Beanstalk Cafe

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I'm really loving all these small cafes popping up all over the city where you can catch either a bite for breakfast, lunch, or something in between.  Beanstalk Cafe is a welcome sight in an otherwise dreary block. 

Lately it seems that there is a new twist to a breakfast item around every corner.  Just when you think you've seen every breakfast and eggy concoction, a new one comes along.  This is the first I've seen of a toast cup.  You almost have to admire how innovative this small breakfast bite is.  A piece of toast is wrapped up to form a cup and then stuffed with egg and sausage.  Cute concept, but I wished the toast cup was served warm and the egg was runny.

Most of the sandwiches here are pretty traditional, but the Korean sandwich was quite yummy.  A sandwich gently piled high with pickled cucumbers, lettuce, tomato, pickles, onions, mayo, and a good amount of gochujang (Korean spicy sauce).  

Address:                    Beanstalk Cafe
                                   724 Bush St.
                                   San Francisco, CA
 

Type:                          cafe

Popular chomps:        Korean sandwich
                                    toast cup

Chomp worthy:           Korean sandwich

Takashi

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Anthony Bourdain's visit to Takashi seems to have made a decent impact on this Japanese and Korean grilling restaurant.  Takashi specializes in grilling meats of the offal kind. This literally no reservations restaurant has an average wait of 2 hours for dinner plus they ran out of the one dish I had my heart set on - the raw beef with uni (niku uni)

A couple small dishes ("panchan") are set on the table to start off the meal: kimchee, marinated beansprouts, and cabbage with a miso-vinegar type dressing.  Its not like other Korean restaurants that serve unlimited panchan dishes - this one costs $2 to refill.

Gorgeously presented, the yokke is made of raw beef, sesame seeds, seaweed and then mixed tableside with a raw quail egg.  An Asian take on beef tartare.  Really more pleasing to the eye, than anything exciting on the palate.  The meat was fresh, but had a couple chewy, stringy pieces.

All mixed up.

Its been a little over a year since my fois rampage (see post HERE) so I was a little excited to see a fois burger on the menu.  Unexpected.  It was more of a small patty in a tiny cast iron pan with a quail egg.  The chocolate sauce was not as weird as I thought it would be, but it was definitely chocolatey.  Somehow the sweetness of the chocolate sauce worked with the sweetness of the fois.  The quail egg, on the other hand, was a little misplaced and straddled the line of too cooked to be runny and to runny to be cooked so it ended up just sticking to the pan. 

A dipping sauce of sesame seeds and some sesame oil are provided for dipping your freshly grilled meats into.  I found that my meats were well seasoned enough and I didn't need any.

Takashi has a several "tasting" meat platters so its hard to pick which one to go with - tongue tasting, stomach, etc.  I couldn't decide so I went with the Chef's selection mixed platter (Horumon-Moriawase) that had a little bit of everything: first stomach, liver, sweetbreads, large intestine, and second stomach.  The meat quality was decent, but nothing spectacular.  Each piece was distinctly different in taste and texture with sweetbreads being my obvious favorite.  Am I weird to think it was kinda fun to try two of the four cow stomachs.

Bakudan is the Korean take on rice balls.  They are balls of rice sprinkled with sesame seeds then lightly wrapped with seaweed.  The rice was not toasted or grilled, but soft.  Didn't particularly love this dish, but with a dinner full of meats it was nice to have some starches to change it up.

Portions here are very small so in a last attempt to fill my tummy, I had to order another meat dish.  The ribeye (rosu) was the largest piece of meat from the whole dinner.  The servers suggest a 2 minute grilling time, but I found that taking it off the grill a little earlier gave it the more medium rare touch that I like.

The meal ends with a cup of barley tea, which is traditionally Korean.  The tea is earthy and strong, but soothing.

It made me laugh a little when the check was presented with pieces of gum, which is common when eating out at Korean restaurants, but I was surprised to see an acclaimed expensive restaurant provide Wrigley's gum. 

