Midtown Lunch

Kimbap is an ideal lunch item for me. It’s cheap, travels well, packs an even and flavorful dose of carbs, proteins, veggies, and it doesn’t suffer if I get pulled into a meeting and it sits on my desk for hours until I finally get to it.

Whenever I get the hankering for kimbap and I’m close to Koreatown, E-Mo (‘Aunt’ in Korean) has always been my go to. I get sentimental when it comes to this place as well – it’s a tiny hole-in-the-wall that’s been around forever, and the old Korean lady that assembles the kimbap to-order is as sweet as can be (at least when she’s not scolding me for my embarrassing lack of conversational Korean). It may not be the best kimbap I’ve ever had, but compared to the other options in K-town, it always held its own. That is until Food Gallery 32 opened up across the street, and started selling its own version of made-to-order kimbap at the Boon Sik Zip stall.

A comparison between the two was inevitable, so we set off to do a head-to-head assessment in our highly unscientific analysis.

Read more »

If yesterday’s post about the Serious Eats review of Food Gallery 32 got you thinking about stopping in for dinner or an after work snack tonight, you might want to hold off. This afternoon, around 3pm, a sprinkler burst over O-De-Ppang! in booth 3 of the Koreatown food court. The FDNY was on sight in minutes to get things worked out. Don’t panic though, word is they should be up and running again in the next couple of hours.

I’ve been wanting to try Big D’s Grub Truck ever since they came onto the scene back in January, but they tended to spend a good amount of time in Long Island City and Downtown. Downtown Lunch’s Andrea has checked them out a few times, noting that one should go for the pork or meat. When they were in Midtown last week, I saw on their Twitter that they were testing Chili Sesame Chicken and made my way over for some lunch.

Read more »

In the months since the Korilla BBQ truck first hit the streets they’ve revamped their menu to make the truck more efficient. You still have the option of mixing and matching toppings but they’ve put together some “best of” combos. I liked the Pork Chosun Bowl I first tried in the fall, so I decided to go with their Wild Child combination ($8) with their house made tofu and a more than liberal dousing of their k’lla sauce. Read more »

Are You Have Trouble Understanding How This Works?

Judging by all the heated exchanges in the comments section of last week’s visit to Food Gallery 32, it should come as no surprise that the rest of the food folks around the internet are chattering about Koreatown’s food court as well. On Monday, Eater posted a Good News/Bad News roundup of the reviews so far. Predictably, no one is particularly fond of the ordering system. More importantly, they had some comments on the food. Kitchenette of In a Nutshell somehow wasn’t so into Bian Dang’s pork chop; Dave from Eating in Translation backs me up on not liking the jja jang myon at Jin Jja Roo and wishes the jjam ppong was spicier. Fork in the Road reminds us that we’re talking about a simple food court, so our expectations ought to be a little lower while trying out Hamnok’s seafood pancake (a little doughy and mostly octopus, but well flavored) and bi bim bap (would be better from a stone bowl) along with a hot bowl of haemul kal-guksu from Big Bowl (slightly overcooked noodles, but a good broth).

With only a couple weeks under their belts, I’d again suggest we allow them some time to settle in. If the difference between week one and week two alone is anything to go by, I think they’ll be in good shape by the end of the winter.

Although it looks like Bann Next Door won’t win the category for Best Korean Fast Food, they’ll finish a strong 2nd place, and for good reason – their riff on the Korean taco is still fantastic. Since my original visit over the summer, Bann Next Door’s tacos have made it onto my weekly lunch rotation for a lot of good reasons. The portions are still generous for the $9 price tag, the proteins are capably cooked (the beef bulgogi pictured above is possibly the best rendition of the dish I’ve had north of 35th St.), and they pack a whole hell of a lot of bold flavors onto one disposable plastic tray. Korilla BBQ might be generating all of the Korean taco chatter right now, but as Zagat Buzz succinctly puts it, “this spot is the Korean-taco silent threat”.

The Year of the Taco is rolling over into 2011, as another Korean inspired taco truck is set to open sometime in the new year. Back in October Fork in the Road reported that The Kimchi Taco Truck would be launching within 2 or 3 weeks, with Chef Youngsun Lee at the helm (formerly of Annisa, Craftbar, Momofuku, and the BR Guest Group.  That obviously didn’t happen, but we just heard recently (thanks to a tip from Lunch’er Felicia) that they’ve been doing some serious menu testing and are planning on hitting the road in January once everything is perfected.  Youngsun was also the Chef/Owner of Persimmon, a joint that I frequented in the East Village and thoroughly enjoyed (especially their homemade kimchi) before their premature demise. I’m excited to see if their sophisticated, yet authentic Korean flavors carry over to this mobile venture (i.e. will they give the Korilla truck a run for their money!)

We’ll be sure to keep lunchers updated on an exact launch date and menu, but in the meantime you can follow their progress on twitter, facebook or on their website.

Early today we reported that Food Gallery 32 in Koreatown would be opening in the next few weeks, an event that I have been closely following since back in April. It excited me so much I took some  time from my vacation (greetings from The Philippines, btw) to badger the nice lady at Food Gallery 32 for more information.  It worked! She tells me that they do indeed plan to open before the end of the month and sent along  a quick list of the vendors and some details about what they’ll be selling.

Check it out after the jump!

Read more »

At this point, I’ve come to terms with the maddeningly inconsistent schedule at Café Duke’s Korean counter (on 51st btw. 6+7th). As far as we can tell, their daily specials ($8.95) usually jive with the given meteorlogic conditions, and if you haven’t noticed, it’s getting nippy outside. So it should be no surprise that on a particularly bitter cold day, I stepped into Café Duke and found that they were serving a soup special that bites back. Yuk gae jang is a fiery, tangy, yet refreshing Korean soup, rich with slices of beef flank, crunchy bean sprouts, earthy fern shoots, and pungent scallions. This dish’s raison d’être is to warm the body and soul. Halfway through the peppery bowl of soup, I had loosened my tie, rolled up my sleeves, and had a sheen of sweat on my brow despite the blustery conditions outside. A side of adequately steamed white rice provides relief to the sting of the broth, and the obligatory side of kimchi is the ultimate cure-all for any and all ailments (sez my Grandmother). Baby it’s cold outside, but boy, this yuk gae jang has got me feeling warm inside.

The only downside? You never know when they’re going to have it!

Related:
Café Duke, Give Us Our Bulgogi Tacos!
Korean Food at Cafe Duke