Posted by Foodie Buddha
on December 22, 2011
Writing about Café Todahmgol in Duluth is an exercise in frustration … I just get hungry. Perhaps that is why I’ve never spent the time to relay my thoughts on this tucked away Korean restaurant way up yonder. You see, as you begin to reach the Northeast border of Atlanta, most often identified by Interstate 285 and Spaghetti Junction, Korean restaurants become as common place as even the most inundating of fast food chains.
Though these spots are everywhere, it seems as if most “ethnic food” passionistas continually identify just a handful of restaurant when discussing Atlanta’s best Korean Barbecue. Restaurants like Han Il Kwan, Hae Woon Dae, Honey Pig, Iron Age, and Myung Ga Won repeatedly get a nod. Cho Sun Ok, Sun and Moon Café, and Star Daepo also get mentioned. That’s frankly just the tip of the iceberg. I’ve been to all of those places, some several times over, and yet I’m constantly disappointed that Café T, one of Atlanta’s best Korean restaurants of any discipline, is buried beneath a heap of the less worthy.
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Posted by Foodie Buddha
on November 27, 2011
LA is the mothership of the current food truck rage that has seeped into America’s largest metropolises and bustling college towns. In fact, Roaming Hunger, where we track food trucks from all over the country, is based out of Los Angeles. So it’s no surprise that street food has become somewhat old hat in the city of Angeles whereas in other cities, it’s still starting to find its way into our culinary lexicon.
If you get into a discussion about food trucks, Kogi, a Korean taco truck pronounced with a hard g, is likely to get a mention or two. Not only did Kogi BBQ and chef Roy Choi ignite the truck craze, but they did so by fusing Tex-Mex with Korean food sensibilities. Now a little empire unto itself, Kogi’s story is synonymous with the story of the food truck and its conceptual growth. On any given day in the Los Angeles area, you’ll find one of the Kogi trucks drawing a crowd.
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Posted by Foodie Buddha
on November 22, 2011
For the past few years, Atlanta’s Korean taco market has been dominated by Tomas Lee’s Hankook Taqueria and their hand in the cookie jar food truck spin-off Yumbii. Recently, Lee expanded into Midtown Atlanta with the opening of Takorea, a near carbon copy of his concept from the backwoods of Westside.
Once you strip away the misguided name and the disjointed aesthetic of Takorea, what you are left with is a restaurant whose newborn reputation seems to vastly exceed the quality of anything that comes out of the kitchen. Takorea is, in that respect, exactly like Lee’s other establishments: viable for Atlantans due to a lack of framework against which it can be properly judged.
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Posted by Foodie Buddha
on November 03, 2011
For most red-blooded Americans, the acronym KFC necessitates notable attention to one’s senses. Upon hearing that abbreviation, we being to conjure up an iconic image of an elderly chap with soft skin, a pair of trademark Browline glasses, and a neatly pressed white suit with a black string tie. Actually, KFC conjures up that or the image of one freaking huge bucket of fried chicken. Whichever pristine picture of Americana comes out of your memory banks, Colonel Harland Sanders is still an American icon.
The Colonel’s emblazed image aside, there’s another type of KFC. A few folks have begun to recognize Korean Fried Chicken as the one true KFC. You can count me in with that crowd and I suspect that you can also count most anyone who visits Café Soho in Northeast Philadelphia as a member.
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Posted by Foodie Buddha
on August 10, 2011
As long as I’ve been around, Little Five Points has never really been known as a culinary destination. This notwithstanding the good number of eateries sprinkled up and down Moreland Ave. But before you stand up and scream foul, I’m not saying that there aren’t places with strong support from we who chow with fervor. Among them, The Vortex has some very memorable grub and more than a few people adore The Porter (my warnings aside). However, those establishments are as much about personality as anything ever produced by their respective kitchens. In some ways, that last statement serves as a synopsis for the L5P enclave. L5P is edgy, artsy, and a great part of the city… but above and beyond, it’s the people of the ‘hood that attract the outsiders.
