Korean Restaurants – Page 22

Boo Cho – A Revisit Part I

July 9, 2006 mmm-yoso Korean Restaurants, What Ed Eats -You too can be like Ed!

*** Boo Cho is now Dae Jang Keum, and an updated post can be found here.

On a recent trip to Sammy’s next door, I noticed that Boo Cho had changed owners again. This would make the third set of owners in the last three years. Though it’s disheartening to see a revolving door of ownership for any restaurant location, a part of me was a bit happy. You see Boo Cho used to be one of our favorite Korean BBQ Restaurants in San Diego. But under the last set of Owners, I thought the food had gone steeply downhill. As fate would have it Ed from Yuma was making one of His trips down to San Diego. So we decided to give Boo Cho as shot. You can read Ed’s Chowhound post on Boo Cho here.

As we entered on this evening there were only two other occupied tables in the restaurant. But it was only 6pm, and with the recent hot weather, people are eating at a much later time.

We were seated and given our menus, which did reflect on a few slight changes. Soon enough we placed our order. We decided on the Special BBQ for 2($49.99). Now we understood that there were 3 different types of meat, I’ll try to remember what they are, but please forgive any inaccuracies, I usually don’t take notes. In a few moments our sauces arrived.

As did the rice paper wrappers, mesclun, and thinly sliced daikon radish, for creating your own dumplings with the BBQ.

Our brazier was prepared, by first placing a container of charcoal into the receptacle built into the table, then laying the cast iron grill on the top.

One thing I quickly noticed was the very large amount of flaming charcoal being used, a very good sign.

We also had our first "surprise" of the evening. It seems that the special for two comes with a bottle of Soju, that mind numbing alcoholic beverage that brings to mind vodka. For some reason, the evening really started "brightening up".

Soon enough the banchan arrived.

To be perfectly honest, banchan had never been Boo Cho’s strong suit, and I didn’t expect this visit to be much different. How wrong I was. Not that the banchan was outstanding, but it was pretty good. I really enjoyed the Baechu Kimchee(Napa Cabbage), I mean I really enjoyed it. Things were really looking up, when our meat arrived:

Now if I recall, the 3 types of meat provided were; San Galbi(unmarinated beef ribs), Chadolbaegee(a thinly sliced fatty beef), and a nicely marbled, lightly marinated beef, I believe it was Joo Mool Luck. And we got cooking……

About this time we got our next "surprise", a boiling casserole was delivered to our table. The special came with a vegetable "soup":

The broth was quite beefy in flavor, and the soup was full of tofu, daikon, and other veggies.

By this time all of the flavors started to blur, with the banchan, the soup, the various meats, and of course, the Soju. I did think that the meat was a step up from the previous Boo Cho, though still a step down from Buga Korean BBQ. Still, there’s nothing like the flavor of charcoal. At this point, the grill was soiled, and I was beginning to think that our next course would be the Fire Department.

Just then one of the Servers stepped in, and replaced our grill. Perfect timing!

In the end Ed and I devoured everything, and remarked how Boo Cho was back on our list. Ed enjoyed Himself so much, that He returned a few days later. Funny thing, the Missus and I returned a few days later as well. I’ll post that in Part 2.

Some Notes: The main thing to remember is to not wear anything that you DON’T want smelling like charcoal. As Boo Cho fills up, even the heavy duty ventilation system can’t quite keep up.

Part II tomorrow!

Boo Cho Restaurant
7905 Engineer Rd
San Diego, CA 92111

Han Bat Restaurant

April 10, 2006 mmm-yoso Korean Restaurants

**** Han Bat has closed

A while back, knowing how much the Missus enjoys Korean Black Goat Casserole, Calvin told me about Han Bat. Calvin said he noticed signage in the front of the restaurant mentioning Black Goat Soup. So we made a trip to Plaza Del Sol, and Han Bat.

Han Bat is a fairly small, Mom and Pop type operation, with a brightly colored and well lit interior. In what was a ominous sign, Han Bat was also totally empty, on a Friday evening!

