By Caron Golden photographs by davE lauridsen
n a e r o K g n i v Cra ntic taste For an authe w “it” cuisine, of the ne d adventure n. o fo r u o y rt sta atow in L.A.’s Koreo to g Here’s where t to try. and wha
Chef Debbie Lee (left) and friends at Dansungsa, with a Korean-style omelet, skewers, and soup opposite Spicy crab and banchan, or side dishes, at Park’s BBQ
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66 Sunset September 2012
Girls’ night out in K-Town
Bell: Corbis cusp/alamy
I’m wedged in at a tiny table in a buzzing pub called Dansungsa, looking up at photos of Marilyn Monroe and James Dean juxtaposed with Kim Jong-il. A hint of cigarette smoke hangs in the air here in this 3 square miles of no-man’s-land somewhere between America and Korea, just off Wilshire Boulevard. The decor is studied seaminess, the cheap plywood walls scrawled on by customers. Waiters glide through the shadows. Rock music pounds gently in the background, and the cloudy, effervescent makgeolli, a seductive fermented rice wine, goes down easy. Maybe a little too easy. But that’s okay, because before I can finish, the first plate arrives. You don’t go to a pojangmacha, or restaurant/pub, in Koreatown just to drink. It’s just as much about the hansik, the food. Don’t get between Koreans and their food, Korean chef Debbie Lee tells me as she’s showing me her hood. Between sips of makgeolli, we’re munching on skewers of sweet and crispy pork belly, and grilled chicken gizzards marinated in mirin and soy sauce. But these are all a prelude to the spicy chicken wings— drumettes with crunchy honey-flavored skin. The scent of chile, Waiters Need more kimchi? garlic, and grilled meat is revving up my taste buds. And this is The check? Chances only the first stop, Debbie says. Eating Korean-style means are there’s a button making a night of different stops for different specialties— you can press at your barbecue, tofu, noodles—like a progressive dinner. table to get your Debbie Lee, a woman of explosive laughs and definite opinserver’s attention. ions, regales me with stories of her parents and grandparents, whose lives revolved around food even before they fled North Korea at the war’s outbreak many decades ago. Food broke the language barrier between Debbie and her grandmother. Her grandmother’s home cooking inspired her to become a chef— she has her own little Korean eatery called Ahn-Joo in the L.A. suburb of Glendale, and was a finalist on TV’s The Next Food Network Star. Peeling me away from the table would’ve required an act of courage if not for Debbie’s tales of pancakes: sweet rice pancakes—thin folds of dough, gently flavored with ground nuts, brown sugar, and honey—that she likes to get from a cart called Koo’s. As we search for the elusive cart, Debbie pulls over to show off her favorite dishes, navigating the turns in the neighborhood with the confidence of a Formula One driver. We sail across Sixth Street to Normandie Avenue, then head back over to Western Avenue, like Thelma and Louise hunting down sweet treats. We pass strip From left A Koreatown mini-mall on the corner of Sixth St. and Kenmore Ave.; a night out at Dansungsa, one of an estimated 1,000 restaurants in the neighborhood’s densely packed 3 square miles
malls with noodle houses and snack shops, barbecue joints and coffee shops, all crowded with smartly dressed, hungry eaters, because Koreatown’s Saturday night fever is all about the food. Korean food is the new “it” cuisine, and with Roy Choi’s Kogi BBQ spawning L.A.’s Korean taco addiction, and David Chang’s Momofuku empire exploding taste buds in New York City, its flavors are finally mainstream—even T.G.I. Friday’s is serving Korean steak tacos. The L.A. metro area now has the largest Korean American population in the United States, with heavy emigration from South Korea in the 1960s, so it only makes sense that L.A.’s Koreatown is ground zero for the food. “Koreatown is literally Little Seoul,” Debbie says. “K-town has become the largest Korean community outside of Seoul, and the restaurant community here has tremendous influence on how the cuisine spreads globally. While David and Roy have introduced Korean flavors to nonKoreans, much of what they do is fusion. Here is where you’ll find true Korean dishes.” About 20 years ago, when Debbie first started coming to K-town, it was mostly Koreans who ate in places like Elephant Snack Corner, where I try the best beef steamed dumplings I’ve ever had— bulging and pillowy. >70
less Korean food in 10 seconds or
Bite-size pieces of sweet and/or spicy meat with rice and lots of pickled and fermented vegetables