 

Address:                    Takashi
                                   456 Hudson St.
                                   New York NY 
 

Type:                          Japanese/Korean

Popular chomps:        kalbi
                                    niku uni
                                    tongue
                                    shabu shabu
                                    yooke
                                    fois gras kobe beef burger

Chomp worthy:           fois gras kobe beef burger   

Art's Cafe

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Art's Cafe is one of those local gems that now with the popularity of Yelp everyone knows about, but even with its growing popularity the taste and quality is still awesome.  This small greasy spoon is counter seating only and often has a line outside, but the line moves really fast due to placing the order while still in line.  Love the efficiency!  Not only does Art's Cafe serve possibly the best hash browns in the city, but it also serves Korean foods, like bi bim bop.  Still the most popular things are the omelets and hash brown sandwiches.

The hash brown sandwich come with toast with a random selection of jam.

Hashbrown sandwiche at Art's Cafe-  2013 7x7 SF's Top 100 Eats

Two eggs served any way you like sit on the side of the the massive hash brown sandwiches.  The hash browns are served super, super crispy, but can be made a little more "potatoey" if you prefer.  They are served almost like an omelet stuffed with mushrooms, hot sausage, and spinach inside.  Avocado (a must!)can also be added.

There are a couple other hash brown sandwiches to choose from, but don't feel restricted because they can be somewhat customized as well.  This one was the sausage and onions, but without onions.  Also, added mushrooms and avocado too. 

updated - Working my way through the 2013 7x7's SF big eat 100 things

Address:                   Art's Cafe
                                  747 Irving St.
                                  San Francisco, CA

Type:                         Korean/brunch

Popular chomps:       hash brown sandwich
                                   samurai omelet
                                   bi bim bop                                   

Chomp worthy:         hash brown sandwich       

Jae Bu Do

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I've had a lot of Korean bbq in my life, but Jae Bu Do was an eating experience I've never had before.  Korean seafood bbq!  No to mention it doesn't exist in the Bay Area.  Let's face it, regular Korean bbq is delicious, but its more like been there, done that!  Jae Bu Do is all seafood and also challenges your cooking skills since seafood cooks a lot faster than meat.

Jae Bu Do's menu - notice the different prices for cash and credit.

The waitstaff here can get pretty busy helping the diners cook their seafood, but if you absolutely need something, then ringing the bell always helps.

As with all other Korean restaurants, a handful panchans (banchan) are laid on the tables for nibbling.  The kimchee has a ton of spicy kim chee flavor.

Peppers, carrots, and cucumbers make for some fresh veggie noshing between seafood bites.

Just one glove is given so you can open and eat the shellfish without burning your hands.  Its a little Michael Jackson, but its a must do because even with the glove on some of the seafood is still pretty hot.

Whats Korean food without Korean beer?  Hite is the only Korean choice though, but still a must when eating bbq.

A seafood "ceviche" is also brought along with the banchan.  Lots of fish, squid, and shrimp are mixed with hot sauce and cabbage.

This seafood pancake is probably one of the better tasting seafood pancakes I've had.  Not oily at all, but full of flavor and nice crispy edges.

Love cheese corn!  This cheese corn was served in a very shallow pan.  Gloppy cheese mixed with sweet corn kernels.  Not as sweet or rich as others I've had, but still delicious.

The egg custard is a common item at Korean bbq.  This seafood one is no different.  Light and airy, although I've always found most Korean egg custards to be a little bland for my taste.

Believe it or not, this combination B is meant for 3 people.  A seriously large tray of seafood that includes: conch, oyster, shrimp, large clam, ork shell, abalone, squid, mussel, sweet potato.  Its hard to say what was the best seafood, but all of it was fresh and tasty.

The servers put each of the seafood on the grill methodologically and come to check on it every once in a while so you don't have to worry too much about overcooking it.

As always the usual sauce for Korean bbq, but I think the seafood is fresh enough that no sauce is really needed.

A large bowl of noodles and vegetables finished off the meal.  Also, if you had more room the roasted sweet potatoes under the grill make for a tasty sweet snack.

     

Address:                    Jae Bu Do
                                   474 N. Western
                                   Los Angeles, CA
 

Type:                          Korean

Popular chomps:        seafood platter                                 

Chomp worthy:           seafood platter     

Seoul Gomtang

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Seoul Gomtang is another example of why its a must to cross the bridge into Oakland for some good food.  Most people know Korean food as just grilled meats, but crossing the Bay (also venturing into the South Bay) will get you so much more.  Seoul Gomtang offers a couple dishes that I've never really been able to locate in the city, one being gomtang. 

