Tian Chinese & Korean and Mad For Chicken, Ellicott City, MD

There is no denying I'm obsessed with Korean style fried chicken. I've accepted driving 1-2 hours away to get my fix. I was very excited that Tian Chinese & Korean in Ellicott City started serving it a few months ago. They are making a brand of "K"FC called Mad for Chicken. As is common with "K"FC, you either order in advance or you can expect to wait 30-45 minutes for them to make the chicken, but it's worth it. They offer both the regular soy garlic, and the spicy versions. While I think I prefer the flavor of Bon Chon, Mad for Chicken is a good representative of why I love this stuff: crispy skin, juicy meat, not too saucy. My preference is also for the drumsticks over the wings.
They offer whole chicken on the menu, but this is not made the same way, so I would caution folks to just stick with the wings or drums options. Additionally, the orders include the daikon in vinegar and boiled peanuts (so Asian).

One time, when waiting for the chicken order, I tried Tian's chajan myun. I had heard that the noodles were made in house from HowChow, and they started pounding away in the back when I was waiting for my order.
I had the samson-gan chajang, which came with squid and shrimp in the black bean sauce. It's served with raw onion, pickles, and some chile sauce. It was good. The noodles were light and really held onto the sticky thick black bean sauce.

 8801 Baltimore Natl Pike # 21
 Ellicott City, MD
(410) 418-8198

Portland Food Carts: The Gaufre Gourmet & Koi Fusion

Portland had the most food carts I've seen in any city. They are everywhere in town, and they offer a wide diversity of foods. While I was in town, I managed to squeeze a few in during the days I was there.
In Old Town, I dropped by the Gaufre Gourmet, which made Belgian liége style waffles. The waffle uses brioche style dough not batter, and ends up denser and more rich than regular waffles.
I ordered their ABC Waffle, which is topped with fig jam, camembert cheese, bacon, and arugula. It was really good, particularly the fig jam with the waffle.




Kitty corner to the waffle cart, Korean taco truck, Koi Fusion was parked, so I popped across to give them a try as well.
I ordered their kalbi, short rib, taco and the spicy pork taco. Both were really delicious. The tacos reminded me of the ones from the Kogi trucks in LA, but they were cheaper, and the corn tortillas were more fresh, so they did not have to cook them like they do on the LA truck. Portland win.

Soyo Korean Barstaurant, Las Vegas

One late night in Vegas, I went to Soyo Korean Bartaurant on the south side of town. It reminded me of a Japanese izakaya, but the cuisine was Korean and soju was the drink of choice.
When you walk in, the decor is whimsical with shelves of manga along the walls, and several private booths elevated above the main floor of the restaurant.
The menu is a wide array of Korean bar food including soups, noodles, and side dishes. Since I was flying out the next day, we only drank a pitcher of beer, but next time I go, I plan to try their sojus.
Upon arrival, you are immediately served a container of cold barley tea poured out in metal cups. It was a refreshing start. They also brought a variety of bon chon including kimchee, seaweed, and a kind of cole slaw.
We started with the grilled squid and garlic. It came in a ball of aluminum foil which was unwrapped at tableside. The fragrance of the garlic was the first thing you were hit with. The squid was light and flavorful
We also ordered the dduk bok-kee, the rice dumpling and fish cakes with cabbage and carrots. They pulled no punches on the spice and the dumplings were wonderfully soft.
My friend Alex was intrigued about their dish with sweet corn & green onion topped with mozzarella. Served in a cast iron plate, this was surprisingly satisfying.
I knew right away, I had to try their version of Korean fried chicken. Their's was more saucy than my preference, but packed with spicy, soy garlic flavor. Not Bon Chon, but not bad at all.
For our last course, we ordered the gamja jeon, or potato pancake. The Koreans like theirs savory, dipping it in a little soy sauce.
This is a great place for late night snacks and drinks, and I plan to drop by Soyo again when I return to Vegas this summer.

7775 S Rainbow Blvd
Ste 105
Las Vegas, NV
(702) 897-7696

Kimko Seafood, Korean Style Sashimi in Ellicott City, MD

I often find that going to Korean restaurants can be challenging. Usually, websites for their restaurants are completely in Korean, and at the restaurant, their menus are only partially translated. However, with research and the blessing of Korean speaking friends, I'm discovering incredible Korean places nearby.

My friends Anna & Davis told me about a Korean style sashimi place deep in Ellicott City, just west of the Enchanted Forest site. It used to be called Bethany Seafood Restaurant, but they recently changed their name to Kimko Seafood. They told me that this place will often have San Nakji, the live octopus sashimi, as well as lobster sashimi.
We went this past evening with a group of friends and ordered a large sashimi course. Alas, they had run out of the octopus that night, but I tried several kinds of sashimi that were new to me.

