in Russian River for a meal, let me know.
My bro’s ex-wife’s uncle took them there. The divorce was not pretty and my bro only been to NYC once. At least I can go to Korea for it.
Gyenari is most definitely a “fusion” style korean bbq. My buddy told me it was good just really pricey in comparison to authentic korean
Charlie,
We’ve been to a number of good Korean restaurants in the Garden Grove area, but would love to try a Korean grilled seafood place. Please post the name or PM if you don’t mind.
Thanks! ![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}
Steve
Dave, would love to do that next time we’re in your neck of the woods! Now I just have to figure out what I can do to get my wife to agree to it (she doesn’t love wine enough for that to be her incentive, haha)!
Personally, I liked Lust, Caution. I’m a big Ang Lee fan - one of the benchmark filmmakers in the world in my opinion. Tampopo is also an old fave of mine, as is ramen 
Seaway, who’s your editor friend? I’m friendly with some of the people that worked with Ang in those days. Will ask around to see if I can identify your mystery NYC blowfish place. I was fortunate enough to have that in Korea about 1.5 yrs ago.
Serge/Frank - let’s definitely plan on finding some Korean restaurant sometime for sure, and I will keep working on the home cooked meal idea…
Hwarosarang
8552 Beach Blvd
Buena Park, CA 90620
A few options there, you can do exclusively seafood grilling or you can do all you can eat meat. The REAL deal here … is if you get the seafood combo (about $20 a person) you add on $5 for all you can eat meat. Pretty spectacular deal =)
Thanks Charlie. Probably won’t get up to that area for a few weeks, but will give it a try when we do. We’ve been to AYCE BBQ places in GG, but beef/chicken only. The seafood option at Hwarosarang sounds great.
Cheers,
Steve
What can you tell me about chadolbaegi? I don’t think I’ve ever seen it on the menu but certain Korean BBQ places have it. It is cut so thin it looks like prosciutto but it’s beef, for grilling. Does anyone know this stuff? Here is what it is like before cooking: