Road to Seoul Korean BBQ

If you've never had Korean BBQ you are missing out.  The meat is marinated to perfection and the culmination of meats that come together is just mouthwatering.  Most places serve it with ban chan (side dishes), kimchi (fermented spicy cabbage), man eul (raw garlic), rice or rice paper, and an endless number of foods.  Honestly, Fourth of July BBQ's got nothin' on KBBQ!  Depending where you go and the many options that they provide all determine what you get out of it.  Before I left for California, Eric and I would drive all the way up to Thornton, Colorado to the only all-you-can-eat (AYCE) Korean BBQ restaurant at the time.  I'm not sure if they have anymore AYCE restaurants there but the one in Thornton, Q-Table, is more of a buffet style where there's many options to choose from in addition to Korean BBQ such as sushi, fresh fruits, and other Korean dishes you would normally order from a sit down menu.  Great thing is that it offers more foods, ideal for those who want a variety of foods to try from.  I wouldn't necessarily say that they quality is superb since buffets tend to emphasize more on quantity, but the food was good enough for me since it is a Korean-owned restaurant with real Korean foods that I would see on the table in my very own home.  

As my friends and I ventured out towards downtown L.A., we stopped by a few places in search for the best AYCE Korean BBQ.  At first we went to a place called Hae Jang Chon Korean BBQ off of 6th street but the place was packed!  After placing our names on the waiting list and standing around for about 15 minutes, we decided to leave because the wait time was well over 2 hours and I'm pretty sure there were 20+ groups ahead of us.  Not individuals.  Groups.  As much as I would have loved to eat their unlimited Korean BBQ, there was just no way we could wait that long for food.

Road to Seoul was our next and what deemed to be our last destination.  Parking wasn't as difficult to find since they have their own parking lot.  We did, though valet the car ($2) and went inside.  By the time we got inside, there was a heap of people but the wait time was only an hour (Thank God!). 

As soon as we were seated I immediately hit up the common items on the menu from option A which gives you the option to get AYCE...

-  Steamed Egg
-  Black Pork Bacon
-  BBQ Chicken
-  Bulgogi
-  Beef Sirloin
-  Whole Squid
-  Korean Pancake
-  Seasoned Beef Rib
-  Baby Octopus
-  Pork Belly
-  Galbi

And other things that I can't quite remember.. The list was quite extensive...Option A only entails every individual at the table to pay $17.99.  The list for Option B has more options to choose from.  Fortunately Option A has, to me, most of the essential and popular meats such as bulgogi, sang-gyup-sal, and galbi.

Road to Seoul brings out a bowl of salad, rice paper (which was a foreign concept to me until I moved out to L.A.), raw garlic, Korean pancakes that consist of green onions, gyeran jjim (계란찜)--steamed egg casserole, kimchi (김치)--fermented, spicy cabbage, and a Korean version of a potato salad--all I remind you are unlimited as well.  I generally take the rice paper, place a few pieces of lettuce on top, then take the meat which is lightly dipped into Road to Seoul's rock salt (which is pretty neat), and then wrap it all up and take a bite into it.  If you want to go traditional, traditional...dip the raw garlic in the this brown pasty sauce called ssamjang (쌈장) and place it on the meat before wrapping up the rice paper.

At a Korean restaurant I generally lean towards galbi but the sirloin steak here was juicy and delicious so I highly recommend you getting

Overall the place speaks for itself.  There's a high demand for Road to Seoul BBQ for a reason.  That reason is because this place is soooooo goooood!  The sole purpose of this write up is because I'm currently craving it at this very moment...

<3 Lina Chen

1230 S. Western Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90006

323.731.9292

Guppy Tea House

Guppy Tea House is this cute little hang out off of Azusa Ave. and Colima Road in Hacienda Heights.  So what I've noticed about SoCal is that there are well-known places amongst the Asian community all throughout the Los Angeles area.  My friend Lisa lives more towards the west side of southern California and she mentioned that both her and her friends from UCLA would drive all the way out to Hacienda Heights just for a bite to eat at Guppy House which can take about 30 minutes to an hour to drive.  So when I told her I've never been there before, she immediately said "we have to go here someday."  Although Lisa has taken me to Guppy House before, we went again last night after our intense work out.

