From the people who brought us Park’s Korean BBQ, we now have Park’s Hot Pot. They took over the space of a KBBQ place on Western between 8th and James M. Wood.
You pick the meat (rib eye, brisket or flatiron steak), pick the broth (vegetable, beef, spicy or combo) and pick the noodles (ramen, udon, soba, glass, etc.) We picked an order of rib eye and an order of brisket, and a combo broth of spicy and beef.
The rib eye was definitely worth the extra couple of bucks as it was much more tender. The broth didn’t seem seasoned at all, but nothing a little salt couldn’t fix. The banchan was okay. Not too many selections, but fresh and good for a palate cleanser between bites of hot pot.
Overall, this was a kind of Korean shabu shabu, which didn’t quite work imho. Some of the flavors of shabu shabu were there, like the peanut sauce to dip the meat. And the vegetables were Korean, like sesame leaves. I think it’s just one of those things where the parts are good on their own, but when served together it’s hard to sort out. Like hamburger pizza.