doenjang jigae and kimchi, yay!

This is the most OTM thread so far on this nu-board.

one of the few restaurants open very late in this godawful city is a korean joint and they are doing the lord’s work

dol sot bi bim bap = good even when it’s bad

so far non of my colleagues have complained about the smell, which really surprises me.

xpost—it’s true! even meh bi bim bop is still tasty.

I used to be more or less insane about the bi bim bap (as prepared by this random place in Evanston, IL), and yet now the Korean place in my neighborhood keeps disappointing me to the point of, umm, diminishing my ardor. Must find better nearby Korean.

I remember the first time I ate kimchi ridiculously clearly, and not just because it was the same night I got 3rd degree burns on 8 out of 10 of my fingers.

I would kill a man for some Korean food right now.

1) be thankful you have a neighborhood korean.

2) if the bbb is mediocore, try something new. there might be a different dish that they specialize in.

xpost to nabisco

ally, we should go to yi jo in college park—its inside a shitty rte 1 days inn, and/but it is so awesome. goddamn i luv CP

i’m getting sushi tonight but this seems an inadequate substitute for korean now

ok what is the name of the dish that is basically bi bim bap and includes the words “bi bim” but it is noodles dish??? That one is what I want, immediately now.

xpost YES pete, let’s do this.

are you thinking of jap jae bap?

or bi bim naeng myun?

also there’s a new korean place at 18th & T where the crappy nepalese place that gave me food poisoning used to be.

Aslo, 24-hour korean restaurnat/bars in annandale w/ private karaoke rooms & plenty of neon = pinnacle of human culture.

Yes, I think bi bim naeng myun is what I am talking about!! Thanks!

attn new yorkers: there’s a deli on the corner of 13th & 5th that looks like every other sandwich shop/salad bar/prefab sushi place, but upstairs they have a korean mom-type cooking a decent-sized menu of korean food. nothing is over 7.99, and everything seems delicious.

Yay for bi bim naeng myun!

Lauren: whenever I walk by that deli it is being picketed by the union.

Nabisco: order the stews and noodles.

really?? i walk by there almost every day and have never seen picketers.

Any good places in Jersey City?

(Here’s a (dated?) article about the picketing. When I get a moment maybe I’ll look into what the current status is — the store got a state supreme court injunction against the union, I think, then closed and reopened under a different name with the same management?)

yay for having a korean gf who likes to cook — bi bim bop or various jigaes or just improvising with whatever pickled vegetables are on hand + rice + dried seaweed to make little rolls. plus, living in the O.C., there’s no shortage of good korean both of the bbq and soft tofu variety. at my preferred soft tofu place, kaya, i normally get the red pepper paste stew, which is spicy and fresh and delicious. and the perfect cure for a hangover. they are also very generous with the banchan.

i have not had any radish kimchi since moving away from michigan. this makes me sad.

thanks, paul. i’m still confused, though, and having a hard time envisioning pilly’s as one of the city’s largest greengrocers—it’s just too small for that. there’s another larger, shuttered deli right by it. i wonder if that might be the one the article mentions?

Yeah, that part doesn’t make sense to me either. The two-story one, right on the southeast corner, is the one they were always picketing. I’m sure it’s a complicated and ultimately not so fascinating saga.

the one that’s closed and shuttered might be directly on the corner because pilly’s isn’t. ah, who knows. i’m starting to get a headache wondering about this, which is stupid.

I haven’t been to my local Korean in ages and my work moved away from the ace £5 lunch Korean place. this is giving me the hunger.

My local got a Tombot thumbs up so I figure it must be pretty good.

LA’s K-town (where I spent a summer) is home to Soot Bull Jeep, Chosun Galbee, Dong Il Jang, Shik Do Rak, i could go and on... the ultimate Korean restaurant corridor outside of Korea.

I can’t praise Gam Mee OK in NYC’s K-town high enough for their oxtail sollungtang (i have no idea how to spell that, just work with me). Open late.

For japjae and bolgogi/kalbi, Brothers KBBQ is the best in SF for real charcoal grills, DIY bitches.