The food at Guppy House wasn't all that pleasing, but I think people mainly go there because of their famous gargantuous shaved ice and their brick toasts, which I haven't yet tried.  The setting of the restaurant itself is also kind of neat which makes it a cool spot to get together.  Once you walk in, there's a ton of trees alongside of the walls.  There are green-leafed vines hanging above with blue lights emitting from the ceiling.  At night the atmosphere is calm because of the cool hues from the blues and there are mini fish tanks mounted on the walls with all different kinds of fishes inside of them.

Lisa got the Super Spicy Dumpling Soup.  Let me tell you, this dish was no joke.  It really was super spicy.  Like super duper SPICY!  It was also very tangy and sour which I didn't like very much.  The dumplings are served separately from the noodles and soup.  Corn is set aside for those who would like the option to add it in their dish.  Both Lisa and I concluded that we didn't care for this dish because of the zesty flavor.  The ingredients really didn't work well together.  The dumplings alone weren't all that bad either.

On the side we also ordered the popcorn chicken.  I often yearn for deep-fried foods so it was no surprise to see me getting the popcorn chicken at Guppy House.  Even though there are so much to choose from, that was what I wanted in the end.  The popcorn chicken here is lightly battered and fried until golden brown.  They use pepper and garlic to flavor the chicken but also sprinkle a refined chili powder atop of the chicken while it's crispy hot.  Most places don't do that, but I think that may be the a Chinese version, which I've slowly grown accustomed to since my move here.

To see what else they have click here for a list of their entire menu!

The food there isn't all that wonderful but I do hope that the dessert's as delicious as people deem them to be, especially the brick toast and their shaved ice...  Oh well, next time.

<3 Lina Chen

P.S.  I forgot to bring my camera to the restaurant and so these images are directly from www.foodspotting.com. 

7188 Colima Road, Hacienda Heights, CA 91745

626.965.7288.  www.myguppyteahouse.com

Steak House: Clearman's North Woods Inn

After a long day of spending together, Eric suggested to get steak for dinner.  It was that or shabu shabu, but knowing my lover all too well, I already knew what we were eating for dinner.  I'd ask him multiple times which steak place we were going to, but he only responded with "you'll see."   As he pulls into the parking lot, my first impression was where are we?  We were at Clearman's North Woods Inn.

Funny name for a restaurant, right?  If anything the place itself looked really cheesy on the outside with fake snow covering the roof; the interior was that of a woodsman's cabin home: dark and dimly lit with a warm ambiance.  There was even a stuffed bear for decoration.   Surprise, surprise.   I wasn't too fond of eating here.  What  made me re-think about this place was that this place was PACKED!  By the time we had our names on the list, there was already about 10-12 groups ahead of us.   That alone was impressive.   I have to admit, my mouth was salivating by the time we got to Clearman's and knowing that I had to wait 45 minutes for a table was a tease. 

We don't normally order appetizers unless if it's a great deal or we can't wait for our entrees, but knowing that Eric loves shrimp cocktails, we couldn't resist.  There were five jumbo shrimps, slightly cool to the touch, laying on a  small bed of salad.  I wasn't all that impressed, but what could I expect since this place is more well-known for their steaks.  Later on our waiter comes to our table with slices of cheesy bread, salad that's drenched in bleu cheese dressing, and another bowl filled with sliced purple cabbage (for those who like to mix the cabbage with their salads).  

The salad and the cheesy bread hit the spot.  The cheesy bread seemed a little bit too cheesy after the first bite, but I made sure there was a 50:50 ratio between the salad and the cheesy bread  so  that there was a balance in my mouth.  I love bleu cheese dressing and so I couldn't help myself for another helping or two.  By the time my medium-cooked, 35 oz. porterhouse arrived I was hungrryyy and happyyy!  Presentation wasn't all that great but that didn't matter after taking a bite of this big juicy meat.  It's so good, you have to try it for yourself.  

We don't normally go to steakhouses, but when we do we go out with a BIG... SCRUMPTIOUS... BANG! 

<3 Lina Chen

7247 Rosemead Blvd, San Gabriel, CA 91775

626.286.3579.   www.clearmansrestaurants.com