The limited menu had about 20 items, all of them some type of soup or casserole. We saw several Black Goat soups and casseroles, and attempted to order, but was told that they were out of goat. When I asked when they’d have goat again, I got a shrug of the shoulders. So no goat. In one instant, twenty percent of the items on the menu weren’t available. We did find something interesting, and placed our order.

The Lady dropped of our panchan, which consisted of only 4 little plates of very routine panchan. Nothing earth-shattering, and a little on the chintzy side.

Since they were out of Goat, we ordered the Duck Casserole for two ($26.50):

A portable stove was placed on the table and a smallish sized cast iron pot of broth and vegetables was heated. First off the broth had a very high oil content, as you can clearly see by the distinct yellow color. Strangely enough, as rich as the broth was, it was lacking in flavor, and spice. The Missus kept adding sea salt from the little jar on the table to Her broth. The duck meat resembled tough slices of beef with gristly, tough, fat. The Missus couldn’t bring Herself to eat it, but it was fine to me, though really lacking in flavor. I ended up using all the dipping sauce for the duck and vegetables.

Though we got charged $2.00 for tea, served in a small beer glasses, we never got refills. Even when we asked….

It really did seem that Han Bat was in full cost-cutting mode. Maybe someone else can tell me how good their Black Goat is, I don’t think we’ll be back. We’ll stick with Ko Hayang Jip.

I actually went home and made tacos.

Han Bat Restaurant
4690 Convoy St Ste 108
San Diego, CA 92111

Ko Hayang Jip Part II

March 23, 2006 mmm-yoso Korean Restaurants

*** Update: Ko Hayang Jip is now Go Ba Woo, but the menu and the food seems to be the same.

We were mulling over heating up our leftovers from our previous night’s meal at Ko Hayang Jip, when we decided that it would be to our benefit to gather even more leftovers….. So we found ourselves back at Ko Hayang Jip. We had made mental notes of a few items that we wanted to try, and so placed our order. Being a real Mom-and-Pop operation, the Lady who I’m assuming is the Owner, recognized us immediately. Also, I don’t think they get very many non-Korean customers. As with the night before we were given 8 plates of panchan.

No lotus root this time; but at least we got the green peppers, I don’t know the Korean name for this, but we call it Shishito Peppers. Makes a really good panchan.

I also enjoy the potato salad. This version has quite a bit of boiled egg in it; but very creamy and rich tasting.

The Missus ordered the Spicy Beef Soup($8.50):

The broth was similar to a slightly beefy and not as spicy jjigae style broth, very velvety in texture, and not as spicy as it looked. A boiled egg, gosari(fiddlehead fern), dangmyeon (sweet potato starch noodles), and a few thin strips of beef stood out. The Missus thoroughly enjoyed Her soup, though she’s not a big fan of the Korean style "mixed"(black and short grain) rice that is served here. She even asked for white rice, but was told that they only serve this type of rice here. Also, she was told "it’s good for you".

I ordered the Dol Sot BiBimBap($10.50):

This version was served on a hot cast iron plate, with a small portion of bulgogi, mung bean sprouts, shiitake mushrooms, and other vegetables, all topped with a sunny side up egg. We both thought the portion size was quite small, and the overall taste was pretty much on the bland side; I ended up using up the entire dish of Gochujang provided. I much rather have my BiBimBap served in a hot stone bowl which forms a really nice crust; we weren’t too impressed with this.

Overall, Ko Hayang Jip provides a pretty good alternative to all the other Korean Restaurants in town. The ingredients are fresh, the prices in line, if not a bit more inexpensive, and I also noticed that except for the Mandu, all the dishes were not oily at all.

We didn’t have the chance to try the Korean BBQ at Ko Hayang Jip, but Calvin was kind enough to provide a photo for our viewing enjoyment:

Ko Hayang Jip Part I

March 22, 2006 mmm-yoso Korean Restaurants

*** Update: Ko Hayang Jip is now Go Ba Woo, but the menu and the food seems to be the same.

One of the really nice things about having a food blog are the recommendations that I get. Recently, I received an Email from Calvin informing me that a new Korean Restaurant had opened on Convoy St. Having exchanged Emails with Calvin in the past, I knew Him to be a very knowledgeable and credible source. So on a recent wet and cold evening we made our way to Ko Hayang Jip (aka Ko Hyung Jip).

