I have nearly completed my quest to try ten new styles of cuisine. People in LA laughed heartily when I mentioned I’ve never eaten Korean barbecue. How the hell was I supposed to know that Koreatown has the world’s second-largest Korean population after Seoul? I can barely get through a day without having someone remind me to eat — I’m not exactly a distinguished gourmand.
Oh, wait.
ChoSun Galbee (3330 W. Olympic Blvd.) came highly recommended by Mark and Gary. I was supposed to eat there with Nicci once, but something stopped us from trying it out. Then I misplaced the note with the restaurant’s information, and forgot all about it. While my mother was in town this weekend we drove through Koreatown to get around some traffic, and she suggested we eat some barbecue. It was a happy coincidence that was chose Chosun as our destination.
The vibe of the place is upscale. Nice bamboo furniture inside, cool architecture, and a fancy bar in front had me wondering how such a nice joint could be completely obscured by the denseness of its surroundings. Maybe it has something to do with the ivy covering the restaurant. I don’t know. Their website has much better pictures than the ones I took. You can choose to eat indoors or outdoors, though it appeared the tables indoors were were for larger groups. We chose to sit outdoors.
We thought that eating early might help us beat the Saturday night dinner rush, but even at the early bird hour of 6pm we had to wait about thirty minutes to be seated.
Mom wanted bulgogi (thinly sliced beef marinated in a special soy sauce), and I wanted daeji bulgogi (tender pork marinated in a spicy chili sauce), so we agreed to just share both dishes.
A few minutes after ordering, a server arrived at our table with a dozen small bowls. Each one contained a different food item. I guess you’d call them side dishes? There was kimchi, which I thought was pretty good but not spicy enough. There were zucchinis (or were they cucumbers? I can’t tell the difference) in a spicy chili sauce that were delicious. Also on the table: fried tofu squares, scallion pancakes, thinly-peeled cabbage pasta in a tangy orange sauce, sprouts, some kind of potato salad-thingie, broccoli in a red sauce, sprouts, and two small mixed green salads with some kind of Asian light dressing. We each received a small bowl of barbecue sauce, and we were given a small bowl with a spicy peanut-y sauce, and a bowl of fresh jalapenos and garlic.
The bulgogi was brought out first, and the server lit our grill and started the meat cooking. He started by spreading butter across the grill, then rubbed an onion across the surface for a minute or so before adding the meat, It smelled delicious as it cooked. Having nothing to compare it to, I thought the beef was great. My mother, who is more of a foodie than I’ll ever be, declared it to be the best Korean dish she’s ever had.
Next we had the pork. It took longer to cook, and mom was convinced that it wasn’t cooked thoroughly enough, which ruined the dish for me. How can I, a person who does not even trust that the food he just microwaved is fully cooked, be expected to believe that the pork my mother just claimed wasn’t cooked, is safe to eat? We decided to let it cook a few minutes longer, until the larger strips of meat had time to char slightly. The marinade added a nice, spicy flavor to the meat. The meal at ChoSun concludes with a cool mug of rice tea, which probably contained more sugar than actual tea.
ChoSun. So good! I’ll be back someday soon.
Tom Waits – Foreign Affair
Bill Fay – Laughing Man
Lee “Scratch” Perry & The Upsetters – Patience
