Korea House BBQ

My friend, Mr. P, recommended the Korea House for dinner. He choose this place, as oppose to other nearby Korean BBQ places, since the Korea House lets you pick from the menu what you want. Other places in the area, don’t give you that option – they bring you their large first plate, which includes everything. As Mr. P said – “I want to have my Beef Tongue first before I have to have the other stuff (that I may not want first)”.

I think most non-Koreans like and/or assume that Korean BBQ SHOULD be AYCE. Koreans would probably scoff at the notion that people think that Korean cuisine is AYCE Korean BBQ and kimchi. Regardless, I know some pretty good Korean BBQ that isn’t AYCE that’s pretty good – like Sut Bull Jeep, Chosun, Honey Pig, and DGM, but I’ll save that for later.

For the longest time, and perhaps because I think Korean cuisine is not as flavorly diverse as Chinese, I was able to order in Korean better that I could in Chinese. Since I had several Korean friends and used to work in K-town, years ago, I had learned how to order, in my humble opinion quite well. Chinese food on the other hand is more difficult, with the variety of foods from the different provinces. Anyways. . .

As I mentioned before, Mr. P had to have this Beef Tongue. The thinly sliced beef tongue is desired by many Chinese, but not necessarily the non-Koreans or the inexperienced. Beef tongue has similar texture as other parts of the cow, but is more evenly marbled with fat, providing great taste.

Along with beef tongue, we had spicy pork, beef spare ribs, soup, and shrimp. I never had shrimp, nor am a big fan of the crustacean class. But this shrimp, marinated with ginger, was outstanding. At first, when you see the raw shrimp, still with the shell, peeling makes it look a bit intimidating. Working at the shell – hot off the grill, was not fun, at first. But after Mr. P devoured his first 20, I decided to try a small one. It was actually really good. The ginger flavor kept it a little more than just savory, with a hinted sweetness coming through. Lucky for me, after my first, I was able to grab the last few.

But as expected, as I left, I had the stench of the restaurant embedded in my clothes. But was it worth it?. . . Yes it was.