After toasting with some shots of soju, we started with the bonchon appetizer courses. They warm you up with a wonderful cup of congee. We then proceeded to receive 19 different items on plates and in bowls to get us started. This included a large seafood pancake, a soup with seaweed, potato salad, salmon collarbone, cooked eel, and several other preparations of fish. My favorites were the plate of grilled chicken gizzards, and a hot stone bowl of rice with fish roe. It was an unbelievable spread.








They brought in the "large" sashimi platter which was a 1 meter long wood board chock full of sashimi. Anna told us that Koreans eat sashimi a little different that the Japanese. First, while they sometimes use soy sauce with wasabi, they prefer to dip the fish into kochujang, the Korean style red chili pepper paste.
Also, she told us Koreans prefer fish that tend to be more chewy than the Japanese. Whereas tuna is the staple fish in the Japanese palate, the most popular item for the Koreans is halibut. This was reflected in our "plank" of food as a quarter of it consisted of halibut. I estimate we were served about 40-50 pieces.

On the other end of the board, we received sashimi items, I was accustomed to from eating at Japanese places. We received about 60 pieces of delicious white tuna, salmon, and yellowtail.
In the center, they put the specialty items of the house. These sea creatures were stored alive in tanks in the front of the restaurant, and were dispatched only a few minutes before they arrived at the dinner table.

The first item I tried was the lobster sashimi. We were served only the tail. The rest would come later. It came split open and sliced into bites and topped with some roe. The raw lobster still has a wonderful sweet flavor, but since it is uncooked, the texture is different. There is a little resistance when your first bite in, but just past that, it melts in your mouth.

Next I tried the abalone sashimi. It's texture was close to being like squid or a mushroom. It does not have a very strong flavor.

I was very excited as well to try sea cucumber sashimi. I love cooked sea cucumber which has a slightly rubbery texture like tendon when prepared this way. In it's raw form, it is a completely different experience. It is very briny in flavor, and the texture is similar to raw octopus. I loved it.


Our last and final item might have been the least popular at the table. That was the sea squirt sashimi. I wasn't sure how to eat this, and I did not realize they had a soft shell which you could not chew. Instead you just eat the soft bits. My experience was varied with this item. The first piece I had was bitter, but subsequent bites were less so. I would say I am neutral to sea squirt sashimi.








When we had our fill of sashimi, the remaining parts of the lobster, the claw and the head, followed. Of course, we first welcomed 5 more plates of vegetable bonchon to the table.
With the lobster, they take the remainders and, with some fish, toss it into a spicy broth to cook the whole time we were eating. The resulting soup had a flavorful broth that, despite already eating my fill, I could not resist going for seconds and thirds.
With that course, the meal had ended. We were served sliced oranges for dessert, and we were done. It was an incredible dinner. I'm already looking forward to going back to try their San Nakji.

10176 Baltimore National Pike #116
Ellicott City, MD
(410)480-1442

Birthday Bo Ssäm Dinner at Momofuku Ssäm Bar

I was lucky to get together a good group of friends and relatives in New York for my birthday dinner, so we went to Momofuku Ssäm Bar and ordered their Bo Ssäm, their slow roasted whole pork butt.
We started with a few appetizers. First up was honeycrisp apple kimchee with Benton's bacon. Honeycrisp apples are my favorite apple, and the kimchee maintained the crispiness of the fruit. The sweetness paired well with the smoky-salty flavor of the Benton's bacon.
One of the specials was a variant on Momofuku's famous pork belly buns, so Fougoo ordered that. Instead of hoisin and onion, this version had pickled ginger, avocado, basil and mayo, and the pork belly was fried. It was actually lighter tasting than their usual bun.






I had a great time eating the Bo Ssäm. The pork butt was massive. It must have been 10 lbs. With 7 of us eating, we ended up with about a third of the butt leftover.
The bo ssäm is served with lettuce, a dozen raw oysters, rice and four "sauces": kimchee, pureed kimchee, ginger & onion in oil, and gochujang (the Korean red chili sauce). The way you eat it, is you take a piece of lettuce, grab some pork, and then you add a combination of the different elements, almost like a taco. I liked using the raw oyster because of the way it added a briny flavor to the pork as well as the texture of the oyster itself.
When were had our fill of pork butt, we celebrated with a whole crack pie from the Momofuku Milk Bar next door. It was really sweet and buttery. I was happy to celebrate my birthday with such a great meal in such wonderful company.


