Korean Food and Cooking

Urban Seoul's Bulgogi Nation

This Irvine restaurant is the latest Kogi knock-off, but it's a damn great one

Crazy Rock at TruSushi 'n Fish Beer & Sake Bar, Our Drink of the Week!

A legal loophole may never be as sweet as a cocktail made of soju. The clear liquor, which can be made of rice, barley, or sweet potatoes, is backdoor vodka, a distilled spirit that can contain as much as 24% alcohol by volume, but can be sold by any establishment with just a beer and wine license.

Buns N Rice: The Chosun Ones

[Hole In the Wall] This Costa Mesa deli is slowly introducing office drones to Korean cuisine

Soy Tofu: Tofu or Not Tofu

This La Palma Korean dive serves soft tofu soup to warm your bones

New Korean Taco Joint Serves Short Rib Arepas and Kimchi Quesadillas at Diamond Jamboree

Remember the time Kogi, at the height of its popularity, decided to descend upon the Diamond Jamboree shopping center in Irvine, an Asian food Mecca that already has 85 Degrees screwing up the parking situation?

Eat This Now: Soondubu (Soft Tofu Soup) at DooRe

When I say you should eat this now, I don't mean just here. Get it anywhere you can get it. You are closer to a soondubu (soft tofu soup) joint than you realize. Look it up! This is the weather for it. Consider soondubu the best natural antifreeze and one of the greatest dishes that Koreans have ble ... More >>

Palsaik Samgyupssal, Korean Restaurant Famed For Its '8 Flavors Of Pork Belly,' Comes To OC

The Korean BBQ can be a blissful, albiet predictable, experience. We've come to expect the trusty usual suspects--kalbi, bulgogi, brisket--along with dipping sauces and banchan galore.   But the newest Korean BBQ restaurant on the block has a divine specialty: pork belly. Palsaik Samgyupss ... More >>

A Pictorial Essay On Tustin's "Most Cursed Restaurant Location"

For those just tuning in, there is a shack at the corner of Newport and Walnut (right in front of the venerable sushi bar, Sushi Wasabi) that has gone through more restaurants than Elizabeth Taylor goes through husbands. Every town has one. This one is Tustin's.The latest eatery to attempt to surviv ... More >>

KoKo Chicken and BBQ Is a Better KFC

[Hole In the Wall] This Buena Park Korean pub makes the best fried chicken in Orange County

Han Yang Has a Bone to Pick

This Buena Park restaurant takes Korean food and its beef short rib soup beyond the borders of Little Seoul

Irvine Korean Festival This Saturday

​Dense in the head that I am, it still took me all of 3 seconds to realize how the City of Irvine came to host the Irvine Korean Cultural Festival tomorrow. Steven Choi, city councilman and a candidate for mayor, is also its founder. Why tomorrow? Well, because today, January 13th, is the day the ... More >>

Gen Korean BBQ Makes You Wait for Your Meat

The wait is long, but the rewards are great at this Tustin hot spot

10 Great Korean Restaurants in Orange County

Edwin Goei​This list was a difficult one. How to just pick 10 restaurant out of the rich bevy of delights found at our Korean District? Or the burgeoning centers of Korean cultures in Buena Park and Irvine? No list could ever be definitive enough to be absolutely conclusive or comprehensive enough ... More >>

New York Cracking Down On Kimchi

​Health Department rules have long been the bane of charcuterie makers and Chinese restaurants who hang their ducks by the window. Now New York health officials are getting tough on the kimchi makers. Several online sources have reported that there's been an inherent crack down on the quintessenti ... More >>

Irvine's Cho Dang Tofu & Korean BBQ Restaurant Sold

ProfessorSalt.comDumpling soondubu at Cho Dang​Sad news, soondubu lovers. The owner of Irvine's best soondubu restaurant, Cho Dang, is selling her business and closing up shop in January. While there's no shortage of restaurants in Irvine that specialize in the spicy Korean tofu stew, in this writ ... More >>

