BCD Tofu House

[BryanZ]

BCD Tofu House

32nd btwn 5th and 6th

BCD Tofu House is a popular left coast Korean restaurant concept/chain that just landed in NYC. I visited this past weekend with a friend for brunch and though we had eaten a good deal beforehand, I still very much enjoyed my meal. I very much enjoy spicy Korean tofu soups, and now that the weather has taken a turn toward the chilly this place might go on my shortlist.

The menu here encompasses all the staples you'd expect to see. The rice dishes, the barbecue, the noodles, but the star here is the tofu soup. What I found most striking is how rich and full the soup is even without MSG. The toppings are of pretty good quality, though not presented as prettily as the menu images suggest. My seafood stew had a few oysters, a couple clams, a shrimp, and perhaps some squid. Not exactly abundant but enough to give me something to chew on. I also felt as though the seafood was a bit overcooked, especially the shrimp, but this didn't really detract from the epxerience. For $11.95, with generous banchan included, I can't complain. During the weekdays the price drops to $9.95 for lunch, putting it in Midtown Lunch territory. A good value, good food, I'll be back.

[SeanDirty]

I saw in the Ny times something about Raw Crabs?!?!? on the restaurants website they have a gif of them tossing the dish together... and as the article the crab seemed raw... anyone confirm??

[BryanZ]

I mean, yeah, I have no reason to doubt the reports.

[Pumpkin Lover]

The raw crab is a fermented blue crab: you suck the meat out while holding the shell between your teeth. There's a picture of fermented crabs in this post, but the BCD ones are covered with red spicy sauce.

We got the LA Galbi, among other dishes last week -- the first round arrived in boneless slabs of meat. The unexpected second round had the waitress throwing the bones on the grill -- the bits of meat with fat were excellent to chew on.

[donbert]

It's a pickled crab dish called Gae Jang (게장). Traditionally there is a soy sauce version as well as a spicy one. BCD does the spicy one. Here's a photo of it from BCD in LA:

Unfortunately this dish isn't spicy enough in the NY branch. Also the tofu and crab combo is only available for lunch unlike the LA branches where you can get any combo 24/7.