A Korean friend I met through running and a story I wrote a while back invited me to try her friend’s new restaurant this week.
Choi’s Korean Kitchen has been open almost a month. It’s in a small shopping center just outside of our downtown, in a nondescript strip mall. In our area, that is a much more likely setting for good food finds than the more aesthetically conscious downtown.
Although I had a bit of difficulty remembering which strip mall the restaurant had opened in, I wasn’t too late meeting my friend, and I found a delicious new addition to the list of places good enough to get me to pay for a meal out.
My friend had already claimed a table when I arrived, and she was sitting peacefully with a big mug of steaming tea. I need to ask what this tea is, because most of the guests were drinking it, and the owner, Choi, was walking around pouring the light-gold-colored liquid from a coffee carafe. It was different from a jasmine tea we both drank during the meal.
My friend ordered for both of us. She ordered the bean paste soup, which is made from a base of chicken broth with soybean paste in it. It’s got tofu, greens, mushrooms and various other vegetables in it and is very spicy. She called it “Korean comfort food.
It was served with a bowl of rice (their rice was a beautiful texture, very different from the kind you get at other Asian restaurants) and an assortment of toppings served in little bowls. These were for both our dishes, and my friend and the owner both called them kimchi, although I’ve heard that word is supposed to refer exclusively to a pickled cabbage dish.
My friend spooned some of the soup into a small bowl for me. She said it’s best with rice and other kimchi items in it. I loved it. This is the kind of thing that would make the perfect lunch on a painfully cold, windy, wet winter day. A Korean businessman sat down at the table next to us and ordered a bowl. There was something so calming about watching him sit at his table for one, reading his Korean newspaper, with his bowl of soup in front of him, and the little bowls of toppings arranged around it.
For me, my friend ordered bul go gi, a dish I have attempted making, from a recipe out of Everyday Food: Great Food Fast. Obviously, this dish was much better. It was great, though a bit heavy for lunch. I took leftovers back to the office with me, and B. ate them for his lunch.
As we ate, I tried to hone my pathetic chopsticks skills. I also noticed that several Korean women came in and ordered their favorite comfort food. Some were with friends, but a few came alone, looking very comfortable settled at their tables with a steamy bowl of soup and a pad of stationery, or some other writing chore.
As I told my friend, I will have to bring B. back to try this place. It may not be No. 1 in fancy decor or atmosphere, but Choi knows how to make you feel at home, and the food is definitely something I can’t cook for myself.
