Gam Mee Ok

[Pan]

A friend and I saw Khovanshchina at the Met on Monday (performed by the visiting Kirov Opera). It was a long, albeit great opera, and by the time we got out of the house, it was at least midnight. We walked down 9th Av. and found that most restaurants that interested us were closed, so instead of settling for something, we decided to walk down to Little Korea, where 24-hour restaurants are commonplace. My friend suggested Gam Mee Ok, an airy, comfortable restaurant with high ceilings on 43 W. 32 St. We weren't served a panchan of 7 dishes or anything like that, but were served a plate of excellent, nicely sour and only moderately hot-peppery but well-seasoned cabbage-and-radish kimchi and an oval-shaped plate containing long, thin, curved green peppers. One was very spicy, one not spicy at all, and another two which were brought later were somewhat spicy. A kind of black bean sauce was recommended for dipping the peppers.

For a main dish, I was intrigued by the combo plate of different types of meat, and my friend also thought that could be a good choice. It was. It was plenty big enough for both of us, and we didn't even finish it, despite our best efforts. It was sort of like a cold cut plate, except that they were warm cuts. There was tongue; a fatty cut of meat; delicious Korean "chorizo," filled with glutinous rice and rice noodles; pig ears; and liver. All of this was accompanied by a good deal of lettuce and we were given a flavorful sweet/hot sauce with rice in it for dipping. All the meats were good. My friend found the liver too dry, but I liked it anyway because it tasted good. We both enjoyed the dish very much.

Service was gracious and the whole experience was relaxed and pleasant. We left the restaurant at around 2 A.M.

[Fat Guy]

When I saw the thread title I thought you were talking about a restaurant called Gam Mee and that your conclusion was that it was ok. But I guess you're actually saying that Gam Mee Ok is ok.

[rozrapp]

When I saw the thread title I thought you were talking about a restaurant called Gam Mee and that your conclusion was that it was ok.

That's exactly what I thought when I saw the title. I guess great eGulleteer minds think alike!

[anil]

I've been twice to this place - Once, to have a big bowl of rice-soup (cure a hangover, before it took hold ) and then for BBQ (We was so-so) I will give it another try

[Pan]

When I saw the thread title I thought you were talking about a restaurant called Gam Mee and that your conclusion was that it was ok. But I guess you're actually saying that Gam Mee Ok is ok.

Yeah, that sums it up. But to Anil: Note that this was my first visit to Gam Mee Ok, so it could be that I lucked out, or perhaps their barbecue really is so-so, but some other dishes are good. Regardless, I and my friend had fun. He's been there at least a few times before and I think I'm paraphrasing him accurately if I say that his comment before we got there was that it has a short menu, unlike the nearly endless tomes one is given at places like Kang Suh and Woo Chon, but that the dishes it does cook are often not among the more commonly found items at Korean places with bigger menus and well-done.

[Jason Perlow]

The proper pronunciation is "Gammiok" or "Gammy-yock"

I've seen a lot of korean restaurants with this name...

[Pan]

My friend reminded me that there were also sliced intestines in the meat platter. We liked those, too. Also, while the sausage was warm, some or all of the other cuts were cold.

[victornet]

The specialty here is definitely the oxtail soup, into which you scoop lots of salt and chives. It's my favorite place to eat before a Knicks game (though at this point just about any good meal beats a Knicks game). They also have a 2nd location, architecturally cooler and more modern, in Tenafly or thereabouts. Some Korean friends took me to that one first.