Best Korean BBQ in North Jersey

[dumpling]

Anyone have a preference/rec for Korean BBQ in New Jersey? I've tried Han Il Kwan in Fort Lee and a couple in Palisades Park but was just wondering what others have tried/experienced. Thanks.

[Rail Paul]

The NY Times had a comprehensive overview of Korean restaurants in the Pal Park / Cliffside Park area on June 29.

There are at least 27 in Pal Park alone, and writer Marge Perry may have visited most of them for her article. This area of Bergen County has seen an influx of Korean, Japanese and Chinese families in the past two decades. Pal Park for example is now 36% Korean by population.

Beyond Bi Bim Bop

Edited July 13, 2003 by Rail Paul (log)

[thereuare]

I really enjoy The Lighthouse on Rte 1-9 in the Palisades Park area (not sure of specific town), just north of the korean supermarket (ra ha rheum?)

Of course, i learned about it from this board.

Edited July 13, 2003 by thereuare (log)

[Fat Guy]

The place in the same shopping plaza as the Ridgefield Hanahreum is terrific.

[jhlurie]

The place in the same shopping plaza as the Ridgefield Hanahreum is terrific.

Indeed it is. NORTH Korean style. They may have a crazy nutty dictator and unfounded rumors of canibalism, but the folks in exile have a nice variant. Technically the place in that plaza is called "Hwang Hae Do".

"The Lighthouse" is very good, but not quite in the same league. Close though, if you stick to short ribs and bulgogi.

"Koreana", in Fort Lee, is very good.

Also, in the same plaza as Hwang Hae Do and Han ah reum is a Chinese/Korean hybrid place, which has some interesting stuff-particularly their Deep Fried Dumplings.

[Fat Guy]

The place in the same shopping plaza as the Ridgefield Hanahreum is terrific.

Indeed it is. NORTH Korean style. They may have a crazy nutty dictator and unfounded rumors of canibalism, but the folks in exile have a nice variant. Technically the place in that plaza is called "Hwang Hae Do".

I'm not as experienced with the place as you all, but my read on the menu was that it's overwhelmingly the same as what you'd get at any general-menu Korean with tabletop barbecue offerings, and that there are also a small number of specifically North Korean dishes as well as a few variations in preparation on standard dishes (namely they are spicier).

[Jason Perlow]

There are some minor differences. For the most part North Korean style food is a lot spicier, the Gochujang paste has a LOT more chiles in it, for starters. The bulgogi is "Yook Soo" style, which is a wetter kind of bulgogi. Instead of wrapping it in lettuce leaf, its wrapped in a sandwich of daikon radish and rice noodle, and they also use a salty/garlicky condiment as well as the much spicier gochujang. The kimchees are also a lot spicier.

[msp]

Hwang Hae Do is not a particularly "authentic" Korean restaurant, as it's owner/manager confirmed to me in an interview. He takes pride in the fact that they are serving fare with unusual twists and tweaks.

The fare starts from a North Korean foundation, but it is not classic. The variations are not merely changes in the amount of spiciness or regional influence, but manipulation of flavors, ingredients and balance.

[Fat Guy]

Is there more to the article than what we see in the link above? Is there an accompanying roundup?

[Jason Perlow]

Hwang Hae Do is not a particularly "authentic" Korean restaurant, as it's owner/manager confirmed to me in an interview. He takes pride in the fact that they are serving fare with unusual twists and tweaks.

The fare starts from a North Korean foundation, but it is not classic. The variations are not merely changes in the amount of spiciness or regional influence, but manipulation of flavors, ingredients and balance.

You bothered to interview him, but Hwang Hae Do isn't among the roundup of your restaurants? How come?

[jhlurie]

What was present of the article was very well considered and reported though.

My appreciation of the different-ness of Hwang Hae Do may in fact be battling with my awe that there are 27 Korean restaurants in Palisades Park I've never been to. Tenafly, Ridgefield, Ridgefield Park, Cliffside Park and Fort Lee have been my main destinations--although I've probably been to at least fifteen places throughout these towns through the years. I hate to admit this... but going to that seven block stretch of Palisades Park is even MORE like leaving America than going to the Hahn Ah Reum plaza. Yet I should.

Also, no doubt, we are biased because we found the place. That said... I still love it. And to be honest about one other thing... we still don't go very far beyond BBQ and Dumplings at Hwang Hae Do. Not that we should have to.

