Sometimes, DLS decides he wants to eat a particular dish, and he tasks me with finding that dish at a restaurant. Sure, I can do that, and this time it was super easy: Korean style beef tartare or yukhwe, which, you may recall, I accidentally ordered for BeerBoor once upon a time at BCD Tofu House. Unfortunately – especially because I really enjoyed BCD for their soondubu (soft tofu stew) – BCD has since closed its location in Koreatown, so I had to scramble and find another place… which I did, with Chris’s help… but then that place turned out super packed and DLS randomly chose another place.
All this to say, that’s how we wound up at Miss Korea BBQ one Thursday night in early March, DLS’s ex-coworker in tow.
My dish came with a small bowl of a very clear, very plain soup. Our small table became overcrowded very quickly from the food we ordered.
I’m pretty sure the waitress, upon seeing me snack on the plate of lightly-dressed scallions, thought I was a total Korean BBQ newbie, because she came over and proceeded to explain to us how to eat the kalbi we’d ordered – wrap it in lettuce with some of this, some gochujang, some of that, and eat. Mmm… what, I can’t eat my greens any way I want?! 😛
Some of the banchan we were served – random assortment.
Our kalbi – which was super tender, marinated nicely, and very tasty.
The yukhwe – since our table was so crowded, our server brought this over and then served it onto three small plates for us. It was initially still very cold – which I now realize is how it’s served – but as it warmed from being next to a burner that was on, the meat just about melted in my mouth. Dressed with a mixture of sesame oil, peanuts, tossed with slivers of cucumber and Asian pear, this was very well balanced and just incredible – I thought it was very good, and I would definitely order this again. Yum.
I chose also the dolsot bibimbap, with kalbi – the screaming hot stone bowl keeps your dish super hot for a very long time, which helps it develop a rice crust, but doesn’t help with eating it more quickly, haha. I tossed it all around and added a little bit of gochujang; I really liked this though I did have trouble eating it because it stayed so hot for so long!
DLS and Anthony also shared a soondubu, which I didn’t try, but I think they both enjoyed it a lot. It looked pretty good, I just didn’t feel like eating something that hot…
Yvo says: I really enjoyed Miss Korea BBQ and I’m under the impression there are also some really good lunch deals to be had there. I’ll definitely be back – the wait was brief, but the food was good and definitely worth it. Service was pleasant even though we were clearly not Korean, and the prices were in line with what other places in the area charge.
recommended
TT says
how much was the yukhwe?
i liked Miss Korea when I went for lunch. eventhough Han Bat doesn’t have table grills, it is hard to go anywhere else for Korean.
Feisty Foodie says
$20.95, a little cheaper than BCD was, I think, but a little more than I remembered (I just checked).
TT says
worth it?
guess not too unreasonable as tartares usually are expensive.
Feisty Foodie says
“I thought it was very good, and I would definitely order this again.” – yes. I thought it was $18.95, not that big of a price jump.
hungry says
Back in the day, you would never eat gochujang!
Feisty Foodie says
Hmm, I don’t think that’s true – I’ve always tried a little bit of gochujang at a time. When you and I went to BCD Tofu, I added way too much and couldn’t eat my dish unfortunately. But I do eat a bit and always try to add a little more the next time to increase my tolerance!
T.C. says
Benn too long since I had Korean BBQ.
Feisty Foodie says
Time to change that… though I just wrote a review of a Japanese BBQ place that I REALLY enjoyed, I think we should go there! 🙂
T.C. says
Gyu Kaku. ;P
I’d would do a Korean BBQ lunch special. Well worth it.