Road to Seoul - Not exactly going to Seoul, but quite tasty nevertheless (Los Angeles)

Road to Seoul

As I stated in my previous post on an AYCE (all you can eat) Korean BBQ restaurant in Northern California, Korean BBQ, especially the AYCE variety is quite prevalent in Los Angeles' Koreatown, and one of my favorite is Road to Seoul.

All You Can Eat Menu ($16.99/pp)

Compared to the prices in Northern California, most of the AYCE Korean BBQ found in Los Angeles are about $16-20 per person, and it could as little as $10/person, though I question the quality of the meat served at those cheaper establishments.

Various panchan (반찬) and other side dishes served along with the BBQ

Above are the various panchan (반찬) served to our table. None of the dishes particularly stood out, though I did enjoy the potato salad as usual. Along with the panchan, we were given an order of kimchi pancake, aka pajeon (파전), and an order of steamed eggs (계란찜). The steamed eggs, gyeran jjim is always one of my favorite things to eat, which is similar to the Chinese steamed eggs I'm known to make from time to time. The big dish of vegetable is often used to combat the meat to provide more of a "refreshing" contrast.

Various Meat

Above, I could go over each variety of the meat, but I'll let the picture do the talking for me. Everyone has their favorite meat selections. Some might like the kalbi and the baby octopus, some might prefer their chicken and beef brisket. As for me, I love the beef tongue and the Road to Seoul Beef. The tongue offered here is tender and delicious. I often go through a few plates of that by myself. Along with the beef tongue, I enjoy the thin, fatty slices of the Road to Seoul beef. It's one of my favorite cuts of meat at any Korean BBQ restaurants. Delicious!

Above: Doenjang Jjigae (된장 찌개), Below: Noo reung ji (누룽지)

Upon the completion of our meal, we're presented with a pot of stew made of fermented soy beans called doenjang jigae. It might be slightly foul to some, but I usually enjoy a good pot of jjigae. Along with the pot of stew, we're also given a burnt rice soup called noo reung ji (thanks for the translation Clara). When eaten with soon du bu, it's quite nice, but I don't particularly enjoy eating noo reung ji after Korean BBQ.

At the end, Road to Seoul is one of the better AYCE option here in Los Angeles. Along with my personal favorite of Yi Ssi Hwa Ro in the Chapman plaza, Road to Seoul is a pretty safe option when one has the meat cravings. The dining room is large, and clean. The service is decent, though it's always nice to bring a Korean speaker or two. So let's hit up Road to Seoul in 2010! It's been awhile for me......

Road to Seoul
1230 S. Western Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90006
(323) 731-9292

Palace BBQ - Oldie but Goodie (Sunnyvale)

Before I moved to Los Angeles, before I got involved with Yelp, and before I got into food so much that my friends has started calling me a "food snob (I prefer foodie)," Palace BBQ was my introduction to Korean BBQ. From my mom, my college buddies, former buddies, etc, Palace was the place for us Nor Cal people to hit up for some AYCE (all you can eat) action in the Silicon Valley. (On a side note, I really miss the gloomy weather of Nor Cal. The weather in LA is too...perfect?)

As the picture above shows, the lunch time prices are fairly similar to the ones found in Koreatown in Los Angeles. However, the dinner prices can be as high as $25.99 during weekends sans any additional soju or hite beer you may order. Pricey? Probably. Tet, with the lack of AYCE Korean BBQ establishments in Nor Cal, what can you expect? Supply vs. Demand I guess. Onto the meat!

I could have showed the various meat located at the meat bar (instead of having the meat brought to you like most of the LA restaurants, you actually get the meat yourself at the meat buffet bar), but the best meat there is the kalbi. Not the usual "LA kalbi" found in most restaurants, but this is the bone-in kalbi. Sadly, it's only offered during dinner, as being the good Asians we were, we only ate the kalbi. Multiple plates later, we finished off the night with some octopus and marinated squid. The kalbi was delicious. One of the better meat found at any AYCE KBBQ around.

