Korean Food

[herbacidal]

Thanks, already did it before.

Not just googling it, but remembering it is very important though.

I really like this raw beef, egg and vegetable dish that many young Koreans seem to not like.

[philadining]

We'd noticed that Laban would be reviewing Everyday Good House on sunday, and decided to slip-in on Friday before it got crowded. We hadn't read the review yet, but it seemed safe to assume that it would be a good review, there'd be no point to slamming a place that most of the Inquirer's readers would never even realize existed.

Indeed, as Laban mentions, the place might be hard to even identify as a restaurant unless you read Korean, there are no English signs. It's pretty non-descript from the outside, and even a little hard to see from the corner of Front and Olney. But inside, it's a very nice place, with a friendly staff. We had no language problems, the menu had English translations written under the Korean names, and the various folks waiting on us spoke English, or at least well-enough that we had no communications difficulties.

Most importantly, all the food we had was excellent.

Banchan was really good. There were a few more dishes that I somehow failed to photograph, I want to say 9 or 10, including a bowl of salad with a vinegary dressing which was really nice added to a barbeque ssam. In his review, Laban mentions a shredded scallion salad, which sounds nice, but ours was lettuce-based.

I think this was the best Haemul Pajeon I've ever had: barely any batter holding together the seafood, what there was, nice and crispy.

But we were mostly jonesing for barbecue, so of course we were psyched to see real charcoal:

We opted for seasoned kalbi (beef shortrib) which seems to be something of a house specialty, and the pork butt.

That's the kalbi on the left, the pork on the right. As you can probably see, neither is wet with marinades, nor coated in spices, yet both were very flavorful, the kalbi in particular.

The burner was really good and hot, giving the meat a great sear, and the waitstaff came and changed-out the grill a few times so it didn't get too gunky, therefore smoky and sticky. There was nice fresh redleaf lettuce with which to roll up your own ssam. Here's a peak before the final roll-up:

The meat was very reasonably priced, but also moderate-sized, which is fine with me, I'd rather have the option to try a few different types, or as we did, get some other stuff too, rather than being faced with a giant $30 platter of meat.

So we also tried a Dolsot Bi Bim Bap

That's what it looked like shortly before we doused it with hot sauce and give it a stir. I can't quite put my finger on why, but this was one of the best Bip Bim Bops I've ever had. We got a nice crust going on the rice from the hot bowl, and the ingredients were all fresh and delicious.

Sundubu jjigae

This spicy stew had a nice kick to it, with tender, light cubes of tofu.

We were entertained by a menu item called "Giant Egg Roll" or something like that, so we had to check it out.

It was indeed giant, about a foot long rolled omelet filled with scallions. They brought a squeeze bottle of ketchup with it, and you know, that was the perfect condiment...

We got a few small bowls of rice, which turned out to be both delicious and beautiful.

We concluded that we could have been perfectly satisfied even if we'd ordered two fewer dishes, but where's the fun in that? Even with our excessive ordering, the bill came to about $25 per person including tip. Just as we were about to explode from overeating, they brought by a plate of rice cakes in a spicy sauce. We'd contemplated ordering one, but decided we had enough food, so it was a nice coincidence that we got to try it anyway! I forgot to get the camera back out, but it consisted of those very thick, chewy rice noodles and some bean curd skin, in a bright red chile sauce. It was very spicy, I think I'll lobby for ordering one next time.

There are plenty more places to try out in that neighborhood, but this place has climbed to the top of my rankings for Philly Korean.

Chez Tae Yun

(Everyday Good House)

5501 N. Front St. (at Olney)

Philadelphia, PA 19120

215-276-7942

Edited March 29, 2008 by philadining (log)

[Jeff L]

Phil, great review and pictures as usual. Do you, or anyone reading, know the type of charcoal depicted in your pics above? I've been trying to find a reasonably priced alternative to Japanese Sumi Charcoal for use with my Konro grill. I've used Binchotan Charcoal but could not get the stuff to burn in my chimney starter.

[philadining]

I don't know for sure what kind of charcoal they use, but it looked like regular lump charcoal to me. Sadly that style is a little hard to find amidst all the briquettes.

The in-table grills are actually really clever combination gas/charcoal burners (and built-in exhaust vent around the perimiter.) So a gas burner ignites the charcoal, and it seems that they left the gas on a bit, either to keep the charcoal going, or to add some extra heat. Whatever the process, the grill was pretty freaking hot!

But the charcoal seemed to light pretty quickly, and it didn't have that very dense appearance of Binchotan, so I suspect it was just plain old lump charcoal.

Some guys get pretty obsessive about lump charcoal...

[Jeff L]

Thanks Jeff. I've actually seen that website in my exploration of Japanese charcoals. Some people seem to have way more free time than others I suspect.

[Rich Pawlak]

Would any of the Koreatown places seem DDC-worthy?

[philadining]

Seo Ra Bol

5734 N. Old 2nd St.

Philadelphia , PA 19120

215-924-3355

[Ce'nedra]

Can I ask what is that white cube floating in the milky broth/sauce? My first reaction was tofu but then I thought 'what an interesting way to serve it!'

[nakji]

Looks like some sort of set egg custard to me.

[KatieLoeb]

Enjoyed dinner this evening at Everyday Good House, following Philadining and Craig Laban's recommendations. This place is excellent! Everyday Awesome House is definitely what we ought to be calling it.

I had dinner with my dearest friends and their children, my de facto niece and nephew who are quite the adventurous eaters. We tried the Dulsot Bibimbap, Seafood Pancake, Spicy Stew with soft tofu, and spicy beef, seasoned shrimp and pork shoulder to grill. Everything was fresh and delicious. The staff was quite accomodating and helped us grill everything up. The banchan was all good with the exception of the gelatinous bean thing that was slightly fishy and no one enjoyed. Kimchee was first class. Tons of food and a few leftovers for all of about $80 for five people before the tip. A bargain to be sure.

Will definitely be hitting this place back up again in the near future. The fact that they're open really late might make it an occasional stop on my after work rotation.

[VictorFiorillo]

Victor Fiorillo has the spam at Pojangmacha in Upper Darby, as recounted in Philadelphia Magazine.

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FYI, many of you probably know that Pojangmacha closed. Then they moved to 55 Garrett in Upper Darby. That location has closed as well... I'm told that they are looking for a location outside of UD.

[philadining]

Victor Fiorillo has the spam at Pojangmacha in Upper Darby, as recounted in Philadelphia Magazine.

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FYI, many of you probably know that Pojangmacha closed. Then they moved to 55 Garrett in Upper Darby. That location has closed as well... I'm told that they are looking for a location outside of UD.

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Was 55 Garrett the underground bar/lounge place? They had signs for that spot on the Pojangmacha location after it closed. Incidentally their original building is being torn down right now, so sadly there will shortly be no evidence of that odd little place...

Edited September 23, 2008 by philadining (log)

[Andrew Fenton]

Jong Ka Jib may be my new favorite restaurant in Philadelphia. I can't believe it took me so long to make it up there... so many wasted years.

Obviously the soon doo boo is the main point there- I'd never had it before, and it was terrific. But the banchan were good too (if not as bounteous as some places). The squid pancake (paejon? is that right?) was good, but could have used more squid. We ordered some BBQ'd kalbi, too, which were okay, but nothing special. Bottom line is that you are there for tofu, but still, when the soup is only $9, you might as well order a few extra dishes...

Looking out at this crazy cold, windy weather, I feel the need for another tofu fix ASAP.

Edited December 9, 2009 by Andrew Fenton (log)