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A noodle break at Ma Dang Gook Soo opposite, clockwise from top Left Pork belly on the grill; a noodle restaurant in the Koreatown Galleria; Ma Dang Gook Soo’s kal-guksu (knife-cut noodles); the Koreatown Galleria mall on Olympic Blvd. and its upper-floor food court
ABOVE Ki Pyong Lee of BCD Tofu House sits down to a full spread, including fried yellow corvina fish. OPPOSITE The Prince, with killer fried chicken and a moody atmosphere featured on Mad Men 70
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Bottle: Thomas J. Story
Drinks That was back when K-town tilted more toward Latino busiIf you order a bottle nesses. Now, with more non-Koreans coming from the nearby of soju or makgeolli, University of Southern California, the Westside, and Hollypour for your friends. wood, Debbie estimates that the Korean clientele at her favorIt’s bad luck to pour ite haunts has dropped to closer to 60 percent. your own glass. The cure for too Along the way while searching for the mythical pancakes, much soju? we eat. Seriously eat. At elegant ChoSun Galbee for its buttery Gamjatang—spicy short rib barbecue and cleanly acidic kimchi, at the Prince for pork and potato spicy twice-fried chicken, and at popular Park’s BBQ for pork stew. So spicy, you’ll belly drenched in a soy sauce like smoky candy. Even if you tried no longer notice your aching head. a different Korean dish at each meal for a year, you still couldn’t scrape the surface—there are that many flavor nuances and ingredients. Spicy, smoky, sweet, acidic, peppery, citrusy: You can get the range of tastes in banchan, side dishes to eat while you wait for your main course and to use as condiments with rice. They can be everything from radish kimchi and cucumber pickles to seaweed salad, fried yellow corvina (local saltwater fish), and seafood rice
pancakes. “The banchan alone are an overall representation of Korean cuisine,” Debbie says—a meal on their own. On West Sixth, there’s a Korean-style hookah lounge across the street from fashionable Haus Dessert Boutique, where hipsters sit on the patio to sip red bean lattes and eat Korean-style (subtly sweet) pastries. Coffeehouses, Debbie says, are the new bars in K-town. Everywhere I turn, a restaurant or pojangmacha beckons. A lot of choices, but not what we’re looking for. Toward the end of the night, Debbie swings into a parking lot where a cart is serving hotteok: pancakes! It’s not Koo’s, nowhere to be found, but Gook Hwa House. We stop the car, eager for our longoverdue fix. The pancake maker repeatedly flattens the cakes onto the griddle, the scent of caramelized honey and brown sugar reaching us as we drop our money into the blue plastic bin. Sweet, molten, delicious. He also makes gook hwa bhang, flower-shaped “chrysanthemum bread” filled with vanilla custard or sweetened red beans. Now Debbie has a new favorite. And I’ve learned how to eat like a Korean. Dusting the crumbs from our laps, we consider calling it a night. But maybe after just one more stop. Info Debbie Lee is the author of Seoultown Kitchen: Korean Pub Grub to Share with Family and Friends (Kyle Books, 2011; $25) and the owner of Ahn-Joo ($; 668 Americana Way, Glendale, CA; 818/242-3793). For more about Koreatown, go to visitkoreatown.org
The best Korean in the West Debbie’s K-town picks
BCD Tofu House $$; 3575 Wilshire Blvd.; bcdtofu.com Chosun Galbee $$$; 3330 W. Olympic Blvd.; chosungalbee.com
Dansungsa $; 3317 W. Sixth St.; dansungsausa.com Elephant Snack Corner $; 901 S. Western Ave.; 323/734-3359 Gook Hwa House $; 3525 W. Eighth St.; 562/714-8562
Ma Dang Gook Soo $; 869 S. Western; 213/487-6008 Park’s BBQ $$$; 955 S. Vermont Ave.; parksbbq.com The Prince $$; 3198½ W. Seventh St.; theprincela.com
Sunset picks seattle area hosoonyi $$; 23830 State 99, Edmonds; 425/775-8196 sam oh jung $$; 17425 State 99, Lynnwood; 425/ 745-3535
PORTLAND area nakwon $$; 4600 S.W. Watson Ave., Beaverton; 503/646-9382 DENVER area SILLA $$$; 3005 S. Peoria St., Aurora; 303/338-5070
S.F. BAY AREA KOREAN PALACE $$; 2297 Stevens Creek Blvd., San Jose; 408/947-8600 OHGANE KOREAN BBQ $$; 3915 Broadway, Oakland; 510/594-8300
Korean 1 food 10
h these it w d e t r a t Get s ial 10 essent es. h Korean dis
2 Mandu
steamed dumplings
Introduced to Korea from China during the Joseon Dynasty, mandu were adapted to Korean ingredients. They are plumper and have thinner wonton wrappers. They also have a cleaner flavor, since no cornstarch is added to the filling. They can be filled with anything from minced pork and beef to kimchi, carrots, and sprouts, with a tangy soy-vinegar dipping sauce. Mandu can also be pan-fried, deep-fried, or boiled.