All in all, Palace BBQ is a truly solid Korean BBQ experience. Besides the meat bar, there is also a panchan, hot cooked Chinese/Korean bar, and a salad/dessert station as well. Sadly, I was too hungry to bring my dSLR over to those stations as I was concentrating with the food. While Palace probably won't stand out compared to the Yi Ssi Hwa Ro or the Road To Seoul of the world here in LA, for a fun experience on the streets of El Camino Real in Sunnyvale, you could do a lot worse than Palace BBQ.

A shoutout to all of my buddies in Nor Cal, the better part of California. Go Kings!

1092 E El Camino Real # 1
Sunnyvale, CA 94087-3777
(408) 554-9292

Gyenari - Korean or Korean Fusion? (Culver City)

Entrance

Gyenari, a new restaurant in Culver City's restaurant row opened by William Shin which presents a menu influenced by William's long lost cousin Debbie Lee of The Next Food Network Star fame, is one of the few Korean themed restaurant on the Westside of Los Angeles. When I received an invitation from the PR to visit Gyenari, I was more than happy to accept the invite.

Assorted Skewers

Upon arrival, I was presented with a tray of skewers consisting of:

1) Grilled Eggplant with a spicy miso paste - Good texture, and the miso added a nice kick.
2) Spicy Pork - A tad spicy, which was nice. Quite flavorful
3) Beef with onions - Good flavor, but didn't really stand out.

Soju Caipirihna

The soju caipirihna, presented to the entire party was actually quite nice. Sweet, and not too strong, but a nice cocktail to start off the meal.

Pomegranate Pearl

In addition to the welcoming cocktail, I ordered a separate drink of pomegranate pearl. Made with pearl plum vodka, pomegrante rice wine (sake? soju?), and cranberry juice. It has a bit more bite than the soju caipirihna, but still, quite nice. Now, onto the food....

dduk buk kee (Spicy Rice Cakes)

During the drive up to Culver City, Cathy of Gastronomyblog told me duk buk kee was one of her favorite Korean dishes, in her "interesting" way of pronouncing it that cracked me up during the drive. When I saw it on the menu, I was intrigued with this dish, as this is also one of my favorite Korean dishes (Interesting enough, one of the few I could actually make). Sadly, it was a bit too sweet for me, as the gochujang seemed to have been mixed with another condiment. The dduk was cooked well, but I think I could have made a better version of this dish at home. Maybe I'll cook this one day for Cathy to try....... (Don't quote me on this one Cathy!)

Assorted Jeon

Fried seafood and vegetable, how can anyone not like this right? The dish as a whole was cooked well and had a nice diping sauce to accompany the dish, but none of the 3 choices stood out.

Pumpkin Porridge

This was a nice version of the Korean pumpkin porridge. Along with toasted pinenuts and soju infused dates, I enjoyed this bowl, but it could have easily served without the dates. Nevertheless, an enjoyable dish.

Pear and Shiso Salad

I'm not sure why this dish had "shiso" in its name as I barely tasted the supposed main ingredient. In fact, it should have been called Pear and Rib eye salad, as that was the overpowering ingredient. I wasn't too fond of this dish as it had too much meat (did I just say that?) to be really called a "salad."

Japchae

Japchae, or stir fried glass noodles with meat and vegetables is one dish I'm all too familiar with as it's one of the favorite thing my mom would make for me at home. After having other versions along with my mom's, the japchae at Gyenari is just too sweet for me. Although enjoyable, I'm not sure if I would order this again.

banchan and G1 Meat Set

One of the highlights from the dinner at Gyenari was the banchan dishes offered. All the choices were quite traditional and very "Korean." I enjoyed all the side dishes.
In terms of the G1 meat set, the meat were all very fresh and marinated well. However, the marinade was again, way too sweet, which I don't think I enjoyed. I liked the pork belly and the various dipping sauce offered to us. The chicken dipped into the chipotle mayo was also quite a nice combination.