The Kimchi Chronicles With Hugh Jackman Premieres This Week on KCET

Remember The Kimchi Chronicles? The PBS documentary on Korean food featuring Roller Gi--I mean Heather Graham, Wolve--I mean Hugh Jackman, Jean-Georges Vongerichten, and his wife Marja (who is half Korean) as host? It will finally start to air tomorrow, July 7 at 7 p.m. on KLCS and July 8 at 2 p.m. ... More >>

Hugh Jackman Cooks Korean Food in PBS Series

Who knew that Wolverine could cook Korean food? The clip you see is a teaser for the PBS series, Kimchi Chronicles, which is a food documentary produced by the same man who gave us Spain...On The Road Again with Mario Batali and Gwyneth Paltrow.

Mandoorang Dumpling House Is the In-N-Out of Korean OC

[Hole In the Wall] This Buena Park diner offers great dumplings and other late-night Korean munchies

Jang Mo Gip Kimchi Big . . . in New York City?!

We here at SaFII have long loved Jang Mo Gip, the Garden Grove Korean restaurant most famous for its soups, whether haejangguk or seolleongtang. But at the Natural Products Expo last month in Anaheim, I saw a stall advertising Mother In Law's Kimchi. I had heard about the product before but figured ... More >>

Koba Tofu Grill Offers Lovable Lava

This new Irvine entry in the Korean chain offers many soft-tofu soups that burn and roil, but, boy, are they delish!

Morangak Has the Seoul of OC's Little Korean

[Hole In the Wall] This Garden Grove restaurant is famous for its Korean barbecue—but there's more

The Five Most Played-Out Food Trends of 2010

​It's the end of the year; time for retrospectives both heartwarming and heartburning. This year's trip down memory lane starts with trends that have reached the ends of their useful lives and need to be sent down the knacker's yard to die an ignominious death.

Heather Graham, Hollywood Honey, Stars In Korean Food Travel Show

​Rollergirl a.k.a. Felicity Shagwell a.k.a. Hollywood bombshell Heather Graham is going to Korea to film a food show tentatively called Kimchi Chronicles. Don't quite get the connection between this glamorous star and kimchi or Korean food? Well, remember that 2008 series that had Gwyneth Paltro ... More >>

Visiting with Southern California's Mandu King

Flickr user Drab Makyo​You might've noticed a new byline 'round these parts: Michelle Woo (hi, Michelle!). She's our newest staff writer but will occasionally weigh in 'round these parts. I mention Michelle because we stole her from the fine magazine KoreAm, which documents the Korean-American exp ... More >>

It's DIY Time At Bari Bari Japanese BBQ

OC's latest yakiniku lets you take the teppan into your own hands

Who's Next At The Most Cursed Restaurant Location In Tustin?

Edwin Goei​Here we go again. The shack in front of Tustin's Sushi Wasabi at Newport Avenue and Walnut Street, which used to house a DIY Korean BBQ called Hebaragi, has changed hands yet again. At this point, I have no other conclusion than to say that this location is cursed.

Jamillah Garden Gone; Myung Dong Kal GukSu Steps In

Edwin Goei​Jamillah Garden, long a staple of the Tustin food scene and one of only a few Islamic Chinese restaurants in OC, has called it quits, finally folding and surrendering its corner spot in a hidden strip mall to a Korean noodle house called Myung Dong Kal GukSu. Myung Dong, as those who r ... More >>

Battle Seolleongtang: Anna's vs. Jang Mo Gip

Flickr user thedelicious​You could be excused for never having heard of seolleongtang. It isn't on the radar for most people who are just starting to delve into Korean cuisine, because it's never sold in barbecue restaurants or soon tofu places. You could be excused for not knowing how to pronounc ... More >>

Soju Think You Can Drink?

