The Michelin Quest: Danji

We were headed to the Booth Theatre to see The Glass Menagerie tonight, so wanted to try a new Pre-Theatre spot in Hell's Kitchen. One of our 2014 goals is to try to knock out more NYC Michelin starred restaurants so decided to try out modern Korean 1-starred Danji. The Mr. started with the Su Jung Kwa cocktail which featured rye whiskey, cinnamon, ginger, & jujube and I started with the "Korean Pear" with vodka, star anise, & cinnamon. The meal was off to a great start because these cocktails were both super delicious. I was initially excited to try the "Perfect Date" as my next drink, but was so enamored with the "Su Jung Kwa"'s cinnamony warmth that I abandoned that and we ordered another round of those.

Don't Miss Miss Korea

Miss Korea BBQ

Had a few out-of-towners to entertain and I was in charge of picking the place to eat. Usually, I'm OK with this pressure, but these guys were foodies, so it was time to step it up. I really love introducing people to cuisines that they can't get in their hometowns and Korean BBQ is usually a good choice. One of my Korean-American friends had high praise for Miss Korea, so I took a gamble and told them to meet me there.

Loco for Boka

We intended to take our out of town guests to Momofuku Noodle Bar, but when we got there we were facing a 2 hour wait. We love our Momofuku, but when you are ready for dinner, that is just too long to wait. So we were milling about on the sidewalk discussing our options when we hit upon Korean Fried Chicken. Bingo! Luckily for us, Boka on St Marks was but a hop skip and a jump away.

We'd actually already been here once, but it was when we had just moved to the city and before the blog was in full swing. Last time we were here, I was very envious of the Watermelon Soju I saw everyone enjoying and vowed to myself that one day I would come back and make this sweet bowl of fruit and liquor mine. And so I did.

Watermelon Soju

Eating like family at Kunjip

After some shopping in midtown, we had worked up quite an appetite so we headed over to K-Town for our evening meal. Kunjip came highly recommended to us by a friend who described it as the type of food your Korean Mom would make. This sounded tempting so we got in line- and yes, it is an actual line instead of a wait list. This place was bustling- everyone was zipping around like mad, which seemed kind of dangerous given there were portable trays of fire cooking food placed hapharzardly around. But they obviously knew what they were doing and the place was running like a well oiled machine.

Finally we were seated and ordered our OB Beers and way too much food. The banchan arrived at our table right away which was perfect because we were starving. We dug in immediately- sooooo good!

OB Beers & Banchan

Hangin at HanGawi

 I owed my friend a dinner for her birthday and we wanted to go somewhere near Kips Bay where we were going to a movie afterwards, so we decided a trip to Koreatown was in order. I asked my friend for her recommendations and she went through a list of great restaurants, but her eyes lit up when she mentioned Hangawi, so I know that was the one.

MalContent at BonChon

It had been a while since we've had Korean Fried Chicken, so we decided it was time to use our Living Social voucher and visit the famous BonChon Chicken. When we arrived however, there was a sign on the door that they were no longer accepting the Living Social coupons. Ok, so that's annoying, but we weren't going to let that deter us. We walk in to a loud restaurant- to be clear it was late, so it wasn't the patrons who were loud, it was the largely projected music videos. Ok, that's interesting too, but hey, we could use a pop culture crash course, so sure.

We order the mixed soy garlic chicken and the spicy ddukbokki because the couple next to us has it and it looks amazing. We also ordered the Kimchi Coleslaw which I've heard is a must-order, but they were out so we replaced with the scallion pancake instead.

Scallion Pancake

Bo Ssam at Momofuku Ssam

One of our friends was celebrating her birthday and arranged for a group of us to have the Bo Ssam Dinner at Momofuku Ssam. I've never been so excited about someone else's birthday dinner, I've been hearing about this meal since we've moved to NYC!

Killa Eats from Korilla

If you see this truck, stop immediately 

Bowl & Burrito

On yet another visit to The Lot on Tap we encountered the Korilla BBQ Food Truck. I've been hearing good things about these guys and just look at that tiger- he means business. So we were excited to check it out. The Mr. wanted a burrito with pork and I set my sights on a bowl with bulgogi.