Kimchi Jigae

The kimchi jigae was nice, but it really did not need the tomatoes in the soup. This would have been much better without the tomatoes. I do miss the spice from the usual kimchi jigae found in Koreatown.

Spicy Chocolate Creme Brulee with Green Tea Beignets

Dessert is probably my favorite part of any meal and the spicy chocolate creme brulee was quite nice, but slight too "chocolatey?" In addition, the beignet was slightly dry, but I solved that problem by dipping it into the creme brulee. All in all, a very pleasant ending to the meal.

Overall, I'd have to say Gyenari was an interesting experience. The food was actually more authentic than I expected, but we didn't not receive any of the "Seoulful" dishes that Debbie Lee was known for. It'll be something I'd be interested in trying those dishes next time, perhaps at Happy Hour that runs 7 days a week that lasts until 8pm. Although the dishes were sweeter and lack in the kick that I'm used to in Korean cuisine, Gyenari is definitely a good place for someone to try Korean BBQ or food for the first time. The food and flavors are quite tame compared to the same food found in Koreatown, but for the price, and quality, it's definitely not a bad deal. The service was friendly, the atmosphere was lively, and the bar made some bomb drinks. It's definitely one of the better restaurants to visit on the Westside for Happy Hour.

Gyenari
9540 Washington Blvd.
Culver City, CA 90232
310-838-3131
http://www.gyenari.com/

Ondal 2 - I like crabs, you like crabs, but I LOVE crab soup! (Los Angeles)

Entrance

As we're headed toward winter season here in Los Angeles (or the lack of one), what else is better than spicy soup? In this instance, Korean spicy crab soup aka kkot geh tang (꽃게탕)

(Top: Dining Room Bottom: Various banchan (반찬))

The things I like about Ondal are the clean atmosphere, 2 LCD TV in case there's a basketball game broadcasted (like the Fakers), and wonderful array of banchan (반찬) dishes. One of my favorites are the egg and the spicy octopus.

What's better than some soju to accompany the meal?



hamul pajun (Seafood Pancake)

The hamul pajun here is fantastic, one of the better version I've had here in Los Angeles. I always like to order this as an appetizer for the meal before the spicy crab soup hits the table.

Entire Process of the kkot geh tang (꽃게탕) meal at Ondal 2

Sometimes the phrase "pictures equals a thousand words" really means something, or it's just that I'm too lazy explaining each course of this meal. The kkot geh tang it comes in either small, medium or large. A medium will feed a party of 4, and large feeds about 6. Each person will get a crab shell filled with rice while the crab itself will continue to cook inside the soup. Once the crab and most of the soup are eaten, the next part of the meal begins.

The 2nd part begins with zucchini and additional soup stock poured into the stew, and the "soo jeh bee" is formed and tossed into the pot. The soo jeh bee or hand formed dough is similar to "mian ge da," which is a type of dough/pasta known amongst the Chinese people. The pasta has good texture and with the soup, it's fantastic!

Finally, my favorite part of the kkot geh tang experience at Ondal, the bokeumbap (aka Korean Fried Rice). The ingredients are simple, but the end result is fantastic, maybe due to some of the crab essence from the soup. Let the rice cook a bit so the rice is slightly crispy. Now that's the best way to enjoy the fried rice!

Shikkae (sweet rice drink)

This is a great way to end the meal. Icy, sweet, and 100% delicious. Much, MUCH better than the canned version I've resorted to buy over time. I really enjoy this version here and I wish more Korean restaurants would serve shikkae to end a meal.

All in all, I really enjoyed the meals I've had at Ondal in the past. Especially with the winter months approaching, make a stop to Ondal 2 for some spicy Korean soup. Although I've heard good things about their other stews, you can't go wrong with the crab version. The service here is friendly and the place is clean. Hell, even parking is plentiful, although the area is slightly sketchy. Don't worry, valet parking is available for $1.50! Annyoung!

Ondal 2
4566 W. Washington Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90016
323-933-3228