KFC at home

I was craving Korean Fried Chicken big time earlier in the week. After work I hopped over to Bon Chon in K-town and picked up a large order of the #1 that I had placed about 20 minutes earlier. The #1 is called the special and is a mix of wings, drumettes and drumsticks. I asked for a mixture of hot & spicy and garlic soy.

I must admit, I was quite self-conscious toting my big Bon Chon bag on the subway. The word chicken is written in the bottom corner and though I brought a plastic bag to help rein in the smell, I'm sure the other passengers were noticing something was up! I just kept telling myself that there are many smells one can encounter on the train that are a lot worse than spicy fried chicken.




Bon Chon holds up ridiculously well. After the hour plus commute, the skin was still crispy and the chicken still hot. The box was divided in half, which each side containing 2 full drumsticks and 5-6 small pieces, maybe even more!



To drink, we busted out a bottle of Hitachino Red Rice Ale. The beer's sweetness played really well with the chicken, especially the spicy pieces which were at extra strength that day.

$6 Bad Lunch, $6 Good Lunch

My lunch totally sucked yesterday. I went to the normally dependable Cafe Zaiya near my office and was excited to see there was one chicken oyako-don left. These seem to sell out quickly here and I generally eat lunch later than most. When I got back to my desk and opened the container, I couldn't find any chicken. After double checking the label confirmed it was a chicken oyako-don, I poked at the yellowish-grey mass and unearthed three tiny nuggets of poultry. The dish was overwhelmed with bamboo shoots and julienned strips of pink-edged fishcake. There's a very good chance I don't know what I'm talking about, but I've come to expect chicken oyako-don to be composed of onions, scallions and egg. Nothing more, nothing else. After a few bites of rice and chicken, I dumped the rest into the garbage. What a disappointment.

Today I decided to go out for lunch. I took the bus up 5th Avenue to Koreatown and settled on Woorijip, which is a sorta fast food place with lots of prepackaged items, as well as a small hot and cold buffet. In the back they have a little counter called something like the Noodle Hut. You place your order with the ahjuma and a few moments later you have a freshly prepared bowl of noodles or hotpot. I ordered sujebi, which is a type of Korean noodle. The chewy sujebis kind of look like a cross between a flattened piece of gnocchi and dduk, Korean rice cake. The sujebis are served in a very basic fish-based broth (dried anchovies most likely), which gets thickened by the noodles. There are lots of scallions along with thin slices of zucchini and carrot. A small dish of kimchi and ohdeng accompanied. Completely satisfying, I couldn't have asked for a more perfect lunch.

P.S. This totally made me have garlic breath for the rest of the day, hooray!

Team Ubuntu bids Rabbi Paul adieu and eats a lot of Korean BBQ

After six years of dedicated service to the children of South Africa, Rabbi Paul is saying farewell to Ubuntu. If I have any say in the matter, he will pursue a career in televangelism, make obscene amounts of money and dedicate the rest of his life to Ubuntu – but for free! No, actually, he’ll PAY.

To properly send him off, Jake and Lara (with a healthy dose of subterfuge, courtesy of Sus) planned a surprise goodbye party for Rabbi Paul at Woo Chon in Koreatown. While we waited for Sus to deliver the “package”, we got started with a couple of Hite beers. After a whole night of them, this is where I felt like I was. Doesn’t it look grand?!

Upon the honoree’s arrival and the yelling of “surprise!”, we all sat down so the amazing feast could begin. First, they brought out little dishes of kimchi and all of the other little deliciousnesses they serve you at Korean restaurants, which I just learned are called banchan. My favorites were the octopus and drunken crab type thingies. I was making some amazing combo-bites with the octopus and something else, but I don’t remember what it was. Whatever it was, it had a great texture. It was probably some sort of sliced up radish dish.

Next, our waitress brought out some yummy Sae Woo Bojm, which are steamed shrimp dumplings wrapped in lettuce. They looked just like adorable brussels sprouts! After that, it was time to get really serious, so we started the table-grilling portion of the evening. We began with a huge plate of what I believe was Wang Galbi (prime rib filleted off the bone – king sized!). We grilled it up, flipping it with our chopsticks (just like YL does when making bacon) until it was ready to be eaten. Most of us like our beef on the rare side, so it was ready pretty quickly. I took my first piece and wrapped it in a leaf of romaine with a bit of tasty red bean paste. It was mouthwateringly delicious! Soon, to aid in my consumption of savory galbi, I abandoned the whole lettuce leaf idea entirely. Jake remarked that he was on the wrong half of the table with me, Rabbi Paul and Sus, because of our take no prisoners attitude toward eating. We were ruthless and probably ate twice as much as the other half of the table. The prime rib was followed by Dak Gui (sliced chicken breast) and a vegetarian friendly bibimbop. Jake was feeling orderer’s remorse over the former. While I thought the chicken was really tasty, I probably would not order it again. Instead, I would opt for the triple layer pork, provided all of my dining companions were ok with that program.

Then came the piece de resistance – Teak Galbi, which is parenthetically noted on the menu as being PREMIUM. This delectable galbi is thick cuts of Black Angus rib. Feast your eyes on this picture of it sizzling on our table:


Here’s a picture of Newell gnawing (phrase coined by Dr. Lief):


And here is one of me gnawing on the same bone (Gross? Sure. Amazingly delicious? Absolutely.):


After speeches, toasts and an inordinate amount of beer and sake, Newell was presented with this wonderful gift (it’s a picture of the cutest little girl ever):


Here’s a great picture of Lara and the rabbi:


Then we had fruit and some more beer and sake. At the end of the night, everything pretty much looked like this:


Well Paulie, mazel tov! Your next group of co-workers will be some of the luckiest people in the entire workforce! But then again, I have never actually worked with you, so what do I know?

I do know this. Once I was eating breakfast at Everest Diner with Newell and he gave me his last piece of bacon. For no apparent reason, other than he knew that I probably wanted it, as I love bacon more than just about anything. To me, that is really the spirit of ubuntu, and Paul’s got so much of it. Thank you and catch you later on down the trail, albeit a short one (Remember P? I called you three times today to ask you silly questions! Oh, and we don’t even work together now.).

Pinky Chodai*

After a soon dubu jigae dinner at Seoul Garden in Koreatown with Margo, we decided we needed to try Pinkberry, the LA-based frozen dessert chain that's been causing quite a stir.

I wanted a small with three toppings, but the small can only handle 2, so instead of just getting two toppings, I opted for a medium. I'm an idiot.


I went with mango, strawberries and mini mochi atop regular Pinkberry. I barely made a dent because I was so full from dinner. Did I already mention that my eyes are about a million times bigger than my stomach? The interior of the store is super cute with a high open ceiling and very modern touches. There's also a wall of Alessi products you can purchase. Strange. As for the Pinkberry itself? It was tangy and tasty, but I'm not much of a frozen yogurt fan, so this isn't something I'd seek out regularly.

*This translates into "I want Pinky" or "Pinky please" and it's reference to a commercial for a brand of Japanese mint candies, which thanks to Youtube, you can see for yourself. This has nothing to do with Pinkberry, aside from the obvious fact that both products have the prefix "pink."