Let me echo JBR’s photos up there. Since I was taking photos of the very same dishes.

i love korean food.

at my preferred soft tofu place, kaya

You need to tell me these things, robotsinlove — specifically, where in OC is this?

Jonathan Gold’s Top 40 of Koreatown. All recommended.

I hate all you urbanists and your good foods.

— I Am Curious (George) (Slight Return) (crumpw@bellsouth.net) (webmail), November 27th, 2006 10:30 PM. (Rock Hardy) (link)

Renewed.

Also: One thing I learned is that if you like getting tons of free dishes, go to a Korean restaurant with (a) Korean friend(s).

uh mr. steve shasta, korean places put out tons of free dishes even if you’re not korean!

That Gold list is of course genius, and the spot where JBR took those photos is Shik Do Rak, a totally killer location.

Last time I had Korean BBQ there was a couple (tanned, big designer sunglasses at night, very S. California-looking) in the cubicle next to mine whose server was feeding them and wiping their mouths. Is this normal for at a Korean restaurant?

that is not normal at ANY restaurant!

I didn’t think so. My Korean friend didn’t really have much of an answer for me. (She is adopted and grew up with white suburbanites in S. Michigan, so I wasn’t relying on her for any big revelation.)

It was at the Korean BBQ place near the corner of Western and Foster in Chicago, in the heart of beautiful MexiKorea.

Is this normal for at a Korean restaurant?

Ingrish.

ned, kaya is in the culver/walnut plaza in the furthest northeast corner, right by india cook house. don’t be confused, there’s 2 other korean places in the same plaza!

http://elmomonster.blogspot.com/2006/03/tale-of-three-soft-tofu-restaurants.html

(super x-post)

Mr. Tyrone Slothrop,

I’m not referring to banchan (the little dishes)... I“m talking full menu items.

X-post — thank yer, I’ll check that out next time I’m there, though usually I head straight for Wheel of Life.

what’s those sort of blackened/jellied soy beans called? served with the little dishes at some places. delicious, but i can never figure out how the hell they’re prepared.

or actually i think they’re little potato chunks cooked in soy paste. they have a sort of pleasantly rubbery texture.

My wife and I have been living in (and then just outside of) Seoul for the past couple of years. We’re moving back to the States in March. While there will be much to miss about this place, it probably won’t surprise anyone here that food will top the list. It still amazes me that I can get food delivered that is (really) fast, wonderfully tasty and cheap (five bucks or less, total).

Reading this thread, I feel like I should lobby for an LA move, but we’re probably heading back to Chicago. Any non-bbq Korean recommendations for that area are heartily appreciated.

Also, naeng = cold.

Ed, the one right at Holborn station also got the Carlos seal of approval so you should definitely try that, or bring the Centre Point experience home via the cooler cabinet at the grocery there: enough bulgogi to feed a dinner party for £5.

Any non-bbq Korean recommendations for that area are heartily appreciated.

I will ask my Korean boss today if I see her. She’s taken us out to places in MexiKorea that were good. There was good bi bim bop at the BBQ place I mentioned—I don’t know the name since the big sign simply says, “Korean BBQ.” It’s at Lawrence (or is it Foster?) and Western.

i had korean bbq for the first time with tim the other week, MAN it was good, at a place called ran (ram?) off poland street...

Reading this thread, I feel like I should lobby for an LA move, but we’re probably heading back to Chicago. Any non-bbq Korean recommendations for that area are heartily appreciated.

How could I have forgotten about Jin-Ju on Clark St. in Andersonville? It’s more upscale than just regular old Koreatown Korean, but I hear it’s good. (I’ve wanted to go there, but due to my having gone out with one of the waiters and it didn’t work out at all; not feeling like making awkward conversation, I have held off and—from what I hear—missed out.)

(Just went to close this window and I noticed that that is one fucked up sentence. I’m kind of blushing.)

Sujebi, a recent fave...

...full of vegetables and chunks of rice-flour dough that remind me of the dumplings in “chicken and.” The fish stock for this soup varies from place to place, and ranges from quite good to wonderful. Korean cooks know their way around a soup stock.

Thanks so much for the tips, crunkleJ. I should’ve known Andersonville would have something for me.