Just a note of thanks for this thread and FTC in general. I usually check out the Chowhound LA board around the time I make my semi-annual home visit. Imagine my bewilderment when I logged onto CH yesterday–to ask for a quick wonton fix and then for general Korean recs overall (particularly for a solo/lunch diner). Let’s say I had a bit of a panic attack whilst completely flummoxed by how to search the new CH site.
Thank goodness I happened onto the big “new site killed LA board” thread and figured out the story and made my way here. Phew.
That bossum lunch special seems a perfect fit for me. I’m also going to check out Beverly soon dobu–this is the weather for it. Guys, it’s colder in LA than in DC…
i’d assume you haven’t tried it then - a lot of the veggies are in fact pickled, and the slight acidity is more than enough to balance any potential fattiness. but if you really think the fat would be an issue for your palate. you can DIY at home and use pork shoulder.
cold as in room temperature or cold as out of the refrigerator? IIRC the meat for bo ssam is typically room temperature. colder than room temp probably wouldn’t appeal to me either.
Go, go everywhere. Every place you find. I can’t stop. Just randomly picking places at this point and oh my it’s all so so good. We go to KTown a lot. I test friends and family foodism level based on their love or hesitance of visiting obscure KTown spots.
This is from today… Best Kalguksu I’ve had since Mae Dang . Fresh noodle, crazy toothy texture you don’t normally find. Everything bright and clean. No unKoreans besides us. Several other great looking dishes to return to. Myung Dong Noodle House
I find the vast range of korean food so fascinating. Do you all find that Korean food is the most diverse out there? Just so many different style dishes and restaurants that specialize in that one dish.
You have korean bbq (even with this you have places that specialize in pork vs beef), tofu, bossam, spicy soups, noodle soups just to name a few.
Totally agree. I’m not an expert on Chinese food at all, but like @CiaoBob it’s not even close. The amount of diversity in different provinces, styles of cooking, specialties, and within each one the vast array of vegetables, mother sauces, proteins, etc. Not even close.
I can see that point of view. I just find “Chinese” food to be very generic term. Some regions, the people consider themselves something other than the generic “Chinese” ethic labeling. They are so culturally different across regions, that they are in essence a different culture. Maybe I am overthinking it! haha
it seems to me that the most popular korean dishes tend to be focused less on finesse and more on some sort of excess or intensity of flavor vs. the balance that tends to characterize other asian cuisines., but more diverse, i wouldn’t think so.
FWIW korea is slightly smaller than britain in terms of size, the point being you have less chances of having the same diversity of terrain and climate that china has - you have less different ingredients to start with. but korea is also one long peninsula, so most of korea is a lot closer to water so one could reasonably expect that seafood makes up a larger percentage of their overall cuisine, etc.
OTOH, you have the uniqueness of k-town which has been described as being a district of seoul in both terms of capital and culture - some suggest that soontofu originated here and became popular in seoul. i suspect some sort of cross pollination is going on - here they’ve assimilated certain western ingredients like mayo and cheese which go into the cheese corn you can find in k-town bars… then you’ve got the war and the UN presence leading to the development of dishes like budae jjigae, etc. whereas china (with perhaps the exceptions of HK (the british) and shanghai (the international settlement back in the 30’s) has remained largely insulated from western culture. i wouldn’t go as far as to say that those are definitive factors but it’s worth nothing IMO that in some ways, they’ve had access to ingredient and cultural sources china does/did not.
i’d recommend hangari. it’s the gold standard for kalgooksu in ktown at the moment. i thought that their clam kalgooksu was incredible but now think their chicken is even better. their mandoo is some of the best in ktown too.
Can confirm. Food is quite average to bad. Really fun to get drunk there though. No clue how we spent as much as we did. really feels like there was a lot of creating invoicing lol
Had to get that place out of my system though… today it’s back to Myung Dong Noodle House