The kimchee here is scarce, but all quality.  From the green onion and cucumber, pickled daikon, and traditional cabbage, each were soaked in spicy flavors and crunchy.

Seoul Gomtang has several types of gomtangs.  The suk uh gom tang is the mixed beef  version with thin noodles.  Almost like a pho dac biet (combination #1), this soup has beef tongue, tripe, brisket, essentially the works.  The broth is very, very plain and you will need to add something to do, whether it be kimchee, green onions, or salt.  The salt actually brings out the subtle beef flavor in the broth.

The gori gomtang is a milky broth with ox tail pieces.  Compared to the suk uh gom tang broth, this one is a little more flavorful, but no noodles.  Simple, but homey, I can see why this place is packed with people sipping this soup.  It's also a popular hangover soup, in the same category as pho.

Unlike most soups that I'm used to eating, these soups are meant to be flavored.  Usually with a sprinkle of green onions and ....

SALT!  I don't even know when the last time it was that I added salt to a finished food product, especially at a restaurant, but salt is a must for this soup.  I'd say anywhere from 1 to 2 spoonfuls is good enough, anything more makes the last couple drops too salty.

The pickled jalapenos in spicy soy sauce is used for dipping the pieces of meat.  Its the perfect sauce with just the right amount of spicy and saltiness.

No Korean meal is complete without a bowl of rice in a metal bowl.  I like to scoop the rice into the soup to soak up any last bits of flavor.

The mandu (dumplings) here are huge!  They are almost the size of fists.  Being Chinese, I'm used to small dumplings with delicate skins, these are quite opposite.  The wrappers are thick and chewy.  Each dumpling is stuffed with egg, chicken, and tofu.  They aren't super flavorful, but they do grow on you after the first one.

A peek inside the dumpling.

       

Address:                   Seoul Gomtang
                                  3801 Telegraph Ave.
                                  Oakland, CA
 

Type:                         Korean

Popular chomps:       hae mool pa jun (seafood pancake)
                                   gomtang (oxtail soup)
                                   jin man doo (dumplings)
                                   soon doo bu  (tofu soup)
                                   samgyetang (chicken ginseng soup)
                                   

Chomp worthy:         gomtang (oxtail soup)

Chego

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I'm a little ashamed to say I've never had Roy Choi's ever so famous Kogi truck.  Since his rise to stardom, he's created a couple other restaurant/food truck that are scattered all over Los Angeles.  Going with the same Mexican-Korean fusion theme, Roy Choi created Chego.  Chego started off as a restaurant, but they seem to be having some issues for quite a while now and have set up shop in a food truck right outside the parking lot of the restaurant.

I couldn't decide between the Chubby Pork Belly Bowl or the Beef T bowl.  Pork belly or hot chili fried rice with prime rib?  Pork belly won over.  It isn't soft and scrumptious like most pork belly.  It has a meatier texture that I wouldn't categorize as a pork belly characteristic.  The kochujang coated  kurobuta pork was still yummy.  Again, the topping just amazes me.  A mix of pickled radishes, water spinach, Chinese broccoli, cotija and peanuts makes for a different flavor in each bite.  The fried egg doesn't hurt either.

The ooey gooey fries are beer battered and extra crispy.  They are topped with a mix of sour cream sambal, monterey jack, cheddar cheese, cotija, chilies, cilantro, and pickled garlic.  Not exactly Korean, but not really Mexican either.  It's not your ordinary nacho topping.  The explosion of Mexican and spicy flavors was a fusion combination, I've never tasted before.  Delicious and messy, its one of those dishes you just want to get dirty with.

I had high hopes for dessert with the Sriracha bar.  A firmer rice crispy treat with caramel and spiced candied peanuts wrapped in a Sriracha ganache.  Besides that I couldn't taste the Sriracha flavor at all, the bar itself was too hard to enjoy.  I was over it pretty quickly after the disappointing first bite and discovering there was zero Srirarcha flavor.

      

Address:                 Chego
                                3300 Overland Ave.
                                Los Angeles, CA
 

Type:                       Korean/fusion

Popular chomps:     chubby pork belly bowl
                                 tres leches cake
                                 beef T bowl
                                 3 PM Meatballs
                                 ooey gooey fries

Chomp worthy:        chubby pork belly bowl