Pyung Chang Tofu House - 4701 Telegraph Ave - 4.14.08

This place is really popular with the folks on Yelp. We didn't know this before we went - in fact, my Partner in Chow had already decided that there was to be no more Korean food on this journey, period.

However, I had a cold. And the Korean places in Koryo Plaza were an obvious skip, and this wasn't obviously Korean. Tofu could be anything, right?
I didn't realize it was Korean - the last place with Korean writing turned out to be Vietnamese.

And it smelled good from the outside, and there was rock star parking. And my PIC was on the phone and not paying close attention, so I was in and seated with barley tea before either of us realized that it was Korean.

Since the tea was out, we were stuck. And looking around I began to think that this place might actually be good. It was a Monday night, and there was a decent crowd. The sizzling stonewear serving bowls were impressive and so were the rustic, rough-hewn tree-trunk tables. And there was a nice mix of actual Korean people and neighborhood hipsters, leading me to believe that most people had been here before and were returning on purpose. All good signs.

One thing that we have discovered about Korean food: it is awfully difficult to be a vegetarian in a Korean restaurant. Seriously. Most the tofu dishes contained beef or seafood, and the one that didn't contained seaweed. Which isn't meat, but is on the "I hate it" list for PIC. Fortunately, she was able to order that without the seaweed.

I was also happy to find a chicken soup on the menu, since the reason I sat down was the sight of bowls of soupy-looking stuff and I had a nasty cold. It was a whole chicken for the whopping price of $13.99, and it was stuffed with ginseng. This sounded like a good coldbuster.

What we ordered: vegetarian tofu in sizzling pot thing, whole stewed chicken soup, large OB beer (to kill the cold germs)
Service: friendly and relaxed
Atmo: bad lighting, cool tables
Crowd: the neighborhood + local Koreans
Spent: around $30.00 (with tip)
Overall rating: 3.5 sporks

This place has the honor of reversing PIC's "I can't eat Korean food" stance. She really liked her tofu pot, which was brought out in molten bubbling form and didn't contain the hated seaweed. The tofu had great texture, the flavors were good, and nothing tasted fishy.

The little plates of stuff were interesting. We still don't know whether these are meant to be appetizers or condiments, but we tried them all. There was a bizarre parsley and tofu mixture that I for some reason liked, and we both like mung bean sprouts. These ones were a bit too marinated for my taste, but the dogs were thrilled when we brought the leftovers home.

I've recently discovered that these little plates are called banchans. The Kim Chee actually went down as the best Kim Chee we've had, but overall the banchans are better at Sam Won.

My chicken soup was exactly what I needed. Yes, I did have to do a lot of dissection - I loathe chicken skin and obviously one has to remove the bones and weird dark pieces and connective tissue and such. But I had a groovy little discard plate to put all this nonsense and we weren't in a hurry. The chicken was stuffed with rice, and I put extra rice into my soup.

The rice came sizzling in a clay pot and the waitress scooped it out for us. This left a film of charring rice on the sides, and when I made a move to eat it she hurried over and extracted it for me with a knife. (Thank you, nice lady.) In Ecuador, they call this residue "cocolon" and I've always loved it - it kind of tastes like popcorn. Mmm.

So I was perfectly content with three different consistencies of rice, lots of groovy banchans and a bubbling pot of chicken soup that I hoped would make me well. The ginseng tasted like ginseng - kind of mushy and bitter, but not so overwhelming that it ruined the soup. I ate it because I assume it's good for me, since it tastes medicinal. I wouldn't use it as a flavor element, but then again I'm not Korean.

Overall, we enjoyed this place a lot more than we thought we were going to, i.e. as my PIC was making defeated "maybe I'll just get rice" statements.

Oh - unlike every other Korean place we've tried, this place actually has windows. Go figure.

Still not entirely understanding Korean food, it seems that they're pften divided between BBQ places and "food served in a bowl" places. This is one of the "food served in a bowl" places, but unlike Seoul Gum Tang there's a variety of stuff on plates too.

So if you like Korean food, eat here and tell us what you think. It's kind of hard to rate Korean restaurants being that this project is our intro to Korean food, but hey. At least we're not biased.

Chef Yu's / YuYu Za Zang - 3919 Telegraph Ave

I'll note that we've actually eaten at this place twice now due to the really awesome fried rice and the homemade noodles.

This place has both Korean and Chinese food. I didn't realize that it was a Korean chef and that the noodle side of the menu was Korean food (not having had Za Zang before), but I was in the mood for soup and took a cue from the cartoon of Chef Yu making noodles that udon soup would be a good choice.

The PIC ordered pork dumplings, fried rice and some sort of chicken (we don't remember, and we lost the receipt).

The atmo inside is lacking - not as lacking as New Big Daddy's, but not somewhere you necessarily want to sit down and hang out. Takeout is probably the best bet here.

