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Goat Stew and Barbecue on Oakland's Kimchi Row

Just try to get a table Friday night at Sahn Maru Korean B.B.Q. in Oakland.

My group of seven was relegated to a back room reserved for private parties from the looks of the disco ball overhead. But we were grateful for any place to sit.

I gather it is always this way. Friends who live in Oakland were hunting for good Korean food. When they saw the crowd at Sahn Maru, they tried it out, and now they eat there every Friday. Never mind the wait for a table. The food and the friendly service make up for that.

Sahn Maru is located on Oakland’s Kimchi Row, a stretch of Telegraph Avenue that is lined with Korean restaurants and bars, a Korean market, housewares store and  community center as well as African restaurants and, next door to Sahn Maru, a Japanese restaurant.

Of course the menu features barbecue, because that is what most non-Koreans want. But Sahn Maru has another specialty, black goat.

And so we ordered heuk yum so tang, a sizzling hot stone pot filled with goat meat, fragrant sesame leaves and green onions in vibrant orange broth. One of three goat dishes on the menu, it is spicy and strongly gamey, perhaps too gamey for anyone who doesn’t like lamb. But I thought it was delicious. No wonder the restaurant is proud of this dish.

There’s no table top barbecuing at Sahn Maru, so our barbecued beef was cooked in the kitchen. Rather than the usual glistening, charred bul gogi, it seemed  to have been sautéed, which is what Koreans might do at home, and was a pallid gray.  Still, it was flavorful, tender and satisfying.

Braised beef in a mild, slightly sweet sauce, another Sahn Maru specialty, came with clear noodles, vegetables and chewy tubular rice cakes, a nice blend of flavors and textures.

The restaurant offers a good variety of banchan, the small plates of such things as marinated fish cake, broccoli, eggplant, spicy-sweet marinated radish, bean sprouts and kimchi that accompany Korean meals.  So our table was covered with food, including an enormous zucchini and jalapeno pancake on a sizzling flat skillet, rice and barley tea.

Afterwards, we were given small white cups of cold, sweet cinnamon-ginger tea with a single pine nut and slice of Korean red date floating on the surface, a  refreshing way to end a highly flavored meal.

The name Sahn Maru means top of the mountain, according to the menu. Kimchi Row is quite flat, but we did have a summit sort of experience that night as far as the food and the nice feel of the place were concerned.

Sahn Maru Korean B.B.Q., 4315 Telegraph Ave., Oakland, CA 94609. Tel. (510) 653-3366.

Spicy Pork in Koreatown

I had heard that Koreatown Plaza was a good place to eat, so I toured the food court there the other day looking for a likely spot for lunch.

So many people were ordering at Gamjabawi that it seemed the place to try.  The women behind the counter were setting out trays as fast as they could, and dishes were emerging from the kitchen at great speed.

One of them looked so delicious I had to try it. “What is that?” I asked the woman at the cash register. “Broiled pork slices, number 7,” she said, busy with a handful of orders.

Illuminated photos overhead show each of the 26 dishes on Gamjabawi’s menu.  The names are in English and Korean, making it easy for anyone to order, unlike one stall, where the menu is only in Korean.

Luckily I had chosen a table close by. My tray was so loaded with bowls and dishes that I could hardly carry it, even a short distance. The heavy iron plate with the pork was sizzling hot, adding peril to the trip.

Spicy and a little sweet, the meat was mixed with glistening strands of onion, green onions, shredded cabbage and a fragrant soft green that I think was sesame leaf. Sesame seeds were sprinkled over the top. And, yes, it was as delicious as I had anticipated.

A plate of banchan, the side dishes that always accompany a Korean meal, held cabbage kimchi, marinated bean sprouts and crisp chile-hot cucumber slices. Sticky, short-grained rice was packed to the brim of a shiny metal bowl, far more than I could eat.

There was soup--clear fish broth with seaweed slices, making this a sort of surf and turf meal.  In another bowl, chunks of daikon floated in a cold, clear, tangy-sweet liquid that helped cool my mouth between bites of spicy meat.

The big room bustled with shoppers taking a break for lunch.  Next to my table, parents and kids tackled a spread of food; a young couple pulled up shiny brown noodles from black stone bowls, and women gossiped over cups of hot barley tea.

Prices are low, servings are generous, and the food, at least what I had, is as good as my Korean friends had told me.

Broiled pork slices with steamed rice and side dishes (No. 7) is $7.99 at Gamjabawi Korean Restaurant, No. 128 in the International Food Court of Koreatown Plaza, 928 S. Western Ave., Los Angeles CA 90006. Tel: (213) 387-5581.