Rice Wait for the server to dole it out. Once the bowl is empty, cold water is added to the crusty remains to create a rice soup.
3 Gook hwa bhang
chrysanthemum bread
This small round pastry is filled with vanilla custard or red bean paste, then cooked quickly in a pan that gives it a flowerlike imprint. It’s authentic Korean street food, just like hotteok—thin, sweet rice pancakes cooked on a griddle until the heat transforms the filling of ground nuts, brown sugar, and honey into syrup.
1
Kalbi
grilled beef short ribs
Koreans have eaten barbecue for thousands of years, but with meat so precious, it has traditionally been thinly sliced and richly seasoned. Now restaurants turn it into dinner theater. Strips of meat, typically kalbi or bulgogi (marinated rib-eye steak), are laid on grills built in the center of tables, along with garlic cloves, mushrooms, or green peppers. Once cooked, the server cuts them into bite-size pieces. Pick up chopsticks and dig in, perhaps creating a little “taco” using lettuce served stacked on a plate. 72
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Eggs That whole egg placed next to your tofu pot is raw. Just crack and add it to the bubbling stew. Stir gently to fold it into the depths of the stew, where it will steam to softcooked perfection.
4 Bibimbap
rice with meat and veggies
Rice is the foundation of most Korean meals, and bibimbap is the classic casserole of rice, vegetables, and marinated beef and kimchi. Rice—ideally goldencrusted on the bottom—in a hot stone pot is hidden beneath a colorful display of julienned carrots, bean sprouts, cucumber pickles, mushrooms, boiled spinach, plus a fried egg. Poke a fork or chopstick into the yolk and mix together to serve.
Sh ri mp an
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Soup Keep your bowl on the table instead of bringing it to your mouth, and use the long-handled “emperor’s spoon.”
8 Guksu
soy milk noodle soup
5 Soon dubu
Tofu pots
Soft Korean-style tofu is central to many dishes and especially delicious in a stewlike hot pot. This is pure comfort food in the form of a bubbling cauldron—assuming you take comfort in spices and lots of seafood. Crack the single raw egg into the pot and gently stir in.
6 Kimchi Thomas J. Story (3)
fermented pickled vegetables
The staple dish of Korean food originated to preserve veggies for winter. Traditionally brined radish or cabbage, South Korean kimchi tends to be sweeter, saltier, and spicier than North Korean, which is milder, more acidic, and strong on garlic and ginger. Eat it as a snack or with L ee kk bibimbap.
Soups are considered a main dish in Korean cuisine, rather than a starter. This chilled noodle soup, garnished with cucumber and sliced tomatoes, is thick and creamy with a very mild flavor, but you can also punch up the taste with a bit of kimchi. When the noodles are made by hand, it’s even better.
Meet Korea’s version of fast food. Chicken is dusted with seasoned flour, then fried twice to develop a delicate, crackly skin and tender, juicy flesh. Some places serve wings seasoned with a hot red chile sauce or a sweet garlic-soy glaze. Others serve a small halfchicken. Eat with pickled radishes or soy-marinated jalapeños and Korean beer or soju. ■
Koreans pickle all kinds of food, so you’ll see not only pickled cucumbers and jalapeño peppers, but also hard-cooked eggs, garlic cloves, and radishes. Some pickles are tart and sweet, others fiery. Add them to everything from barbecued tacos to noodle bowls.
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Makgeolli Unfiltered fermented rice wine that’s a bit effervescent; perfect with pub grub like fried chicken wings.
Meat on a stick is universal, but the Korean street-food version includes chicken gizzards, grilled rice cakes, ginkgo nuts, and Korean sauces with kimchi juice.
fried chicken
cucumber pickles
Soju Korea’s most popular alcohol. Think filtered sake (rice wine).
Chicken gizzard skewers
10 Tongdak
7 Oi-jangajji
What to wash it down with
9 Dak dong jib
Beer Korean brews are mainly lagers; the most popular are Hite, OB, and Castle.
Tea Restaurants often offer bori cha (barley tea) or oksusu cha (corn tea) to drink with meals. Try it hot or chilled.
Coffee Koreans love it. Tom N Toms, their Starbucks, is Seoulbased but also in L.A. Menu’s similar, but don’t expect decaf.