Midtown Lunch

Oh, kooky fast food concepts imported from Korea!  I wish I knew what to think of you.  Sometimes you are so amazing you change the way we look at a classic food we thought we knew well (Kyochon anybody?).  Other times, your eccentricity is part of your charm (hello, School Food!)  But often you make us just step back and say “WTF?” (Isaac Toast, I still still don’t know what to make of you.)   So when Eater reported that Bibigo! was opening in Westwood Village last week, hoping to be the “”McDonald’s of bibimbap” I didn’t know what to think.  Claiming to be the McDonald’s of anything is not a plus in my book (it’s like saying you want to be the Taco Bell of Jamaican food.) And if you  in Koreatown across the street from, say, this place or this place or this place you’d have no need for Bibigo.  But if you work in Westwood, a fast food Korean rice bowl place sounds like a pretty great idea.

Check it out after the jump…

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As much as I love the Asian food here in Los Angeles, there are two things that really bother me.  First… why have all the great dim sum places in the SGV started to favor menus over over carts!? (Carts is the best part of dim sum, damnit!)  And second, why is it that none of the all you can eat Korean food spots in K-Town are buffets?  What does a short fat Jewish guy have to do to get a proper Korean buffet in this town!?

Now, I know what many of you will say (on both counts).  “Wouldn’t you rather have food that’s made fresh?”  As a matter of fact, I wouldn’t.  I like the element of surprise in my dim sum, and the variety that you get on a great buffet.  So when I heard that Hansong, “Best Beef” winner at this year’s Korean BBQ Cook-Off, was a proper all you can eat buffet in Koreatown I got pretty excited.  And not even a $17 price tag could keep me from trying out this lunch.  (Desperate times call for desperate measures people!)

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I discriminate against no dumpling!  Chinese… Korean (mandoo)… steamed… fried.  I love them all.  So when Josh Lurie and Matt Kang invited me to try Myungin Dumpling in K-Town, I was down.  The place is not necessarily going to make you swoon, but it’s an interesting hybrid of Korean ingredients with Chinese preparations.  They give you some panchan (always a good thing) and have a pretty standard verison of mandoo, but I prefered the hybrids… like the giant steamed Chinese looking buns filled with kimchi, pork, jap chae (Korean glass noodles).  Check out Josh’s comprehensive review over on Food GPS>>

Myung In Dumplings, 3109 Olympic Blvd., 213-381-3568

Back in June, Squid Ink called the Cold Soy Bean Noodles at Ma Dang Gook Soo (869 Western, in Koreatown) one of the Top 10 Asian Noodle Bowls under $7 in Los Angeles, and now that we’re knee deep in summer “The Guru” reaffirmed his love of the same dish in a response to a reader question. The nutty, thick broth (if you can even call the sludge a broth) is unlike anything I’ve ever eaten before… and completely worth the trip.  The flavor is pretty subtle (borderline bland) and takes a while to completely comprehend.  But eat a whole bowl of the stuff?  I don’t know.  Even on the hottest day, I couldn’t imagine finishing the enormous circular troth you get for $8.25 (I guess they raised the price, because it’s not under $7 anymore.)

It’s far better to grab a few friends, and order a bunch of dishes…(isn’t it always?)

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If given the choice between “authenticity” (whatever the hell that means) and “fusion” I will choose the former every time.  Ethnic food that’s been watered down, or muddled, by the inclusion of some other cuisine is not my idea of a good time, and yet every once in awhile something “fusion-y” comes along that is too perfect to be mad at (and for some reason it seems to often involve Korean food.)  Korean fried chicken is possibly the greatest invention of all time, Kogi started a food truck revolution, and now there is this: the newly opened Kalbi Burger, in Koreatown (which I first read about on LA Taco.)

Korean burgers are not exactly a new idea.  Kogi serves Korean sliders on their truck, there’s a Bulgogi Whopper available overseas, and hell- even this fat white guy thought to throw some bulgogi marinade into his burgers for a Superbowl Party in 2001 (a no-brainer combo that was probably tried long before, and has been tried many times since.)  But there’s something about Kalbi Burger that got me all excited.  Maybe it was the Umami Burger looking orange and black sign.  Or the fact that it’s not from a truck (there is something to be said about the permanence of a brick and mortar restaurant.)  But either way, I was intrigued enough to head over there yesterday and eat my through most of the menu.

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Last month Josh Lurie, the blogger behind the website Food GPS, penned a tasty looking review of Mapo Restaurant (3611 West 6th Street) in Koreatown.  The dishes he tried looked delicious enough, but what really popped out at me was the line at the very end of the review:  “[During lunch] you can score bi bim bap, hand made knife-cut noodle soup or beef soup, plus an array of bottomless panchan, for only $5.99.”   $6 for a quality K-Town lunch sounds like a must try… throw in a massive amount of banchan (the little dishes of stuff they bring you for free just before the meal) and it seems too good to be true!

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The proof that I love Korean food can be traced back to day one of Midtown Lunch.  When I launched the site four years ago in NYC, I extended the boundaries of “Midtown” a few extra blocks specifically so I would have an excuse to stuff my face in Manhattan’s Koreatown (on 32nd btw. B’way+5th).  I love it all- from Korean BBQ to Korean fried chicken (natch), bi bim bap to kal gook soo (knife cut noodles), jjajangmyeon (Korean/Chinese food) to kimbap (Korean sushi).  But the one thing I haven’t come around to is the modern Korean fast food chain.

If you’ve ever eaten in Kyochon, you know what I’m talking about.  I love the chicken- but the cheesy music, spotless decor, and shiny white walls with inspirational sayings I could do without. With crappy frozen yogurt I suppose it makes sense, but when it comes to Korean lunch I’d choose the atmosphere of Myung Dong Kyoja over Isaac Toast every time. But Midtown Lunch isn’t about decor. It’s about food. So when I heard that School Food, a popular Korean chain that specializes in kimbap and topokki, opened a location in Koreatown- I couldn’t help myself.

And after trying their giant combination roll platter for 3, I’m kind of glad I did. Bad decor and all.

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