Edited July 13, 2003 by jhlurie (log)

[dumpling]

Thanks for all the suggestions, everyone. Does anyone remember a restaurant in Pal Park that seemed very modern with beautiful clean wood benches( sort of Swedish like in design) I think its on Broad?

I remember that they had really nice pancakes.

[msp]

You bothered to interview him, but Hwang Hae Do isn't among the roundup of your restaurants? How come?

The article was about classic Korean food, and about recommending the best of the Korean restaurants we found.

My appreciation of the different-ness of Hwang Hae Do may in fact be battling with my awe that there are 27 Korean restaurants in Palisades Park I've never been to.

Actually, there are many more than 27 restaurants in Pal Park. That's how many we counted in the most dense stretch of Borad Ave, but more are nestled into the side streets.

[challah-baker]

Well, we are about to make the big trek north from down here in North Carolina to visit my mom who lives in Fort Lee. (Yes, in THAT building. Don't worry, we are bringing our own water) I was thinking it might be nice to walk to dinner, something we can't do down here where BBQ has a different meaning and you can't really walk anywhere except for out to the garage. Anyway, me and Missus Challah-baker have been craving the Korean kind of BBQ and were wondering if there were any truly fine luminiscent examples of this in Fort Lee (we have seen several signs on previous trips) or if we should just hop on the Red and Tan and go into the big city. (While we can't walk around here, no meal would get me to drive up there. No offense. Well, maybe if someone was willing to pay for a meal at Per Se...)

Thoughts?

(p.s. oh yes, and China 46 is one of my favorite restaurants on the planet, although Cecil took offense once when I asked for Red Bean Paste balls for dessert. He said he didn't serve peasant food. He did serve us a mighty fine substitute, which I believe contained Lotus Seed. It sure beats any Chinese food around here...)

[Jason Perlow]

http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=26186

Han Il Kwan in Fort Lee itself is excellent, if Korean BBQ is what you are looking for. The one in the Han Ah Reum shopping center, Han Hae Do, is good for other types of korean specialties such as dumplings.

The "new" location of Koreana in Fort Lee is also very good, but I haven't been in a while.

[pbrodsky]

I've been to Koreanna a few times since they moved to Fort Lee, and I think it's still very good. I haven't been to any of the other Fort Lee restaurants though, so I can't tel you how they compare.

[Joon]

I've been to most of the BBQs in the area, and IMHO, the best Korean BBQ is one town over from Fort Lee in Pal. Park.

The place is called "Woo Jung" and it's on Broad St (or ave), right on the main strip of Pal Park. I don't think anyone has better quality beef than they do, and they have never let me down with their side dishes. Here are a few things they have that makes them better than all the others:

1) The best beef.

2) "Ket-nip", a darker green leafy thing for wrapping meat in addition to lettuce

3) Garlic in a little tin that cooks on your BBQ

4) Spicy Raw marinated crab as an appetizer. It's a little hard to eat if you've never tried this sort of thing but for me the crab appetizer alone makes it worth the trip to Woo Jung.

Koreana is also pretty good, and they do an awesome stacking up your table with sides, but pound for pound and dollar for dollar Woo Jung is the best Korean BBQ in this area.

I don't know why but there's a popular (mis)conception among the korean folk there that "So moon nan jib" is the better BBQ joint, but every time I've brought a Korean friend of mine over to WJ they came out agreeing that it was better.

Edited November 12, 2004 by Joon (log)

[Rachel Perlow]

Broad Ave is long, is this the address?

Woo Jung Restaurant

Address: 254 Broad Ave, Palisades Park, NJ 07650

Phone: (201) 592-7006

We've got Korean "relatives" coming for Thanksgiving weekend. They enjoyed Han Il Kwan in Fort Lee on their last visit. Have you been there? How do the two restaurants compare?

[Joon]

Broad Ave is long, is this the address?

Woo Jung Restaurant

Address: 254 Broad Ave, Palisades Park, NJ 07650

Phone: (201) 592-7006

We've got Korean "relatives" coming for Thanksgiving weekend. They enjoyed Han Il Kwan in Fort Lee on their last visit. Have you been there? How do the two restaurants compare?

←

That looks like the one!

On Han Il Kwan vs. Woo Jung, I honestly like them both. I haven't been to HIK in quite a while but here are my thoughts on it. Please forgive me if I'm dishing misinformation as I haven't been there in some time.

1) More sides than WJ. Not necessarily better (they don't have the raw crab!), but they really load you up with the side dishes.

2) "Nicer" than WJ. But I personally could care less what the place looks like. WJ is a VERY modest joint as far as decor goes.

