Wednesday, May 09, 2007

Grill You Know It's True, Oo, Oo, Oo, I Love You

Sorry I have been so quiet lately. . . I have been a little too addicted to the NBA Playoffs this month. But it is almost over!

However, my lack of recent posts mean that there is a huge backlog of photos and half-written posts, languishing in Blogger, and not yet ready to be finalized and published.

You can imagine my delight when a fellow food blogging friend,
Eat, Drink, and Be Merry posted about a place I've been meaning to post about for over seven months: Shik Do Rak. (I've heard that Shik Do Rak means something like "the hungry esophagus" in Korean. (But don't blindly trust my translation, because I heard it from a Caucasian guy!)

Now that
Eat, Drink, and Be Merry posted about this Korean Barbecue restaurant in Los Angeles' Koreatown, I thought I'd piggy-back on his post, by posting a few pictures and encouraging you to try this tasty Los Angeles-area eatery where you can chargrill your own red meat, onions, and halved button mushrooms on a circular Korean-style grill.

If you've never been to have Korean barbecue before, it entails a lot of cooking on your end. Your server will bring you out a tray of various marinated or non-marinated red meats, and you may grill them on your sizzling table grill to your liking. Remember, when manning the grill, be sure to move the cooked pieces of meat to a specified, cooler area of the grill (and away from the uncooked meat) to prevent cross-contamination.

Just as
Eat, Drink, and Be Merry suggests in his post, Shik Do Rak offers thin, flat sheets of rice paper noodle that you use to wrap the grilled meat and leafy greens before chowing down.

Also, use the flavored oils and hot chili sauce to taste.

As you eat your rice paper wraps, don't forget to eat your fill of their selection of pickled, salted, and fermented vegetables, called panchan. For those of you who are unfamiliar with panchan, it generally consists of such items as pickled bean sprouts, cucumbers, seaweed, and fermented napa cabbage (kimchee). Panchan has an acerbic crunch and a pleasant vinegary bitterness. I call them "chopstick foods"--as opposed to "finger foods"--because the elements are easily pinched between the tapered ends of a pair of lengthened and slender chopsticks.

And, Shik Do Rak also offers a satisfying spicy tofu soup to close your barbecued meal. The soup is made with clams and red Korean chili pepper powder, and is called soondubu.

I hope this brief post gave you a nice orientation on Korean barbecue (if you were previously unacquainted with it)! Korean barbecue is very fun: it is as elaborate as a Broadway production because it comes replete with 1) sizzling, spitting, and glowing grill grates and 2) smoke which continuously emanates from the grill. Best of all, Korean barbecue restaurants are great places to take a large group of friends, especially friends who are collaborative, ambitious people who take charge at social events--or if those friends merely like to barbecue meat!

15 comments:

  1. I thought they usually serve lettuce(instead of rice rolls) to wrap the meat.

    I love tofu stew (soon dobu)! Have you tried Tofu House? It's along Santa Clara. If you happen to be down from SF, you could try it if you like spicy stew. They do a good one here.

    I know it's hot recently, but you could always keep it for the cooler days :D

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  2. Thanks for getting Milli Vanilli into my head. Now it will be there all day. Darn you! ;-)

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  3. It looks so good and such a relaxed dining evening.
    There is a masochistic factor in viewing the wonderful places and foods you write about. Knowing I will probably never get to taste the heavenly food you describe! But I seem to enjoy the pain.

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  4. I love the idea of the Korean BBQ! It all looks much better than a normal one (you should have submitted this to our BBQ event so I don't have to try 400 burgers!!!) - and I love Milli Vanilli, my naughty secret!

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  5. I'm with Elmo, except how the heck can I get it stuck in my head? Was I even old enough?

    I'm sure the food was good, but I just can't even salivate yet. I ate a huge Mexican lunch today with a cupcake for dessert!

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  6. Yeah, Milli Vanilli is in my head too! CRAP!

    My husband and my first date was Korean BBQ at Brother Number II. It was SO SO good that we got married.

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  7. So funny, I just wrote about SDR too. The title is frightening though - now I see dreadlocks and sliced beef in my head.

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  8. I still haven't made it to a Korean BBQ restaurant that serves the wrapping style of cuisine. Looks interesing.

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  9. I googled "roasted peas" and got here. What I found was "wasabi roasted peas". I'm not familiar with "wasabi" (I'm cooking challenged).

    I recently ate at a Smokey Bones and was intriqued by "roated peas" in my salad. I had never heard of roasting peas. They were delicious. I can't find a recipe in your blog. Maybe I'm blind. Can you enlighten me as to where the recipe is?

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  10. As a resident of Los Angeles, I am fortunate to have exposure to a wide range of Korean BBQ joints, and absolutely love them. They are what I like to call participatory eating establishments.

    Be it cooking your own BBQ Korean style, cooking your own meat in steaming hot broth Vietnamese style, or doing the communal fondue pot, participating in your own meal prep makes a meal an event.

    We have also tried making your own sushi nights, and dined out in large din sum groups. As you already know PE, slowing things down at meal time changes everything. And you have posted a wonderful way to do this.

    In my mind, any meal with friends that doen't last at least an hour or so, is just fast food, and not an eating experience.

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  11. Hi PE - Sounds like a new hit song from our own "Grill-y Vanilli"! LOL!

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  12. Yum I love korean bbq, it's so much fun!

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  13. oh yum i love korean bbq! i haven't had some in awhile. :( must remedy that.

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  14. I think they do usually serve lettuce Tigerfish. This restaurant is unique for serving those rice wrappers. And I have tried a Tofu House in San Francisco, but I've never tried the one in Santa Clara. Thanks for the suggestion though, I'll have to check it out when I am down there!

    And I am so glad that I brought Milli Vanilli memories back to everyone! I love those lip synching men!

    And marriage after Brothers II? Impressive Steamy Kitchen! What kind of food did you eat before having your two handsome boys? Korean barbecue too?

    Also, Anonymous, I don't have a recipe, but I usually purchase roasted peas at Asian supermarkets. They are generally in the "snack" aisle.

    And I love your take and enthusiasm for friendship and entertaining Kimba!

    I love your "Grilli Vanilli" joke Kirk! I laughed uproariously when I read it!

    Thanks to everyone for your comments and for your support! :)

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  15. yum, this looks so good, i'm so hungry now! all those sauces look fantastic - i'm coming over. beepbeep!!

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