Mad For Chicken makes me Happy

7/2/10

To celebrate our half day we went on a field trip with our coworker in hopes of finally purchasing my new DSLR. The camera shop dude was totally sketch and tried to bait and switch me. He was also trying to convince me to by the European version of the camera "all my european customers do because they don't need the US warranty". Ummm, that's great, but I'm not European, I *want* the warranty. Then, when I informed him I would take my business elsewhere, he tried to tell me how difficult ordering online was . No, actually ordering from reputable sites like Amazon or BestBuy is quite convenient and pleasant. You must be confusing me with an old person. Do I really look like a European old person? Anyway, no new camera yet for fantastic food fotos, but soon.

After that fun diversion we headed over to get some famous Mad For Chicken korean style fried chicken. I was glad we were with someone who knew what they were doing because I would have passed by the non-descript office building door at least 5 times on my own. Then, even when I was sure I had the right address, I'm not sure I would've had the guts to walk to the back and up some even more nondescript staircase and open the plain unmarked door. But lo and behold- nice chic fried chicken restaurant inside.

We got a large mixed order of their Soy Garlic chicken and went to town. The crispiness of the chicken is just as much of an auditory experience as it is a savory one. While they are no longer officially affiliated with the Bon Chon brand, there is a reason people are talking about this stuff. Trust the hype and get some. Also of note that they have extremely good mozzarella sticks. Random I know. My only complaint was that the service was a little unattentive...oh wait, and they tried to bait & switch me by offering Diet Coke on the menu but the soda I received was clearly a Diet Pepsi. This is usually an unforgivable offense in my book, so it speaks volumes that I was willing to look past this incident and enjoy my meal.

Madangsui: Dang Good

Even though The Mr is half Korean, for some reason he has never had Korean BBQ. So when we were deciding what to do for dinner tonight I decided it was finally time for us to pop our Korean BBQ cherry.

The decor is going for the modern, industrial look (a la Chipotle), but winds up just looking a bit too industrial due to the flourescent lighting. The service is incredibly fast and efficient- bringing food as soon as it's ready, regardless of the order. All this adds up to a lack of atmosphere, so don't go if you are looking for a romantic date night, go for the food. We ordered the Jap-Chae, Kim-chi-Jeun (kimchi pancake), and Joo-Mool-Jeok (marinated short-rib) and were not disappointed with our first Korean BBQ experience.

Good Dang Chow at Cho Dang Gol

We finally get to Koreatown to try some traditional Korean fare. Even though The Mr is half Korean, I have had surprisingly few Korean food experiences. We were very excited when some friends took us to Cho Dang Gol, their favorite in K-Town. To start the journey off right, we ordered a round of OB beer.

OB Korean Beer

It's basically the Korean version of Bud Light. We also got some bori cha, or barley tea, which is delightful when consumed hot or iced.

Kimchi Pancake & Banchan

Kimchi Pancake definitely seemed like a fitting way to start the meal and it was delicious. Also brought out were the banchan, which are small dishes of food served with Korean meals. These run the gambit from kimchi, to fish, to seaweed and vegetables. I loved getting to try little tastes of different dishes and our dining companions loved that they came complimentary with the meal and had free refills. They also gave us some house made tofu and wow, who knew? It's so different from the packaged stuff that I'd encourage even non-tofu eaters to give it a shot.

Bulgogi Stone Rice Bowl

Chap Chae

For the main event Bulgogi Bibambap and Chap Chae were the traditional dishes we were looking for and they lived up to the task. Cho Dang Gol passed the taste bud test with such flying colors that The Mr decided it would be a great place to bring his Korean family when they visit!

Cuckoo for Kofoo

Our coworkers started up a delivery order from Kofoo (KOrean FOOd, get it?) and me and the Mr chimed in with an order for Kimchi Kimbob and Jalapeno Kimbob. Mmm, mmm good. Now if only the Committee for American Spelling of Korean Words would get together and create a convention for spelling kimpop...kimbap...gimbap. *sigh*