Midtown Lunch

If you are a regular reader of Midtown Lunch you know that my favorite $10 all you can eat Korean BBQ is the newest $10 all you can eat Korean BBQ.  From Don Day to Bud Namu to Man Kang, I hop from new place to new place like… well… like a short fat guy who believes that the best cheap all you can eat Korean BBQ place is the newest cheap all you can eat Korean BBQ place.  And the latest place to cross my radar is Dream, on Western near 1st Street.  They do all you can eat Korean BBQ for just $9.99, but the thing that really caught my eye was their all you can eat salad and panchan bar.

Like most all you can eat Korean bbq places, Dream has levels of entry starting at $10 and going up to $23.  $10 gets you the bare minimum- brisket, pork belly, plus chicken and beef bulgogi.  And for an extra $4 you get the all you can salad bar.  But at lunchtime, the buffet section is totally free.

There’s an actual salad bar, if you’re into that kind of thing.

But I was there for the panchan.  There were two kinds of kimchi, some kind of leaf, bean sprouts, seaweed, and a marinated beef and hard boiled egg panchan that was kind of great. There was also head cheese (!?!) and a couple of other cold noodle dishes which were just alright.  At night time, when they actually charge for the salad bar at the $10 level (it’s free on the two higher levels), there’s a whole extra station with hot food so it would clearly be worth coming back at night to check it out.

Ka-Boom.

As for the meat, it was pretty good quality for just $10.  The brisket was pretty solid and if you’re into thick cut pork belly, where the fat and meat are present in equal amounts, you’ll like Dream’s.  The bulgogi wasn’t the best ever, but what do you expect for $10.  Just the fact that you get it as an option is kind of a win for $10.  Plus you get egg custard and soup.

If you’re into wrapping your meat, there’s lettuce, garlic, jalapenos, and ssamjang (bean paste) on the buffet, but sadly there’s no rice noodle paper- which is ironic, since according to this Dream’s predecessor Shik Do Rak was known for introducing the stuff as a Korean BBQ option in L.A.

All in all the buffet is the genius part of this new all you can eat Korean BBQ option.  The money they save on waitstaff constantly delivering side dishes, lettuce wraps, means higher quality meat and a wider selection of panchan on the buffet.  I’ll take it… at least until the next new $10 AYCE Korean BBQ place opens up.

Dream Korean BBQ, 100 S Western Blvd. 213-388-7668