The Finest LA Koreatown Eating places, In accordance To Greta Lee
In a latest interview with Eater Los Angeles, Greta Lee shared her favourite, go-to Korean dishes that she at all times orders from her native Korean spots. The Previous Lives star grew up in Koreatown — the place her mother and father nonetheless dwell — and lately moved again to Los Angeles after 17 years in New York.
Since she’s been again, Greta and her household (now together with her husband and two sons) have been creating new recollections over Korean meals — like naengmyeon and jjajangmyeon — as they take a look at new eating places and return to previous childhood faves.
Listed here are Greta’s go-to Korean orders from her favourite eating places, for the following time you end up craving Korean meals:
1.
Mul-naengmyeon and bibim-naengmyeon from Yuchun — “Yuchun is a place where my brother and I have an official standing lunch date,” Greta mentioned. It is identified for its mul-naengmyeon and bibim-naengmyeon. “Mul” means water in Korean, and “naengmyeon” means chilly noodles (and on this case, buckwheat noodles). So whereas mul-naengmyeon is served in broth, bibim-naengmyeon is served in a spicy sauce.
As for Greta and her brother, they at all times get a plate of steamed leek, pork dumplings, and mul-naengmyeon in that order. “This is a full endeavor,” she mentioned. “There are days when that’s the only thing I have to eat. My brother calls it ‘one-meal day.'”
2.
Jjajangmyeon and jjamppong from Younger King — “It was probably one of the first restaurants in Koreatown that we went to as a family,” Greta recalled. The Korean Chinese language restaurant, she mentioned, gives dishes which might be tentpole meals for Korean immigrants, like jjajangmyeon and tangsuyuk.
She advisable having each jjajangmyeon — “fermented black bean noodles” — and its sister dish, jjamppong — a spicy, seafood-based noodle dish — collectively. Luckily, to spare your tastebuds the Sophie’s selection of all of it, some eating places now provide a jjajangmyeon-jjamppong combo in a break up bowl. “I profoundly appreciate that,” Greta mentioned.
As Greta famous, doenjang-jjigae — a fermented soybean paste stew — is a cornerstone meals for Korean folks. “I remember [it] smelling distinctly like feet to me as a child, but [it’s] now a dish that I can’t live without,” she mentioned. Nonetheless, she identified that Doma is understood for its kalguksu — “hand-cut noodles in a clam broth” — pictured under.
4.
Seolleong-tang from Solar Nong Dan — “It’s incredible and where you go when you want tang, which is a soup,” Greta mentioned, admitting that she continuously goes there alone to eat (and that the restaurant’s latest location truly was a Sizzler’s).
Whereas Greta personally loves their seolleong-tang — ox bone soup — she made positive to say Solar Nong Dan’s tteokbokki and cheese-topped dishes: “They come in with a torch and will light it on fire for you like it’s some sort of savory creme brulée.”
Working example, Sulga provides successful of beets (or wild yams, as their menu describes) to their mul-naengmyeon — once more, chilly buckwheat noodles in broth — that provides the broth a pinkish tint, as you may see within the picture. “It’s this beautiful pink that’s so Instagram-friendly, but it was clearly not the owners’ intent,” Greta mentioned.
6.
Seafood Barbecue from The C (DaeBuDo) — Launched to The C by a good friend, it is a newer restaurant on Greta’s listing. Not like the everyday meat-based Korean barbecue eating places, The C gives seafood barbecues, reminiscent of scallops, clams, and shrimp. “There’s a fully immersive experience involving seafood barbecue,” she mentioned. “It feels almost cinematic.”
Greta defined how she approaches seafood barbecue: First, she grills the mollusks/shellfish. As a result of you will get scallops wrapped in foil with broth, Greta then recommends including the broth to a rice dish when the scallops are performed grilling. She additionally will get seafood noodle dishes, noting, “And you have to eat it all while drinking soju and beer.”
7.
“The King’s Meal” from Yongsusan — “Yongsusan is probably my mother’s favorite restaurant,” Greta mentioned. Whereas “the king’s meal” is not precisely the identify of a Korean dish, Yongsusan makes a speciality of genuine hanjeongsik (a full-course meal) harking back to meals served to Korean kings through the Goryeo Dynasty.
Since Yongsusan gives full-course meals, there isn’t any particular dish Greta particularly advisable ordering. Nonetheless, she did have a realization there throughout a good friend’s fortieth birthday celebration as they ate muk — acorn jelly. “To me, it was one of those foods that just felt kind of embarrassing growing up. And now as an adult, I’m at this birthday party with grown-ups who aren’t Korean at all, eating bowls of acorn jelly,” she mirrored. “I just felt overjoyed that Korean food could be recognized and appreciated in a much more expansive way. It just feels so different from what I knew growing up.”
Effectively, there ya have it! What do you consider these dishes? Have you ever eaten any earlier than or been to any of those eating places? Let me know your ideas within the feedback under!