In that spirit, OMG Tacos is the newest restaurant to welcome itself into Atlanta’s underbelly neighborhood in an attempt to get all cozy with the folk. Open toward the tail end of July in the former Sweet Lime space, OMG Tacos is Exhibit A in the rulebook for “How Not To Open A Restaurant.”
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Posted by Foodie Buddha
on May 23, 2011
Posted by Foodie Buddha
on July 28, 2010
Just a few days ago, I stepped back into Hankook Taqueria and had a fairly flat experience. I’m actually working on that post as we speak. However, owner Tomas Lee just got a whole heck of a lot of attention for his Hankook Taqueria and their Yumbii Taco Truck that is sure to bring them a lot of attention. The chef was the lead chef mentioned in today’s article in the New York Times about Korean Tacos.
While the article doesn’t actually review the quality of the food at the various establishments it mentions, it’s a good summary text for those not familiar with the Kogi BBQ story. My favorite part of the article is the supplement slideshow, though Hankook is nowhere to be found there. The picture above is from my meal way back in the day. You can see all the pictures from my meal at Hankook here. I’ll have some more pictures up soon as well. Oh, by the way, the author was none other than John T. Edge of Southern Foodways Alliance fame. You ought to follow him!
Posted by Foodie Buddha
on July 02, 2010
Last night, I rolled out of the house ‘bout 8pm hell bent on a mission. You see, Buford Highway is canvassed with Korean restaurants. It’s a cuisine I love and covered in the past and a culinary adventure reviewed extensively by stalwarts like Eat, Drink, Man (linky), Take Thou Food (linky), and Chow Down Atlanta (linky). My mission: find a place untouched by our collective obsession. That’s no small task but as luck would have it … the food gods smiled on me.
Stationed in one of the dime a dozen strip centers in Chamblee is a brand new Korean restaurant. It’s so new that they don’t even have menus and even the name seems to be debatable. The sign outside might tell you the name, but I don’t know cuz I can’t read the damn thing. For now, I’ve assigned it the title of Korea Soup House. It’s located at 7130 Buford Highway, denoted by a 24-hour sign, and sits next to Mirak, a Korean joint discussed by the aforementioned Gene Lee, aka EDM. Let’s put it like this … despite casual digs and no menus, I felt like I had fleeced them when I saw the $25.00 pre-tip bill they handed me.
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Posted by Foodie Buddha
on June 29, 2010
Intown Atlanta has no shortage of burger joints and pizzerias. Consequently, it seems that this reality costs us the opportunity to enjoy true ethnic food, as framed by our natural ethnocentrism, without having to haul booty up Buford Highway. Enter Wasabi Grill, a new Japanese/Korean smörgåsbord in the Home Park section of The Westside. While it may not be the most authentic endeavor, Wasabi Grill, like Miso Izakaya and Hankook Taqueria, is an attempt to give urban Atlanta an alternative to the Americanized sushi bars and assimilated Chinese restaurants that most of us think about when the words “Eastern cuisine” are used.
Having replaced Mosaic Halal Café, you’ll find Wasabi Grill on 14th street just across from Jimmy John’s. Open just about a week and change, I strolled by a week ago yesterday for a little “Linner.” While there isn’t anything about the place that makes me think we’re about to witness a renaissance, it did okay given the circumstances.
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Posted by Foodie Buddha
on April 21, 2010
And so should you …
Yes, Eat, Drink, Man just decided to drop some Korean goodness on those of us less fortunate. Check out his post (pictured above) and revel in the awesomeness that is Korean food. Since we can’t all hop on that plane … perhaps we can get just a little bit closer by visiting one of Atlanta’s many Korean restaurants. Might I suggest Café Todahmgol in Gwinnett, where Chow Down has been going for awhile. Yes, she’s shared this little joy with me as well as with Eat It, and the aforementioned Eat, Drink, Man.
