K doesn't get home from work until 9pm most nights, and in our current state of unpacking (plus busted oven and microwave!) we're in no shape to throw a meal together at home. So our general interest in late-night dining is considerably heightened.
There's the Press in Claremont, which serves the bar menu until midnight, and Alberto's dishes up tacos 24/7. It turns out that we can another old favorite to the list: Korean BBQ, on Holt, just over the Montclair line, is open till 10pm.
Last night we pulled in, just in case they were open, and the grandpa who presides over the place gave us the thumb's up, even though no one else was there.
Usually we get the beef and cook it at our table, but we were feeling bad about keeping them late (those grills have got to be an unholy pain to clean), so we got jap chae (stir-fried glass noodles) and regular bibimbap. Actually, we tried to get something called "cool water noodles," but the waitress insisted that we wouldn't like it. Ordinarily, that wouldn't put us off in the least (I still have the strong suspicion that it resembles a Japanese dish of the same name), but we were worried that she was saying that because it was a pain for the kitchen to make at that late hour.
We have eaten at about two zillion Korean restaurants in KoTown, and none of them match KBBQ for the quality of the meat marinade. Most have better atmosphere, some have better panchan, and there is even better bibimbap. But no one beats KBBQ for marinade or friendly service.
If only they were open later....
7 comments:
Heh. The first thing I've read that's made me look forward to getting home!
Have you never been to KBBQ? First the Buf, and now this. Our little corner of the universe doesn't have enough great food to justify ignoring some of it.
D'you that Mix Bowl is actually open until 2:00 am? It's not the greatest, but might be worth keeping in rotation as 10 o'clock looms ...
Nope, never ventured into KBBQ. In fact, there's a broad swath of Holtiana that I've pretty much ignored, not because I didn't think some of it would be amazing, but because I couldn't tell the amazing from the awful, and had never really had anyone say "go There."
For my money, though, DR, the best thing about Mix Bowl, is that they DELIVER. The transplanted New Yorker in me still resents the hell about of my inability to get much more than pizza brought to my doorstep.
Er, that would the "the hell out of," etc.
The Korean BBQ place on holt's name is Kokis, a combination of "Koki" (Korean word for barbequed meat) and the english plural, "s". its kind of a Konglish joke. Also, there's a great Vietnamese place in the same shopping plaza, Pho 5.
Anon, I think the full name of KBBQ is Arirang, and I'm pretty sure that there is no pho place in that shopping center -- which is great news, because it means there is another Korean place in the vicinity for us to check out! Of course, I could be wrong, and I will drive by tonight to make sure.
Is Pho 5 the pho shop near the corner of Holt & East End? If not, I'll have to give it a try. So far, my favorite pho places, in order are Pho Century (corner of Mountain and Foothill in Upland), Pho Ha (Indian Hill & Holt), and the IH/EE one whose name I don't know.
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