The menu at JuJu Pocha exists to absorb the sneaky fuck-you-up-ness of the yogurt soju

Kogi Reveals in Time Magazine That It Got Idea From Blogger

Edwin Goei​For the most part, the recent article in Time magazine this week on Roy Choi of Kogi and the food truck phenomenon did not reveal anything new. But there was one thing in it that confirms something that I've long suspected: Kogi got the idea for their Korean tacos from a food blog ... More >>

Hebaragi's Cheeky Barbecue

From pig jowls to beef stomach to plain old steak, it all tastes amazing at this Korean eatery

New Tustin Korean Restaurant In Tustin Where There Once Was Another, and Another

Edwin Goei​I don't have a prize to give out, but I will offer a hearty attaboy to anyone who can tell me how many Korean restaurants have occupied the hut in front of Sushi Wasabi at the corner of Newport and Walnut in Tustin. My recollection has it at three. There was a joint called Happy ... More >>

Ethnic Eating 101: Korean, Part 3

alanchan @ flickr.com CC BY-NC-SA 2.0Mmmm, Korean liquor...​This week's installment keeps us in Korea, but might be better titled "Ethnic Drinking 101", since the bulk of the writing this week involves getting your Korean drink on. Koreans don't drink without eating, though, which means there are ... More >>

Ethnic Eating 101: Korean, Part 2

leena @ flickr.com CC BY-NC 2.0​As promised, today's edition of Ethnic Eating 101 concentrates on the two temperature extremes in Korean food: soon tofu, which is served literally boiling hot, and naengmyeon, which is served literally ice cold. No matter what the weather, there is a Korean dish pe ... More >>

Ethnic Eating 101: Korean, Part 1

phy @ flickr.com CC BY-NC-ND 2.0Korean restaurants have Seoul... get it?​Welcome to the new year of Ethnic Eating 101! Sorry for the unannounced hiatus; I was hung over--tequila is a delicious but cruel potion.While the wonders of Vietnamese cooking could fill up half a year's posts, the Vietnames ... More >>

Dueling Dishes Soft Tofu Battle: BCD v. Kaya

This episode of Dueling Dishes is about soft tofu. Korean soft tofu. This week we pit together two houses of curd, BCD Tofu House and Kaya, who compete in the same town, serving the same dish. That town would be Irvine, where there exists six or maybe more restaurants who offer the same speciali ... More >>

Life on the Veg: Dolsot Bibimbap at Kaju Tofu in Garden Grove

Grace LeIt's HOT.​ What better way to deal with this freakishly cold SoCal weather than by counter-attacking with some tongue-singeing Korean food? Dolsot (aka or stone pot) bibimbap is a wonderful way to keep your belly warm during T-shit unfriendly weather and Kaju Tofu in Garden Grove does it r ... More >>

Myung Dong Kal Guksu in Anaheim Is a Temple of Korean Hand-Cut Noodles

Kim Chi From Garden Grove Makes It To The New York Times

Photo by Edwin Goei​It's a long, long way from Garden Grove to New York's Lower East Side, but Young Ja Chun's kim chi had made the trip and was featured by The New York Times in a short but sweet article.

LA Times: De-odorized Kimchi Patented

Edwin Goei​Breaking news: according to a fascinating LA Times article, someone has invented kimchi that doesn't stink. Now, I didn't know kimchi stink was even a problem, let alone one that needed fixing. To me, the Korean side-dish of Napa cabbage pickled in garlic, chili and ginger does not po ... More >>

Eating Korean Fried Chicken and Getting Sauced at the Past Memories in Garden Grove

Wako Honey Pig: How Sweet It Is

New Irvine Korean Barbecue Shik Do Rak Takes the DIY Aesthetic to a New (And Delicious) Level

The Korean Barbecue at Go Goo Ryeo in Garden Grove Is Amazing, But Your Date May Not Approve

Korean Restaurant Harubang Spices up Buena Park

Making Kimchi Chic

Hashigo Tofu makes Koreanfood cool. And delicious

This Hole-in-the-Wall Life

An Ethnic Costco: HK Market in Tustin

Hwang Hae Do BBQ

Boar War

Blubber-bound blowhard battles Tony Bourdain for the favor of his beloved at Yi Dynasty

Buena Korea

Soups, stomachs and side dishes