Seoul

Irvine Korean Cultural Festival This Saturday

Did I say that there was a glut of food festivals this weekend or did I say that there was a glut of food festivals this weekend? There's The Anatolian Cultures and Food Festival, which starts today and runs through Sunday at the OC Fairgrounds. Then there's the OC Greek Fest, which starts tomorrow ... More >>

This Week In Food: Hilarious Restaurant Chalkboards, EFF if Effing Closed, and Names That Sounds Like Vagina

Hey, it's May! Let's take a look at what this week in food brought us... Edwin reviewed Urban Seoul in Irvine and feasted upon their post-modern bibimap. Then he shared the closing of Endless Food and Fun in Huntington...and I will keep all ironic comments about it to myself. Then he posted a phot ... More >>

Urban Seoul's Bulgogi Nation

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

Restaurant Roll Call for January 2013

So many restaurants opened this month, despite January being a notoriously slow month for the business. Irvine continues to see a boom in Asian eateries and Tustin is now home to an El Toro Bravo and their ginormous burritos. Here's our monthly list of "open and shut cases."

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?

Koo's Catering Truck: Are You Hot for Hotteok?

[Hole In the Wall] This Garden Grove food truck makes awesome Korean pancakes—but they're not pancakes!

BIG BANG - Honda Center - November 3, 2012

BIG BANGHonda CenterNovember 3, 2012So if you haven't heard about the Korean boy-band, BIG BANG, trust me, you will soon.  Riding the K-Pop invasion into the United States, led by Psy and Gangnam Style, BIG BANG is on their first U.S. tour.  For two nights in a row, they sold out the Honda ... 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 >>

Psy Gets 'Freaked Out' About His Fame. Here's Five Other Things We Learned About The 'Gangnam Style' Star In His Reddit AMA

You've seen the video (over and over and--my God, is this still a thing?--over). And all its parodies, too. ("Hitler Style," anyone?) But yesterday, for the first time, fans got a chance to actually converse with "Gangnam Style" superstar Psy (well, virtually) in his "Ask Me Anything" session o ... More >>

10 Old-School K-Pop Bands To Make You Remember Why You Fell In Love With K-Pop

Before there was SNSD, 2NE1, Big Bang, Super Junior and Wonder Girls, there was S.E.S., g.o.d., H.O.T., Fin.K.L. and 1TYM. Familiar with these names? You must be an O.G. K-pop fan. Today, the manufactured genre has flooded the global consciousness (perhaps you've heard of a little video called "Gang ... More >>

Peking Gourmet's Chachiang-Cha-Changes

The Garden Grove staple's Korean-style Chinese noodle dishes remain old-school Little Seoul

Another Concept/Name Change At "Tustin's Most Cursed Restaurant Location"

If you've read this blog for the past couple of years, you'd know of my fascination about a particular shack on Newport & Walnut in Tustin. Every time there's a change in ownership and/or concept, I write about it. I am the unofficial historian of what comes and goes in what I joking referred to ... More >>

The "World's 50 Best" List Is Published, Is Usual Steaming Pile of Irrelevance

Oh, look, this year's edition of "The World's 50 Best Restaurants", sponsored by San Pellegrino and its subsidiary Acqua Panna, has come out. Cue the precious online debates and the bored yawns from the rest of the world.Ranked lists of the best anything are patent bollocks: they necessarily reflec ... More >>

On the Line: Phillip Chang of Yogurtland, Part Two

I dropped by the original Yogurtland near Cal State Fullerton after our interview. While we loved the value, my original impression used to be that the formula was a little icy for my taste. However, this visit was different from what I remember. Sure, the pastel décor (European-inspired and design ... More >>

It's Another Day, Another Drink in 'The Day He Arrives'

In Hong Sang-soo's latest, life repeats, and then reveals itself

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

Hoa Sen Serves Cheatin' Chicken

[Hole In the Wall] The Garden Grove Vietnamese dive sells fake meats even a Midwesterner could love

Tustin's Most Cursed Restaurant Location Claims Another Business; New Cajun Joint To Try Next

Edwin Goei​I think I've become the unofficial and unintentional historian on the businesses that have come and gone at the shack on 14430 Newport Ave. in Tustin. Over the last five years I have been keeping track, there has been about four different restaurants trying and failing at that spot. Now ... More >>

On The Line: Sea Kyeong Kim of Charlie Palmer At Bloomingdales, Part Two

Photo by Meranda Carter​Our interview with Chef Kim continues as we look into his background in Korea, as well as his aspirations for the future. We also hear about his experience working for previous On The Line subject, Amar Santana. Stay in the loop by reading Part One here, and get your heirlo ... More >>

Dat Thanh Sells Nom Nom Nem Nuong Cuon

[Hole In the Wall] This Westminster family restaurant has the best barbecue spring rolls in OC—but the broken-rice dishes are even better

