a lil bit of seoul
may 19, 2002
what is it about the beckoning call of the sizzling grill and the churning of the overhead fans that draws me towards korean bbq restaurants like an opium addict? last night, in celebration of my best friend's birthday, 4 of us, decided to hit one of our fave korean bbq spots in cerritos. i suppose, nothing could be quite as fun as sitting in a cozy table for four and sharing all the side dishes, grilled meats and other korean delicacies -- while wearing the rattiest clothing you have so that you won't worry about oil spatters or how much are you going to spend on dry cleaning to get that smell out of your sweater. rule #1, always wear clothes that are easy to wash when you're going to a korean bbq restaurant. by that, i mean, something you can easily toss in the washer. forget dryel, go with washable cotton.
at this particular place, we usually order the #1 special, which is all written in korean on this paper posted to the wall. i have no idea what else it says after the #1 but all i know is that there are three types of meat (both beef and pork) that you can grill at the table. these are not your usual kalbi, bulgogi because nothing is marinated. the meat comes stacked up on a plate shaped like hair rollers and are perfectly pink, ready for grilling. to be honest, i sometimes like this type of grilling better than the marinated meats because you get the true flavor of it while adding other garnishes to enhance it. besides, the marinated meats give off a much more potent fume that magnetically finds its way into your hair, pores and clothes. ew.
with the grilled meats, you then take a sheet of flat rice noodle, add a sheet of paperthin marinated daikon radish, some curly sprigs of green onion, chili paste, some sesame oil with salt and pepper and this "handroll" is ready to go. the combination of the textures and flavors are simply...incredible. if you've never had grilled meats this way, you are most definitely missing out. i know some people are partial to the marinated meats but this is equally good i say.
my friend, across from me, ordered the bibim nyang myun. basically, it's cellophane noodles tossed with a somewhat sweet yet spicy chili sauce and has other ingredients mixed in with it. i guess it's similar to a bibimbap (which we also ordered tonight but not shown here in this entry) but the noodle version i suppose. bibimbap is easier to eat for those who are spicy-challenged.
k ordered a kim chee chigae. i don't know what the boy was thinking because he always pays the price after eating spicy foods. he gets a sore throat very easily and then i have to hear about it for days. spicy food is addictive though but if you can't handle it well, then you ought to not indulge in so much or lest you endure the wrath of the korean chili gods! for those who don't know what kim chee chigae is, it's a spicy kim chee soup/casserole that's usually served with white rice. it's usually pretty spicy and sour, just like...uh...kimchee. :)
JANG SOO RESTAURANT
19107 S. Bloomfield Ave.
Cerritos, CA 90703
562.924.5367
i think los angeles is one of those places where we can get really great korean food for a very good price. i recall eating korean food in manhattan before and it nearly broke my bank. we're really lucky to have such a large population of koreans here, who bring us such tasty foods all within our reach.
we
couldn't end a korean meal without watching a korean flick and at the nearby
video store, i found that movie "shiri" that i've seen showing in
LA before, but had missed out on. shiri is an action packed movie filled with
lots of bloody violence, political themes between north and south korea, assassins
and also a love story thrown into the midst of things. it was pretty much
what i had anticipated but may be not quite as good as i would have expected.
all in all, i'm glad to have seen it though because i've always had a thing
for movies about female assassins. :)
