Meat Me in Hell

The Teglas family is going to turn you into a Hungarian, and there's nothing you can do about it. One step into their International Meats and Deli in Garden Grove and the scent of kolbasz wraps its smoky arms around you like the robust Magyar grandmother you wish you had. The Hungarian sausage is the mainstay of the Teglases' business, and the family has a hard time keeping it in stock—they ran through 300 pounds of it during the recent holidays. The kolbasz is made on the premises: cured and seasoned with imported Hungarian spices, and then smoked until the fire inspector gets antsy. Kolbasz comes mild or spicy and should be enjoyed as they do in Budapest: spread out on a table with bread, cheese, beer and more kolbasz. Other specialties include szalonna bacon, a pork liver sausage called hurka, and pick, an imported dry sausage that is found in few places outside the former Warsaw Pact. 10382 Stanford Ave., Garden Grove, (714) 539-6334.

Dduk bo sam—which means "wrapped in a rice noodle"—is the $30 hamburger of Korean cookery, a trendy Korean barbecue style that originated recently in downtown Los Angeles and can be found locally only at the recently opened Shik Do Rak in Garden Grove. Its popularity is mystifying. The only difference between dduk bo sam and regular Korean barbecue is that waitresses plop down a salver of rice noodle squares (dduk) instead of the silver bowl of rice that other Korean barbecue places provide. Ah, but then there's the ritual: take a lump of hot, moist meat charring on the stove at your table (a great pick is the half-inch rib-eye) and throw it onto the pile of shredded scallion and lettuce in front of you. Sprinkle some scallion-checkered chile sauce onto the pile. Peel a dduk square off the top of the stack and fold it over everything you've assembled, then shove the cannoli-shaped creation into your mouth. If you've done it right, each mouthful will be crunchy, spicy, and slippery with beef fat: grease-dappled bliss. 9691 Garden Grove Blvd., Garden Grove, (714) 534-7668.