3) Better desserts. Some times HIK will give you "dessert" items like the rice in sweet water dish. At WJ you'll only find the usual fruit tray.

4) 1/2 the charcoal. At WJ the only source of fire is charcoal. At HIK they put in 1 rack of charcoal (not 2 like at WJ) and supplement it with gas flame. I'm honestly not sure if this makes a difference in the food but it sure makes me feel better about my grill flavor. :)

5) No garlic-in-a-tin. Once you've tried a piece of fried garlic with your wraps there's just no turning back.

6) No "forest leaves" as my girlfriend calls them. These dark green leaves make fantastic alternatives (or additions) to the usual lettuce wrap.

Honestly I think HIK is a great BBQ Korean joint, and would definitely go there more often if I didn't like WJ so much. Objectively speaking (if that's possible) I would say they are overall pretty even as far as food goes. So if you've tried one, give the other a shot!

[Cornellrob]

I went to Woo Jung, on Joon's recommendation, Saturday night for a late-night dinner. Decor is extremely modest, although seemed appropriate for Korean bbq. Array of side dishes was particularly impressive, although half of them didn't really appeal to me (i.e. potato salad w/ globs of mayo).

Meat was generous in terms of portion, and seemed to be of good quality (got chumooluk and kalbi). Grilled garlic was a fantastic addition to the wraps. Two nice hunks of red-hot charcoals are added to each bbq pit - which i think may have faced extinction in NYC .... not sure.

I didn't see anything about the dark green (aka Forest) leaves. How do you order these?

[Jason Perlow]

Update:

Han Hae Do in the Ridgefield Park Han Ah Reum shopping center has now switched genres from North Korean style to conventional BBQ style, and the place has also changed names -- I can't read Hangul but they now have a pig in a chefs' hat as their logo. Apparently, they offer BBQ as an ALL YOU CAN EAT for $19.95 per person (Children 12 and under $9.95) which includes Kalbi, Bulgogi, and two other BBQ dishes, one of which is a type of pork.

Haven't tried it yet, but will let you know shortly. I'm not sure with this genre change and the restaurant renaming if they stopped doing their really good Mandoo or their Yuk Soo "wet" Bulgogi.

[melonpan]

3) Garlic in a little tin that cooks on your BBQ

this popped out at me.

we always take the raw garlic (doesnt matter if its sliced or left whole) and stick it on the grill. if the slats are too wide, yes, we do lose a few cloves, but it works. this tin business sounds like a way to grill it without losing any. but it wont get those garlic cloves charred...

anyway, never seen these tins. can you describe their shape? like a tuna can? like a soup can? and is there oil or something inside? thanks!

[Joon]

Cornellrob,

Glad you liked the Garlic...the wraps are just so much better with them! If you haven't tried, break off a piece of the green pepper and try it in your next wrap. I always have my wraps with garlic, green pepper, scallion and the bean paste sauce.

I'm surprised they didn't give you the green leaves. They're supposed to come with the lettuce dish. They proably either ran out, or didn't give them to you if you're non-korean. Korean restaurants some times alter their sides for non-korean customers. :( It's even happened to me when I've gone in with a large group of white friends.

Did they give you the raw crab? The chili pepper? If you want to ask for it the green leaves are called "ket-nip" (I just looked it up and apparently they are sesame leaves). You can see them in this picture http://www.clickasia.co.kr/about/img/sk2.jpg.

I found an egullet thread on gae jang here. :) http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=51999

[Joon]

3) Garlic in a little tin that cooks on your BBQ

this popped out at me.

we always take the raw garlic (doesnt matter if its sliced or left whole) and stick it on the grill. if the slats are too wide, yes, we do lose a few cloves, but it works. this tin business sounds like a way to grill it without losing any. but it wont get those garlic cloves charred...

anyway, never seen these tins. can you describe their shape? like a tuna can? like a soup can? and is there oil or something inside? thanks!

←

Hey Melonpan,

The "tins" are just pieces of tin foil formed into a little mini dish. It comes filled with thinly sliced garlic with a bit of oil on the bottom. I leave it on the grill until you get a slight char on the outside so that it gets little crispy. It's fantastic on its own just dipped in the bean paste sauce. YUM!

I resort to grilling up the garlic pieces when I go to other restaurants but having it in a tin is much much more convenient. And you don't lose them through the grill. :)

[LJC]

So of the NJ Korean how many and which ones use live coals?

Woo Jung, Han Il Kwan are there others?