The interior of this Mom-and-Pop restaurant was small, yet somewhat "cozy."

Looking at the cover of the menu, I had to laugh at the Homer Simpson-Dilbert looking character on the cover.

After looking over the menu, we placed our order. And then the panchan began to arrive, 8 plates all told.

The panchan consisted of many of the usual suspects such as moo(daikon), namul( marinated bean sprouts), and baechu(napa cabbage) kimchee. But there were also a few items that I hadn’t seen before.

The hit of the evening were the marinated lotus root with a slightly sweet-soy sauce-light sesame oil flavor and in spite of being marinated, the lotus root was still quite crunchy.

We started with the Gum Mandu($6.95):

The Mandu were really not very good, oily, bland filling, and the wrappers hard and thin. They reminded me of the frozen gyoza that you buy at Nijiya. The Jap Chae($8.50) arrived next. At first I was disappointed at the small portion size. But the Jap Chae was pretty good, and not oily in the least bit.

Even though the signage says Ko Hayang Jip features Korean Barbeque, we saw something on the menu which we haven’t had since we moved from Los Angeles. Black Goat Casserole (Black Goat Meat w/Vegetables and Broth) for Two($28.50). A portable stove was brought out, and a wide pot was brought out and placed on it.

Once bubbling, we mixed the greens into the broth, and starting eating. The broth was very warming and spicy, but not as spicy as it looked. There were chunks of slighly gamey, but not too fatty goat meat, onions, and other veggies in the broth. The greens were crunchy with a slight peppery bitterness that cut through any heat that the broth had. So hearty, healthy, and delici-yoso!!! Served along with "Black Rice" this was more then enough food for us, and we had quite a bit left over for lunch!

So good, on a cold and rainy night. Coincidentally, that night I received an Email from Calvin regarding Ko Hayang Jip. Here’s what he wrote about the Korean Barbecue:

"We got the standard bulgogi, which they cooked at the table on a hot iron griddle and later kept moist with broth. I also got the chicken bulgogi variant, which came on a platter pre-cooked. Both were a tad underflavored compared to Boocho, but tender and yummy."

Thanks for the recommendation Calvin!

We knew we’d be back soon, but didn’t realize it would be the following night!

To Be Continued………..

Ko Hayang Jip
4373 Convoy St.
San Diego, CA 92111

Seoul BBQ Restaurant

October 27, 2005 mmm-yoso Korean Restaurants, What Ed Eats -You too can be like Ed!

**** Seoul BBQ has closed

Before Buga, there was Boo Cho, and before Boo Cho, there was Seoul BBQ:

Nowadays, I mostly go to Seoul BBQ for the lunch specials, which range from $6.99 – $13.99. Seoul BBQ went through a major renovation about a year or two ago, which has made the interior alot more appealing and comfortable. And of course there are those two plasma televisions going:

Seoul BBQ is also home of something else; the infamous “dump and duck”. That is several times I’ve had the Waitress show up take my order, “dump” my food, deliver my check while I’m eating, and totally disappear! Well attempting to go against odds I dropped in for lunch and had the Combination Kalbi/Naengmyun ($13.99). Things go as usual, water is dropped off, my order taken and the panchan delivered without a word:

The panchan was average, the Baechu(Nappa Cabbage) was better than the radish or the namul.