Neveria Flor de Mexico Offers a Treatise on Icy Treats

[SUMMER GUIDE] Where to go this summer for frozen fun you can eat

Han Seoul Oh in '5 Fast 5 Furious'

​Alliteration isn't the only thing going for 5 Fast 5 Furious--apparently the Asian guy in it is called Han Seoul Oh, says FilmDrunk. It seems like it's not a joke: Bravo, Fast and the Furious for being really subtle and naming a Korean race car driver Han in earlier movies, and then changing it t ... More >>

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

Anna's Mondu Closes In Garden Grove

Flickr user mmm-yosoLate and sorely lamented...​Anna's Mondu, the tiny labor of love of an older Korean couple in a shopping mall in Garden Grove's Korean District, has closed and been replaced by a sort of licorice allsorts (or mixture) of a restaurant (with no sign up when we drove past), its sl ... More >>

Thanh Tam Is a Corner Bakery

[Hole In the Wall] Visit this Garden Grove Vietnamese star for big bánh mìs

Five Great Pickles for National Pickle Day

Flickr user ehfisher​In honor of National Pickle Day, The Counter Custom Burgers slashed prices on their Fried Dill Pickle Chips to a dollar this Sunday, November 14 (go while you can!). There are two OC locations: Irvine and Newport Beach. You can also get fried pickle chips at Beachwood BBQ, Luc ... More >>

Wacky Snacks: SamYang Topokki - Red Pepper Paste Dipped Snack

Edwin GoeiName: SamYang Topokki - Red Pepper Paste Dipped Snack Origin: Korea Found at: H-Mart, Garden Grove Cost: $0.79

Little Arabia Grows Up

[Hole In the Wall] Andaluz Restaurant and Bakery spins a sublime shawarma

This Week in Food

Grace Le​ Five ways to know that you're eating Americanized Mexican food and more of what you missed after the jump!

Five Great Hangover Cures (And Where To Get Them)

I seem to have been blessed with the constitution of an ox; it doesn't seem to matter what I drink, I simply don't get hung over very easily. Despite a long and sordid history of drinking, I didn't get hung over for the first time until I was nearly 31, after an ill-advised pub crawl in Hong Kong wi ... More >>

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 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 >>

La Argentina Rodante: Piaggio on Wheels

Dave Lieberman​I headed up to the Bruery this Saturday to taste the Oude Tart wine barrel-aged Flemish red (very, very good, incidentally, now hurry up and bottle it so I can enjoy it at home) and parked outside was the Piaggio on Wheels Argentine food truck. After considering the typical alcohol ... More >>

[Hole in the Wall] Korean-Chinese Fusion Fun Time at Young Pung

Five Oldest Continually Operating OC Restaurants (With Request for More)

Didn't make the list, since it's a 54-year-old whippersnapper...​This year marks the 70th anniversary of Sarinana's Tamale Factory, an old-school dive in an industrial area of SanTana. How do I know its age? Birth year painted on the outside of its wall. If only Orange County restaurant chronology ... More >>

Barbara Coe Tells Followers to Stay Away from Ethnic Restaurants

I know a lot of you foodies out there like to concentrate on grub, like to pretend that the food on your table appears deux ex machina with no political back story behind it, and prefer not to wade into the real world. I'm one of those: that's why I review restaurants, as a respite from the insanity ... More >>

Forbes DOESN'T Mention O.C. as an Up-And-Coming Food Capital

I can't say I'm surprised. Besides, list like these are subjective, as all lists are. But this one, is especially so. A panel of four, consisting of "Food & Wine Restaurant Editor Kate Krader; Anya Fernald, executive director of Slow Food Nation; and Erik Wolf, president of the International Culi ... More >>

To Do Tonight - 10/10

ANAHEIM DUCKS, 7pm Head to the Honda Center to watch the Ducks in action as they battle the Boston Bruins. Honda Center, 2695 E. Katella Ave., Anaheim, (714) 704-2500 www.ducks.nhl.com JARS OF CLAY, 7pm Tonight’s show features Jars of Clay with NeedtoBreathe. House of Blues Anaheim, 1530 S. Disn ... More >>

Grub Guide

This Hole-in-the-Wall Life

Spoonfuls of Summery Hooray: Patbingsu at A.R. Supermarket

This Hole-in-the-Wall Life

Mothering Your Meat at Ku Wol San

Threat-level: Killer Tadpole

Korean box-office monster emerges from the Han River to slime us stateside in The Host

Grub Guide

This Week in Belated Happy Lunar New Year!

BCD Tofu

Great Food Moments in Weekly History

Tea and a Bit of Joe

Hwang Hae Do BBQ

Piggie Porn

Fetishizing hog at Seoul Soondae

Seoul Kitchen

What, me cook?

The Raw and the Cooked

Getting to the heart of Irvines Chinese subculture