Restaurant: Kang Ho-dong Baekjeong
Location: 3465 W 6th St. Los Angeles, CA 90020, Wilshire Center, Koreatown
Date: February 27, 2020
Cuisine: Korean BBQ
Rating: Very solid KBBQ
This dinner was several months in the planning — mostly because it got moved around once or twice.
But in any case I always like to try new KBBQ places. This one is in busy Wilshire Center which is a cool bustling courtyard in the heart of Koreatown. There’s also a Quarters here, which people also say is good.
The interior is the usual smoke infested den. The hoods don’t do much. Afterward one reeks of char.
This is the first of 3 tables. We kept moving to find one which fit the ever shifting count of people.
Banchan here are good but way too limited. They have good “condiments” but not so much in the munching department. The kimchee, however, is excellent. I’m not so into the pumpkin/squash. There are marinated daikon for the meat, which is excellent.
Seaweed wraps.
This salad is one of the more boring Korean salads. Sometimes I love them. All depends on the dressing.
This spicy green onion and bean sprout salad was better.
Kimchee pancake! This and the kimchee are their best (only?) real banchan.
Slightly sweet and spicy dipping sauce.
Cheesy corn and egg around the grill.
Cold “soup.” Very odd. Basically a lemon or lime half-frozen slushy with marinated daikon and pepper! Weird, but kinda tasty.
Kimchee stew.
Beef brisket stew.
Spicy pork with green onions. Slightly sweet and spicy. Great dish. Maybe one of the best of the evening.
Thin beef (brisket).
On the BBQ. Pretty mild. They cook everything and she loaded this all up too fast and at first had it cooked in that middle range which is bland. We had to put it back on and crisp it up.
Short rib.
On the grill, a bit more flavor than the brisket.
Our friendly server.
Steamed egg. Good with the spicy sauce.
Skirt steak. Definitely more flavor than the other beefs.
Marinated beef short rib. The best of the BBQ beefs.
Pork belly and jowl.
The jowl has an interesting chew.
Beef tongue. Nice texture and flavor.
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Overall, this is a very good (non AYCE — I prefer non) KBBQ. Meat quality is excellent but they could use more variety. I think Park’s BBQ is better for sure. Service is friendly, but they don’t take any kind of reservations. The banchan quality is excellent but they need more of them. I particularly like the spicy/chewy ones like squid or fish cakes. None of that here. We maybe didn’t order the best — I was actually kinda distracted with the table moves and never looked at the menu, so maybe there are some other interesting things. Best things were the pork with green onions and the marinated short rib.