Soon the Naengmyun and vinegar is dropped off without a word:

Truly unremarkable, and fairly bland, I needed to add a ton of vinegar. The portion was rather large, but overall, not the refreshing dish I was anticipating.The Kalbi was also dropped off at the same time, along with the check, and the Waitress was never to be seen again, not that I would’ve recognized her……

For lunch cross-cut ribs are used for the Kalbi, for dinner the more traditional cut is served. Many people I know, enjoy the Kalbi at Seoul, probably because it’s more on the “sweeter” side than most other places. The Kalbi was nice and tender, cooked perfectly. In all there were 6 “bones”, the equivalent of two pieces. I really didn’t think this lunch was worth $13.99, and the “dump and duck” was in fine form on this day. I never even got a water refill!

So just to push my luck, I found myself at Seoul again. Yes, a true glutton for punishment, or perhaps just a martyr to the devotees of the “dump and duck”! On this day I just decided on the Bulgogi lunch special ($7.99), first up, water and my order, then soup was delivered to my table as well as the two tables in front of me – bang, bang, bang!

The soup was a mild beef soup with miso(!!!) and spinach. This was actually a pretty nice combination, though the bitterness of the spinach was amplified. Oh, and the Waitress; well she made me crack up. As she delivered the soup, she said “You’re Welcome”. The only thing was I didn’t even have a chance to say “Thank You”, I guess she was just being proactive…..going down the aisle repeating “you’re welcome, you’re welcome, you’re welcome” as she dropped soup on each table.

The “Bento” style box along with the ubiquitous metal bowl of rice was delivered in no time.

In this “box” were four types of panchan; the baechu and fishcake were decent, the spinach and cucumber were terrible. The “namasu-like” pickles were very, very sour; and I must’ve made quite a face. The Waitress just “happened” to show up when I ate this. In my conspiracy filed paranoiac thoughts, I actually think she did this on purpose. A single drumette was provided, it had me thinking Chicken Alice, but in reality, it was more like Chicken Al. Not quite tasty enough.

4 pieces of Tempura and some dipping sauce were served. The eggplant and potato were very bland and the dipping sauce really did not do anything to help. The shrimp was pretty good, though the batter on it was a bit soggy, but the piece of squid was very tasty, in a oceany, briney kind of way.

The Bulgogi was soft, but could have used more flavor. It tasted under marinated, but overall was fine. I thought when taking into consideration the amount of food provided, that this lunch was worth the $7.99 price. Next time though, I’ll order the Daeji Bulgogi, it looked really tasty. As I was eating our checks were delivered, all in a row again, “bam-bam-bam”. And our Waitress even made an additional pass, going right down the row “You ok? You ok? You ok?” That’s when I got it! Today was “Flight Attendant” day! I must’ve looked strange, sitting there with a stupid grin on my face. But suddenly I understood it all. As I left, I must have looked like a very satisfied customer, with that stupid smile on my face. Two of the Waitresses walked me to the door, and told me “Thank you, come again”, though I was expecting “Have a nice trip……” But no “dump and duck” today, so I guess your mileage may vary!

To be fair and honest, one of the servers spent alot of time with a very indecisive couple, and really helped them out. Seoul BBQ is a very popular dinner destination with some of my Ex-Pat Kama’aina friends, they like the sweeter taste of the Kalbi and (Dak)Bulgogi. During dinner hours Seoul reverts back to the typical Korean gas-brazier type Korean BBQ, it seems that the quality is better during the evening as well. Seoul BBQ’s new menu is almost like an instructional booklet, with pages on “What is Korean BBQ?” and “What is Kim Chee?” for the uninitiated. I don’t quite know what to make of that.

Seoul BBQ Restaurant
4344 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

Odds And Ends

October 14, 2005 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Korean Restaurants, yoso-silly

Hope everyone has a great weekend; just thought I’d throw in some Odds n’ Ends. That is, places that I’ve already posted on and some of the different dishes, as well as maybe a few "silly" links.

Dropped by Buga; yet again. This time I had Yookhwe, that wonderful beef tartare like dish:

This refreshing little dish – sorry about the photo, I starting mixing and almost eating before I remembered to snap a picture. But it’s thin slices of beef with sesame seed oil, served along with thin slices of Asian Pear, with an egg yolk on top. Nicely nutty, sweet, and a bit "metallic" or cucumberish in taste. Because the meat is partially frozen before slicing, you can get a "ice cream headache" when you eat this.

