Text 6475, 102 rader
Skriven 2013-11-05 02:06:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
Ärende: Korean bbq 425
======================
There was a Groupon for Honey Pig, the Ellicott City outpost of
a chain Korean barbecue; a 45% discount off $30, which
translates to about $8++ per for your standard dinner for two,
if you don't get extras.

The place, set back just off US 40 behind the Double T Diner,
is bigger than it looks from its narrow storefront - maybe
40 or so seats in a comfortingly informal room with Hanggul
decorations and rather nasty Korea-Pop music though luckily
not too loud. When we arrived at 5 something (the place is
open 24 hr except Monday morning), there were two other
tables filled, and by the time we left, several other parties
had come in, and the mixed smell of grilled beef and pork
was pronounced and festive. Gail noted that every group had
at least one Asian in it.

We were shown to a table with a round burner in the middle
(soon to be lit and covered with an iron domed cooking surface
not unlike what you see in "Mongolian" barbecues) and issued
a salad of greens and sliced onion in mustard-soy dressing and
a slightly below average variety of banchan, all very mild,
i.e. Americanized, but of decent quality: cabbage kimchi,
zucchini kimchi, shredded sweet-sour daikon, and stir-fried
potato chunks in red vinegar sauce. I have been to Korean
places that didn't offer banchan at all, so perhaps we should
have been thankful for what we got.

Three persons, three meats, half a pound or just shy of that
each, enough food but not too much. In retrospect I should
have gotten an additional dish, perhaps the "mountain tripe"
(I am not sure which tripe this is) or the enticingly named
"beef viscera." If there is an echo picnic in the Baltimore
area in the next year or two (don't be surprised), this might
make an entertaining evening, and I will try to shame you (but
no real coercion) into at least trying grilled offal.

Dale got bulgogi, which was far less seasoned than I expected,
and no scallions or sesame seeds - essentially thin-sliced
steak with onions and a little teriyaki-like sauce. Luckily,
there was a sweet thin garlic-soy broth at the table, which
he used copiously. Note: the grill here doesn't have holes on
the surface, just on the edges, so the draining of cooking
juices is inefficient, so that if you aren't quick with your
chopsticks, your meat gets stewed, not that that's bad, just
not quite optimal.

Beef chunks, probably from the chuck section often misidentified
as short rib was Gail's choice. I had only a couple pieces,
which the hostess who supervised the cooking dropped into my
broth substance, under the impression that I was the host. It
seemed fine, but I confined my attentions to the

spicy pork belly, no surprise, which was good, with lots of
very tasty and aromatic red pepper, but of a certain lack of
hotness, a surprise remedied by a dish of sliced jalapenos and
raw garlic on the side. There was also the hot bean paste, which
I generally don't use as it tends to be quite salty.

Also on the grill a big blob of pickled bean sprouts and cabbage,
quite different when cooked.

Small bowls of rice came with, with additional available for
$1.50 each.

Korean chawanmushi (I forget its real name) came partway through
the meal, included; it was tender, fluffy, pretty good.

OB beer was very fizzy, almost ciderlike, the Shipps thought. It
was milder than I recall.

The groupon covered two main courses, as expected, and the
remaining bill was not too onerous, as prices here are a good
25% less than at most such places anyway.

I'd go back, and certainly this would be a top choice in the wee
hours when little of substance would be available elsewhere. The
quality shouldn't suffer, as most of the food has been prepared
earlier, and one can perhaps man the grill oneself if the help
doesn't seem to be the A-team.

--

Our next stop was to Sweet Frog (some kind of theme going on
here?), which offers frozen soft-serve yogurt (plus one sorbet)
with mix-ins and sauces. I tasted the sugar-free vanilla, which
was surprisingly edible, a chocolate, which had good chocolate
flavor but somehow an off chemical taste, and the dulce de
leche, which I liked very much; so I got 2 pills' worth of
this and some of the "very berry" sorbet, a sort of mixed fruit
flavor, but beggars can't be choosers. Oh, I also tasted the
pumpkin, for season's sake, which was no surprise, and the
white chocolate, which tasted like plastic. If we weren't full
when we left the Honey Pig, we were now. And so the 15-minute
ride back home, where Dale made naptime noises, and so I took
my leave and turned in early, though it was not yet 8 pm.

Result: it's 2 am, and here I am up doing the FIDO.


___ Blue Wave/386 v2.30
--- Platinum Xpress/Win/WINServer v3.0pr5
 * Origin: Fidonet Since 1991 Join Us: www.DocsPlace.org (1:123/140)