TableConversation.com

Gangsters and Good Food

It was great fun watching thugs slash and bash each other in the Korean film "Nameless Gangster" at CGV Cinema in Koreatown.

The action wasn't as bloody as it sounds, certainly not enough to upset a stomach full of bibimbap. A good thing, because it was excellent dolsot bibimbap (at top), nice and crusty

Rice, meat, vegetables, egg (cooked crisp, the way I like it, by the hot stone bowl) and a salad on top, all tossed with spicy sauce, a perfect pre-Korean-movie dinner. Otherwise it would have been frustrating to watch the gang guys eye each other over what looked like very tasty meals.  

The restaurant, MaDang 621, is right below the theater in Madang Plaza on Western Avenue. It's so stylishly Korean that you think you're having dinner followed by a show in Seoul.  

The menu includes several versions of bibimbap, including a cool one topped with raw beef (above). Barley tea and a few banchan came with the meal. The sweet rice drink sikhye, with a couple of pine nuts floating on top, followed.

For my taste, that's better movie food than popcorn, nachos and a soda. 

MaDang 621, 621 S. Western Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90005. Tel: (213) 384-2244.

Genwa--Korean Food with Class

Genwa Korean BBQ is so close to home that it has become part of the neighborhood scenery, like another Subway or KFC.

I'd forgotten how good it is until I went in the other night. The menu is so user friendly that if you don't know anything about Korean food, all you have to do is choose a set "course," which is a complete meal. These start at $45 and $50, and that's for two people.

The only difference is that the $50 dinner subtitutes galbi (rib meat) for cha dol (unseasoned prime brisket).

Servers grill the meat in front of you, adding garlic cloves, jalapeño slices, mushrooms and even sliced banana to the  grill.

There are so many side dishes--banchan--that they circle the grill more than once. I counted 23 plus plates of rice wrappers and daikon sliced paper thin in which to wrap the meat along with lettuce and spicy sauces.

Banchan the other night included egg slices that were sweet and chewy--I'd never seen that before--spindly Korean fern brake (gosari), hot marinated beef cubes, various fishy things, sweet pureed potato salad, lotus root, raw broccoli, marinated celery, slices of Korean pancake and the usual bean sprouts and spinach. 

Soon tofu--soft tofu in spicy sauce--is part of the dinner along with a bowl of salad and a sizzling hot pot of custardy eggs.

Still another dish is  japchae, transparent noodles with vegetables and egg strands (above). 

The servers are genuinely friendly, not bored with explaining each dish, and ready to provide more banchan without being asked.  The room itself is darkly handsome, even elegant. It is L-shaped, with booths on one side, tables on the other and smoke-free, despite the grilling.

At the end, you're given a glass of the Korean rice drink sikhye and a tray holding two tiny white circles that look like mints until the waiter pours hot water on them and they curl and twist like angry creatures. These are hot towels for your fingers. Be glad you didn't eat them.

And there's more--a graceful, long-stemmed lollipop comes with the receipt after you pay to thank you for being there. 

Genwa Korean BBQ, 5115 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90036. Tel: (323) 549-0760.

 

. 

Zzamong: A Trip to Korea's Past

"You are traveling to '70s Korea in a time machine," said my Korean friend as we ate at Zzamong on West 3rd Street in Los Angeles.

A Korean-style Chinese restaurant, Zzamong is like the old fashioned neighborhood family restaurants she remembers from home. Its ambitious menu of 70 dishes has been whittled down to half that size, retaining only what customers really like.

At the top of their favorites is the noodle dish jjajang-myeon.

Kids love it because the dark sauce looks like chocolate and because they can laugh at each other when the sauce dribbles onto their faces. The dark color comes from caramel and black bean sauce, not chocolate. 

At Zzamong, the English name is Peking noodle, and there are three versions. The most elaborate contains seafood (above), but pork is more traditional, my friend said. The typical garnish is sliced cucumber.

Often this would be the only dish a Korean would order.

If the occasion called for something more, the typical choice would be sweet and sour pork (right).

Zzamong's version is nothing like the usual Chinese-American rendition of this dish. The only additions are onion and cucumber, no pineapple, bell peppers and catsup. The meat is thickly battered and very crisp. The sauce is clear, thick and sweet.

Because the food is Chinese, banchan do not accompany meals. You do, however, get three small side dishes--cubed radish kimchi, onion and yellow pickled radish. The Korean way is to sprinkle vinegar over the radish and onion and dip the onion slices in a small dish of thick black sauce. 

Although tea in some form usually comes with Chinese and Korean meals, the only drink provided at Zzamong is water.

Zzamong Chinese Restaurant, 4255 w. 3rd St., Los Angeles, CA 90020. Tel: (213) 739-2747.