Dropped by Noble Chef for a quick dinner. I still get looks of complete amazement when I recommend this place. You just have to know what to order. DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT order the Chinese Fast Food style dishes. Instead go for something like the Shrimp Chow Fun (Hong Kong style) with XO Sauce($6.55):

If you think there’s some "wok hey" going on, you’d be right. Nice and spicy, with good sized shrimp, this is my favorite. We also got the Shrimp with Tomato Sauce Rice($6.55):

Nice size shrimp, with a tangy, slightly spicy tomato sauce, this is delici-yoso!!! Stick with the Fried Rice, Turnip Cake with Scrambled Egg, and Shrimp with Scrambled Egg, and you’ll do fine.

As for links, here’s a few fun ones:

Howie Email’d me his Foodieview ‘s Most Disturbing Recipe Searches. It’s fun and reminds me of Pam’s great "Asparagus" ummmm, "residual" post!

I don’t know if you read the News story on the 4,000 year old noodles found in China. I get another laugh at the expense of my Italian Food loving friends. I can still call Italian Food "Nouveau Chinese"….. Angie covers it well on her Blog.

Annie has revamped and changed the URL for Green Beans in San Diego, so check it out.

I enjoyed this really short article from The Japanese American Historical Society of San Diego about the History of Japanese Restaurants in San Diego.

And finally this sign, which always makes me chuckle it’s on the corner of Palomar and 3rd Ave in Chula Vista:

Do Re Mi House

October 6, 2005 mmm-yoso Chicken Wings, Korean Restaurants

*** Do Re Mi House has closed

***An update on De Re Mi House can be found here.

Yes, I know it's a strange name. Can you guess what kind of food Do Re Mi House serves? Let me give you some help:

Do Re Mi House serves Korean BBQ and basic Korean dishes in a small dining area, that almost feels "homey", or even like a little countryside Inn perhaps. I've never seen this place reviewed or mentioned anywhere, and the only reason I really know about it, is that a Gal at one of those "mailbox" places once told me that she takes Her Family there because it's affordable, and the food is good. So I've been dropping by off and on for the last few years.

The best bargains are the lunch specials, ranging from $5.99 – $7.99(Kalbi). For lunch this past week I had the Daeji Bulgogi ($5.99):

This "box/bento" style lunch consists of a small portion of BBQ spicy pork, rice, a green salad, 2 pieces of mandoo, and some panchan. The pork was flavored well, it's simply pork bulgogi with gochujang, and was moist, tender, slightly sweet, mildly spicy, and well flavored. The panchan is routine,except for the marinated potatoes, which I love. And the mandoo is terrible, a wrapper like thin cardboard, and not worth my time, neither was the green salad.

What sets Do Re Mi House apart was the service. Alot of places have a low-margin lunches going, basically inexpensive lunches in hopes of attracting volume. Many of these places do what I call the "dump and duck". That is once your order is placed, everything is "dumped" at your table, and the server "ducks" out, never to be seen until your check comes. During this lunch, for instance, the Young Lady saw that I plowed through the panchan, so she came by with two more bowls, saying, "you like kim chee, here's some more". Noticing my rice was running low she asked if I needed more, and brought me a bowl, as well as filling my water 3 times. So by the time I left, what started as a small lunch ended up being a little larger.

One evening I stopped by and ordered the Dak Bulgogi ($10.99):

There was a good variety of panchan, all totally routine, except the potatoes which I enjoyed. The portion size of the chicken seemed deceptively small, I say deceptively because I couldn't finish. The chicken had a bit of a sweeter taste then I'm used to, but was perfectly fine. I enjoyed the carmelization and the onions on the bottom. The chicken was also well marinated, I've had many instances where the chicken is quickly marinated than cooked, with sauce added at the end, leaving the chicken somewhat bland. As I was eating the Waitress came by and said, you liked the potatoes, right? And brought me another little bowl of the potatoes:

Do Re Mi House fills a niche right below Boo Cho and Buga, in price and quality. I've seen groups of students and families coming in for dinner. The BBQ is not done at the table. Lunch is much more inexpensive, though the portions may be a little on the small side, I've always left satisfied, if not stuffed. Service has always been good.

