Korean BBQ

We often think of BBQ as a typical American food. Each region has its own preferred species and cut of meat, its sauce, and even its side dishes. However, with the popularization of Korean culture in the US, we can now taste Korean desserts, Korean tacos, and even Korean BBQ. Thankfully, it's as easy to get Korean BBQ in Atlanta as it is to get hamburgers. Btw, can someone try to make Korean hamburgers? Wouldn't that be great? ;)

On a night when I was craving Korean BBQ, I turned to Cashew as my resident expert in Asian food to help me navigate the places on Buford Highway. Of course, she had many suggestions. After driving past a few places while trying to decide where to go, we finally stopped at Cho Dang Tofu House. An order of short ribs came with several side dishes that included kimchi, steamed veggies, sausage, bok choy, and others. The meat was as juicy and as perfect as I needed it to be. It's amazing how they can make beef taste so tender and full of flavor. Korean shortribs are one of the few things that I can eat that make me lick the bones to get every one last bit of flavor. Compared to the meat, the sides weren't that impressive. The sausage even tasted like frozen sausage that had been quickly warmed in a skillet. But hey, the sides were not while we were at the restaurant.

To complete the meal, Cashew also ordered a bipimbap dish for us. It was full of flavor and variety of textures ranging from soft rice to crunchy carrots. Together with the ribs, it made for a great Korean meal!

Bibimbap

I do try to be creative with the titles of my posts (although I normally fail in that regard), but I couldn't help but use the name of a dish for this one. I love this word, "bibimbap"! Try saying this 5 times fast :)

In case you're wondering what the heck "bibimbap" is, which I did when I first saw it on the menu at Wasabi Grill, it's a traditional Korean dish. According to Wikipedia (!), it literally means "mixed meal." Cashew and I got the seafood bibimbap, so we had a few types of fresh sashimi mixed in with white rice and veggies. It's almost like freestyle sushi, thus really light. However, typical of Asian cooking, it wasn't lacking in flavor :)

To balance the lightness of the bibimbap, the other dish we ordered was the BBQ beef stir fry . Those Koreans know how to do BBQ, even in a stir fry form... The meat was incredibly tasty and tender. The only way it could have been better if it was on the bone, as part of spare ribs ;)