207 2nd Ave.
(corner of 13th + 2nd)
New York, NY

DaMoim Korean Restaurant, Annandale, VA

Korean fusion food can be great. Eating at the Kogi taco trucks in LA was one of my favorite eating experiences last year. When I heard that the Korean restaurant DaMoim in Annandale, VA was trying to serve Korean fusion cuisine, I had to give them a try.
We started with an appetizer of summer rolls. They came with rice paper loaded with vermicelli noodles, shrimp, mango and veggies. I particularly liked the spicy dipping sauce.
We ordered two sets of Korean tacos: the galbi (beef rib) and jaeyook (spicy pork). I was disappointed that the tacos were more like those from Taco Bell than from a tacqueria, using flour tortillas and loaded with shredded cheese and lettuce. I liked the spicy pork a lot, but would have liked it better with a fresh corn tortilla and possibly kimchi rather than the toppings they chose.
On the other hand, the DaMoim sliders were outstanding, and actually quite good sized. They were topped with cheese and yummy caramelized kimchi.
We also tried an order of their Korean style fried drumsticks. They only had a straight soy flavor, but their frying was just the right crispiness I love about Korean fried chicken.

7106 Columbia Pike
Annandale, VA
(703) 354-3211

Rainpia, Korean Bar Food in Ellicott City

Being such a fan of Korean style fried chicken, I was excited to go to Rainpia, a small Korean bar located in Ellicott City, MD to try their version.

We ordered drinks first, starting with Kiwi fruit soju. It was freshly made and served from a bowl using a wooden spoon. You could barely tell that it was loaded with alcohol- very dangerous and delicious.

Rainpia offers three preparations of their fried chicken- the regular with a soy-based sauce, an unsauced straight fry, and a spicy soy-based sauce. The flavors are good, but alas, Rainpia's chicken is not as well fried/rendered as my favorite, Bon Chon. It is a little more messy.
My favorite was the straight fried chicken. It is served unseasoned, but then you can dip it into a mix of salt and pepper.

We also ordered a side of dduk bok-kee, the spicy rice dumplings with fish cake to go with the meal.
While decent, I would still make the trek to Annandale for the Bon Chon.

10194 Baltimore National Pike
#103
Ellicott City, MD
(410) 418-8992

Honey Pig Gooldaegee comes to Ellicott City, MD

Honey Pig Gooldaegee in Annandale, VA might be my favorite Korean BBQ place in the MD/DC/VA area, and I was excited that they opened a new branch in Ellicott City, MD last week.
Like the original, the place is open 24 hours a day. I went for lunch on opening day at 1:00 pm and there was a line out the door already.
Inside, the place is a little more open than the Virginia branch, and the music is not as loud. However, the food and prices were comparable.
We grabbed some aprons off the wall to prevent splatter, and ordered up some Hite beer. For our meats, we got the Kalbi, the pork rib, and my favorite, the thick spicy pork bellies.
I worry that because now that this place is much closer to where I live, I might be too tempted to grab some delicious Korean BBQ at all hours of the day. Ahh- who cares?








10045 Baltimore National Pike (Rte 40)
Ellicott City, MD 21041

Sik Gaek, Flushing, NY

We went to Sik Gaek in the Flushing neighborhood of Queens NY over the weekend, and it was one of the most amazing and authentic food experiences I've ever had. Their specialty is "Chul pan" or "iron plate" cooking at the table.
We arrived around 7:30 in the evening to an already packed restaurant blasting hip hop (I do recall hearing the whole Marshall Mathers LP) with a small line of eager diners. I sense lines are common here as they have a roofed area specifically for people waiting to get into the place.
Once seated, they quickly whet our appetites with fried egg made on the hot grill. We started with one of their specialties, San Nakji, or raw octopus.
The octopus is dispatched just prior to prep, and it's legs are quickly diced up and brought to table, still moving. You can select from 2 sauces, the spicy gochuchang or the sesame oil & salt.
Now I'm a fan of tako wasabi in Japanese cuisine, but that is usually from a frozen octopus. The san nakji was just so amazingly good because it's that much more fresh. Will a minimal struggle as the suckers still work a little, it was oh so worth it.


We ordered a nice Gilghuri Tteokbokki, the rice dumplings in spicy sauce with fishcake and hard boiled eggs.
The grand part of the meal was the Nak Bool Combi Chulpan. Imagine hotpot with a spicy broth loaded with veggies like bean sprouts, cabbage, & cucumber. It's then filled with seafood like mussels, shrimp, baby octopus, and giant clam. Within the broth there are rice dumplings and noodles.
Our order included thin slices of raw ribeye, and then the staff pulls a live octopus from the tank and just plops it on top. Sure it moves for a short time, but is soon cooking in the boiling stew.
The end result is like a Korean flavored bouillabaisse. The clams were large, the octopus was so tender, and towards the end, the veggies, noodles, & dumplings have soaked up so much of the broth, they were fantastic.
Oh, did I mention the drinks. We ordered Oiju, a cucumber infused soju that was clean and mild in flavor. Next time we go we need to get the Soobakju, watermelon soju served directly from the melon.
Sik Gaek is worth the trek to New York City's outer borough and worth any wait in the line outside the place- just a truly great food adventure.

A couple more videos from fougoo (from the opposite angle):





161-29 Crocheron Ave
Flushing, NY 11358
(718) 321-7770