One short funny story. One night I was just having the Chicken Wings ($6.99), which were fine, but they had changed the recipe since I last had them. They used to be battered and spicy, and now they were just deep fried:

I was having this with some rice and panchan, when an older Lady sitting and eating at the front table, watching Korean Soap Opera, would get up every so often. She would grab a fly swatter and start killing flies in the front area with extreme accuracy. She would eat a few bites while watching the television, get up, and "whap-whap" get a few flies, clean up, and go back to eating and watching her show. I'm assuming she worked there, but am not quite sure…… So I guess there's free entertainment on certain nights? BTW, the flies never really made it into the restaurant with her around; she was deadly accurate!

DO Re Mi House
8199 Clairemont Mesa Blvd Ste M
San Diego, CA 92111
(858) 565-2085

At the SDAFF: Marathon and Bibim Naengmyun

September 30, 2005 mmm-yoso Korean Restaurants, Movies, yoso-silly

The Opening Night film at the San Diego Asian Film Festival was the Korean film, Marathon. This heart-warming drama tells the story of an autistic Young Man, Cho Won whose doting, driven Mother pushes him to succeed at running marathons. Cho Won is 20 years old, but has only a child-like understanding of the world, and loves Zebra’s and anything resembling a Zebra, Choco-pies, noodles, and The Wild Kingdom television show. But Cho Won, is unable to express his emotions, and lacks any concept of the workings of the " real world". Enter into the equation a has-been former Marathon Champion, Yun, working off his community service for a DUI at Cho Won’s school. Cho Won’s Mother attempts to get him to train him. We go through this journey along with Cho Won, and in the end there is of course, a Marathon.

Marathon succeeds in rising above the formula"underdog drama" by utilizing great acting, lot’s of humor, not stooping to "cheap" manipulative tricks, and showing the impact of the social realities of being "stigmatized" by being handicapped in South Korean society, not only to Cho Won, but to his Family as well. Though the ending is predictable, it’s the journey to that end that makes this film worth watching. I’m thinking of buying this one! A great start to the SDAFF.

A quick note, this movie is a semi-biopic, Director Jeong Yun-Cheol interviewed Bae Hyeong-Jin,on whom the story was based, over the course of two years to develop this film. Amazingly this is Jeong Yun-Cheol’s Directorial debut.

Where’s the food? In Marathon, food plays a major role. I stopped counting at 12 the number scenes where food plays a role. Choco-pies play a very important role in two pivotal scenes in the movie, and plums in one. And of course Cho Won loves noodles. Most of the noodles shown looked alot like Jajang Myeon, a Chinese based, Korean noodles dish. Here’s an example of a sad "instant" Jajang Myeon:

But I didn’t have Jajang Myeon, I ended up at Buga and had the Bibim Naengmyun ($9.95):

These somewhat chewy-elastic buckwheat noodles, are served cold, with a spicy sauce. Add to it vinegar and mustard, and you have a wonderful refreshing, spicy dish! Have the Server cut the noodles with a scissors, though, otherwise you’ll be "pulling" for quite a long while! With all of the chewing and "reeling in" of the noodles going on, this dish may take a while to eat. It almost seems as if; if I may quote the Missus; "The more you eat, the more there is…"

Notice the panchan in the middle of the picture below, there’s a funny story about this:

So I’m having lunch, and a quite distinguished looking Gentleman siting on the table in front of me calls the waitress over, holds up the little plate with the "konnyaku" (I apologize I can’t for the life of me remember the Korean name), and tells her "I thought I told you no fish!", She tries in vain to explain to him that it’s not "fish", but made from "potato", but he insists that "No potato can ever make anything like this!" So after the Waitress looks at me with a pleading look, I tell the Gentleman that it’s made from a specific potato. I get the response, "Humph, don’t tell me what this is, I know fish when I see it!" I truly hopes he chokes on his Bulgogi….."humph"

Oh, what did I have for dessert?