What we ordered (we'll combine both trips): Vegetarian udon soup, pork dumplings, chicken something, Hot and Sour soup, fried rice, Za Zang.
Service: friendly
Atmo: Chinese take-out
Crowd: the neighborhood
Spent: around $30.00
Overall rating: 4 sporks

We give Chef Yu's 4 sporks primarily for freshness. The ingredients seem fresher and cleaner than most Chinese food, and the fried rice was really delicious and not remotely greasy.

The Hot 'n Sour soup wasn't particularly hot or sour. It was good, but not a standout. The chicken was pretty good too; both these dishes merit a 3.

The pork dumplings were delicious and come with a dipping sauce that really brings out the flavor. They taste homemade, and we ordered them on both trips.

The noodles come separate from whatever you're putting them in - both zazang and udon soup had them packaged separately. I liked this because it means they don't leech starch while you're in transit, but if you wait too long they become a gluey mess and you have to throw them in water to have them separate and be able to be sauced (which is what happened on the Za Zang trip).

I've heard Za Zang described as Korean Mac 'n Cheese, and I can see why. This is starchy, slippery comfort food at its finest. I got the regular $4.95 Za Zang, not the made-to-order one (Yelp advised that the $2 price difference isn't worth it). I loved this dish, though I don't generally eat pasta as a main course. The PIC didn't like this dish - something about the black bean sauce struck her as "weird" and "ew."

The Udon tasted really healthy - the vegetables were fresh, the broth was clear and clean and this would be a perfect soup if one were feeling under the weather.

Overall, we were impressed by Chef Yu and glad to find a place where both of us have a couple stand-by orders on the menu.

Seoul Gum Tang - 3801 Telegraph Ave

Seoul Gum Tang almost looks like a Korean Community Center from the outside. It's on the corner of Macarthur and Telegraph, and has a parking lot on the Macarthur side.

We don't remember that this place has actual windows either. Glass doors, yes. Windows? We don't think so (we'll check for sure next time we traverse past).

We didn't know what we'd find inside, but the PIC was feeling a bit tired of Korean food already. Fortunately, this isn't a Korean BBQ place. The specialty here seems to be big huge cauldrons of dumpling-filled soups, which come to you on your own personal bunson burners. I'm not sure why the Koreans are so fond of portable grills and so averse to windows - one would think they'd be best off going hand-in-hand. 'Tis a mystery.

We asked the waitress what was good, and she told us "Everything!" As per the norm in our Korean restaurant experience, we were the only non-Koreans in the place and the staff was Korean. Other than Dan Sung Sa, all our waitstaff in the Korean establishments speak Korean as their first language and have spotty English, making it somewhat difficult to really get to the bottom of mysteries like "Hot ball." Hmm.

What we saw on the menu: Assorted casserole of dumpling. We don't know what was in that dumpling, and we feel better off not knowing. (It was some kind of meat.) It cost $28.95, so whatever it was I hope it's good. Something about "Hot Ball" (yes, you can giggle - we did). Most things on this menu are served in a bowl.
What we ordered: Beef/kimchee dumpling
What it came with: steamed rice, marinated zucchini, green onion and kim chee.
Atmo: Korean community center
Crowd: Korean folks of all walks of life
Spent: Around $30
Overall rating: 3 sporks

The atmo in here is very bright and has flat screens with Korean news on them. These folks get extra style points for having utensils in a little box, cool lightweight metal chopsticks, and metal rice holders for your personal rice serving to keep it hot.

The dumpling soup was service in a ginormous cauldron on aforementioned personal stove, and it had cabbage and other fresh veggies on top that you can put in and let wilt. The broth was cloudy and light cream/salmon-colored, and this freaked us out. We still don't know what was in this broth. It was good, but not knowing what was in it and the vaguely fishy flavor scared us both a little.

The soup also contained udon noodles and fish cakes - the latter of which I hate and the PIC loves.

The dumplings themselves were extremely flavorful, and we ate almost all of them.

Advice: don't take this stuff for leftovers. We brought it home to see what would happen and discovered that it became a gelatinous, milky mass when it cooled down. This was less-than-appetizing for us, but absolutely delicious to the canine residents of the house.

The dogs give this place 5 paws for allowing them three major loves all in one dish: fish, beef and noodles.

This restaurant cemented the PIC's opinion that she just doesn't really like Korean food very much, and that the only way she plans to eat it again is if we do Korean BBQ somewhere with fire grills and good meat. Exception is the Dan Sung chicken wings.

So, we may just skip the rest of the Korean restaurants. If we do, we'll list them anyway and note that we skipped them.

Kang Tong Degi - 3702 Telegraph Ave

This is the sign outside Kang Tong Degi, which is why it is known by PIC and I as "Nameless Korean place next door to New Big Daddy's."



Thanks to Yelp for filling in the blanks and giving me a name (and photo!) of this place for our blog.

Note that this is yet another Korean restaurant without windows. What on earth is the deal with this trend? Enlightenment from someone Korean, please.

In any case: This was our third try at Korean food, so we were feeling a little more comfortable with things. We walked in to find a vaguely hipster atmo much like Dan Sung.