Choco-pies of course!

Road Trip – Marukai Costa Mesa & Meat Jun in the OC?

September 14, 2005 mmm-yoso Korean Restaurants, Markets & Grocers, Orange County, Road Trip

Returning to San Diego from Market World, I noticed that the traffic was unusually light, so I decided to take a chance, and head on over to Marukai Costa Mesa. This was done in typical SoCal fashion, that is, via multiple freeways. So it was the 60 East to the 57 South, to the 5 South, to the 55 West, to the 405 North…..that was easy, wasn’t it!

I found Marukai Costa Mesa on busy Harbor Blvd, in a building that was obviously some other Supermarket in a previous life. The parking lot was busy, and so was the market. I just took a short trip around the perimeter, and the "Hawaiian" section caught my eye:

All of the usual suspects where in display; the Hawaii Miso, Portuguese Sausage, Zippy’s Chili, etc. The one thing that really caught my eye was the Park’s Brand Chili Pepper water, a real rarity here on the mainland.

Over in the fish department, there was very fresh Maguro and of course, Ogo!

Since the Costa Mesa location of Marukai is a little closer I may end up shopping here instead of driving to Gardena. The selection is good, and I was surprised at all of the "Local Kine" people everywhere.

After doing a bit of shopping I stored all my "Stuff" and took a walk around the Food Court. Suddenly I was caught totally off guard and surprised:

Not by that sign, but by this:

Yes, that is Meat Jun that you see on the "menu board". I’ve never seen Meat Jun on the Mainland! I was fairly surprised, after all I had always been pretty sure that Meat Jun was more or less a Hawaii thing. Meat Jun is marinated rib eye beef, coated with an egg and flour coating and fried. It is usually served with a sweet-salty dipping sauce. Reid on his site Ono Kine Grindz has a great photo of what Meat Jun should look like.

So, overcome with nostalgia, I had to order it ($5.95). And what I ended up with was this:

As you can tell the Meat Jun is totally burnt! Can you imagine how egg batter tastes burnt? Bitter, and totally gross. The Jap Chae had no flavor. The only thing edible on this plate was the egg and rice. "The Boyz" ended up with the meat; I had to scrape all the batter off before they’d eat it though! I guess they really DON’T make Meat Jun on the Mainland…..

A funny note; if you’ve ever "read" any of my other posts, you’ll notice that I try to include a picture of the store-front of all the places I visit. I tried to do this as I was leaving; but a very persistent Security Guard kept following me around. He kept looking at me and talking on his "radio". I’d stop, and he’d stop, and start talking on his radio. Never said a word, but he really creeped me out! I felt like I was at Fuddruckers again!!! So I just decided it was probably best to leave without photographing any "state secrets", geeez!

Marukai Costa Mesa
2975 Harbor Blvd
Costa Mesa, CA 92626

Korean Kitchen
Marukai Market Food Court
2975 Harbor Blvd
Costa Mesa, CA 92626

Buga Korean BBQ Restaurant

August 7, 2005 mmm-yoso Korean Restaurants, What Ed Eats -You too can be like Ed!

Over the last year or so I’ve heard the name Buga pop up on Chowhound whenever Korean Restaurant recommendations were requested. The strange thing was that other than a short negative post on Chowhound mentioning small portions and high prices, the only posts went like….”my Korean friends say…”, “I’ve been told by Korean co-workers…”, and such. I also went that route and asked around and got mixed reviews. God knows that I passed the restaurant nearly everyday. Also, a so-so experience at my favorite Korean BBQ Boo Cho, piqued my interest, and I’d decided to pay a visit to the specter that was Buga in the near future. Mills and Sarah please correct any inaccuracies!

Finally two things set a visit to Buga up, Ed from Yuma was making a quick trip into town, and Annie from Green Beans San Diego, noted that she had the best Kalbi she’s ever tasted at Buga.