We had two guest eaters with us for this adventure. One is a vegetarian, which would prove to be her undoing.

Like Sam Won BBQ, this place will bring you little grills to cook your meat. Unlike Sam Won, the grills are electric rather than giving you the satisfaction of actual fire. Also unlike Sam Won, you get way less condiments and groovy veggies, and the meat was frozen.

The quality of this meat paled in comparison to our impression of the Sam Won meat, and without actual flame we knew that this place just wasn't going to be as good. However, the atmo is groovier and it really puts you in the mood to drown yourself in some soju.

Unfortunately, vegetarian options are extremely limited. Our veggie friend ended up ordering some crazy noodle dish in a spicy sauce that was so hot she couldn't eat it. We're not sure what it was called; the menu wasn't very non-Korean-friendly.

What we ordered: Double beef BBQ (Sirloin and something else in chunks), vegetarian noodle thing with Ass-Burn-hot sauce, soju
Atmo: Korean hipster bar
Crowd: us and young Korean hipsters
Spent: Around $40 for 4 people
Overall rating: 3 sporks

We wouldn't go here again for the Korean BBQ (we'd go to Sam Wong BBQ), and with Dan Sung down the street with a similar groovy atmo and awesome chicken wings, we probably just wouldn't go here again, period.

However, we're glad we tried it out. At this point, the PIC has decided that she may actually be tired of Korean food. This is a problem, because we have at least 2 more Korean places that we know of before we get into the fancy stretch of Telegraph where Dona Tomas and Pizzaiolo live. Yikes.

Dan Sung Sa - 2775 Telegraph Ave. - 10.24.2007

This place looked about as unwelcoming from the outside as the previous Korean establishment, and we weren't sure if it was a restaurant or not. We don't know why these Korean establishments eschew windows. Curious.

Turns out that the interior of this place is super groovy. It's a bar with a kitchen and cool private booths made out of stables, decorated with bizarre Korean movie posters. Sweet. We might just hang out at the bar here regardless of this project.

Fortunately for us, the cocktail waitress was really knowledgeable about Korean food, and she spoke perfect English. She explained that this place was more Korean bar food, whereas Sam Won was more traditional BBQ.

Once we knew we were in for bar food, we ordered Soju. We asked what it's made out of and were told that it's 50/50 rice and barley as 60%, 20% sweet potato, and 20% tapioca. It's also 19.8% alcohol. Woo!

This place has lots of Soju specials, seeing as how it's a bar. Anyway...

What we ordered: Chicken wings, soup & Kim-chee pancake
Atmo: hipster Korean happy hour
Crowd: local Koreans hipsters + regular, younger neighborhood types
Spent: around $40.00
Chicken wing rating: 4 sporks
Other food rating: 3 sporks
Atmo rating: 4 sporks
Overall rating: (we don't divide evenly; food is more important)... 3.5

If you order the chicken wings, you'll be thrilled. They were massive drumsticks and covered in some hugely sticky honey-based sauce that we both loved. The kim-chee pancake was OK; the soup I liked, but the PIC wasn't thrilled about fish-based broth.

We'd go back for the wings and the interesting ambiance.

Sam Won Kai Bi - 2606 Telegraph - 10.19.2007

Sam Won Kai is a Korean BBQ place that has a mysterious look about it from the outside. My Partner in Chow (PIC) was truly frightened to walk in here, as no windows and zero experience with Korean food were daunting.

Inside, this place was filled with Korean people. We took this as a good sign.

Not ever having had Korean BBQ, I don't know what I was expecting. I *wasn't expecting a shit-ton of smoke and actual mini BBQ's at tables below massive fans, but hey. When in Koreatown (or, more accurately, the Korean minmall)...

Anyway, our waitress was really nice and helped us pick our meal.

What we ordered: Mung bean cake with vegetables for an appetizer, which was huge and awesome. We then had 2 kinds of beef, and before they brought it out with our groovy personal BBQ they brought us a boatload of vegetables and condiments. They were: soup, rice, salad, kim-chee, mung bean sprouts, lettuce, cucmbers, broccoli, seaweed, tofu, weird fishy stuff, mushrooms (?), jalapenos and garlic, and peanut sauce. Phew!
Service: eager to make sure we didn't order something we wouldn't like
Atmo: smoky & a bit cafeteria-esque
Crowd: local Koreans, their friends and family
Spent: around $40.00
Overall rating: 4 sporks

I love condiments, so all these groovy things made me very happy, and that gives extra bonus points on the rating.

We had barley tea, which was interesting and good. It was also hot.

Grilling our own beef was fun, and while the quality of the beef certainly wasn't Niman Ranch I wasn't entirely afraid of it. Both beefs were marinated and tasted like delicious, fresh jerky.

Overall, as you'll see from subsequent reviews this is by far the best Korean place we've been to yet. But as of this writing we haven't tackled the Koryo plaza Korean BBQ place yet, because we've been slackers. Yes, I know it's March. Unfortunately our love of food sometimes pulls us off Telegraph... we're trying to be better about that.