Arriving at the parking lot, I noticed a somewhat odd thing. Buga is semi-attached to a Motel 6, and share the same parking lot. Talk about strange bedfellows, needless to say, there’s an interesting crowd milling around in the parking lot. I met Ed at the front door and entered the restaurant, the first thing you’ll notice is that Buga is alot smaller than the facade would indicate. Partially due to the sushi bar located in one end of the restaurant, and the table spacing necessary to support placement of large vents for the barbecue. We arrived at 630 pm and were greeted with smiles and seated immediately. After seating we perused the menu and decided on BBQ – Galbi ($20.95) and Bulgogee ($16.95), seemed like natural choices. Soon after the panchan arrived:

I’ll spare the description in minutiae, just to say that this was the best panchan I’ve had in San Diego. Ed must’ve been enjoying himself, he did what I call the “Ed’s delici-yoso dance” a few times. what happens is he closes his eyes, raised his arms to a perpendicular angle, goes “mmmmm”, and sways back and forth. I thought the servers were going to call 911.

Here’s my favorite panchan:

Also served was a small bowl of deep cooked beef soup with thin slices of mu (daikon). Usually you’d get some watery seaweed soup, or other thin “broth”, but this was very good. I’m actually thinking about ordering Kori Gomtang (Ox Tail Soup $14.95), during a winter visit. The grill was prepared (rubbed with onion) and the meat arrived and was cut and placed on the grill by the server, also arriving were the greens and wrappers (dduk & mu). I realized the reason someone had complained about the portion sizes, was that this was a “dduk bossam” style restaurant. The portion sizes at Buga are more than adequate for this style of eating.

The Galbi was excellent, well marinated, and tender. The flavor was very good and balanced, with the sheen of Malt Syrup, and just enough sweetness. When the well marbled Bulgogee arrived, my initial thought was that it was perhaps a bit undermarinated, but my apprehension was unwarranted, the bulgogee was excellent, soft and tender, and just about as perfect as it gets. To indicate the level of service, the Waitress actually made the first two samples of Ed’s Galbi “wrap” showing him how to prepare it. As the bulgogee was almost done, the Server came by and cut up the pieces of onion and made sure that all was well. The meal was completed with a palate cleansing cold cinnamon tea with pine nuts (sujeonggwa??).

Well,l I went home and raved about this place. So the Missus and I ended up going back to Buga the following evening. We were actually seated at the same table, and the Waitress remembered me, and was so helpful. Again, on this visit the service was superb, as was the panchan, and the soup, though some of the panchan were different, they were all great.

On the previous night I noticed the Hae Mul Pajun ($14.95), and it looked fabulous, so we ordered it.

Topped with a bit of sauce and some rice this was very tasty. The pancake contained shrimp, mussels, small oysters, and artificial crab, and had a nice savory flavor. It was deceivingly filling. I ordered the Haemul Dolsot Bibim Bap ($12.95), basically seafood and vegetables over rice. This was served in a stone pot, allowing for a wonderful crust to form at the bottom. Eaten with a bit of Gochujang this was a great texture and taste sensation.

During the whole meal we watched a Gentleman eating a metal bowl of Bibim Naengmyun ($9.95) that never seemed to end, he kept eating and eating, that just seemed like an eternal bowl of noodles; note to self, you need to order this. The meal was again finished with the cinnamon tea, and we were on our way. I give Buga my highest recommendation, great attentive service and good food. This is a new one for our rotation.

Some notes on Buga – The service is very good, and in this type of restaurant, the servers have alot to do. It seems that Buga may be a victim of it’s own success. On both days, as we left the place was totally packed and the servers almost running from station to station, still providing good service. In fact, we returned a third night and had to leave because of the crowd. This is typical gas BBQ not charcoal, but it’s damned good. Lunch specials are available from $7.95 and up. According to a sign Buga uses Coleman Natural Beef short ribs that are 100% pasture fed.

Buga Korean BBQ Restaurant
5580 Clairemont Mesa Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92117

Open daily 11 to 11