(Originally posted on August 26, 2008)
With much to celebrate for, Rar and I headed north into San Francisco last Friday night. But no we weren't looking for the razzle dazzle of some newly opened eatery, but rather the down home cooking of eastern Asia. And so, we drove into Inner Richmond this semi-hole-in-wall Korean do-it-yourself BBQ joint nestled in between some nondescript venues on Geary between 5th and 6th. I drove around for 20 minutes looking for parking, and as I was circling I realized I was in the New Chinatown - a block north of Geary around 4th to 7th. Totally paid off.
Sign of awesome food: when you walk into the restaurant and it's smokey like Snoop Dogg's pipe room but ain't nobody scared off. As a matter of fact, there were a TON of people waiting on this joint - parties of 2, 5, 7, and 10.The atmosphere was the typical busy Asian place. The place had maybe a dozen tables, many equipped with a BBQ grill for the DIY meals, and at the time (8pm) all were crowded with people. Although you don't see that many Asian people there, I can guarantee its goodness.
40 minutes later, we got a table - by that time, I was wearing LaBBQoste and she was wearing J. BBQrew. We ordered Pork Gol Gi and Bul Gol Gi - sexily marinated spicy pork and beef, as well as Korean Dumpling Soup with Rice Cake and Chop Chae (glass noodles!). Soon, a dude came over with 2 boxes of charcoal and lined up the bottom of our BBQ grill with it. The excitement was about to begin. Before we know, the Endless Sides were unleashed: kim chi, seaweed salad, pickled radish, dried tiny anchovies, pickled cucumber, spicy pickled bean curd, sour bean sprouts, seaweed paper, and some jello - this is my #2 favorite thing about Korean restaurants.
Few minutes later, the meat came. YAY-YAAAAH. The waitress, who was very nice by the way, helped us put several pieces onto the grill and spread them out. The sizzling and the savory scent immediately had me in a trance. I tuned out everything Rar said until I heard "okay it's ready to eat!" JK. We had nice convo as we waited [and drooled all over our little plates]. I don't really know how to describe the marinade except to recommend the spicy beef one which really did it for us. I made a little sandwich out of 2 pieces of spicy Pork Gol Gi, a big piece of lettuce, and some bean sprouts - excellent! The Pork Gol Gi was of course also very good, but imo not as good as the Bul Gol Gi.
We drank the soup and ate some chop chae as we waited for the meat to cook. Both are pretty good. The soup was light but had enough taste to be enjoyed, but I think maybe too much on the rice cake - it was maybe 70-80% rice cake slices. The chop chae was awesome - the nice and healthy dark golden color suggests success. In my mouth it was slippery and warm, and all the vegetables that was stir-fried (I think they were all stir fried...) with it gave it a crunchy punch.
To our surprise, our waitress also brought us a dish of sauteed squid (Squid Bok Kum), which is usually featured as a lunch item. She said the magically sweet words, "on the house." Sometimes that just makes a dish that's so-so THAT much better. Regardless, the squid was pretty damn good - the tentacles are my favorite. Tender - so it's easy to chew, well-sauced - so it's not overwhelming with flavor, and well-portioned - so it was 50/50 with the vegetables that were sauteed with it.
SO FULL, SO GOOD. Tipped them 20%. Holy shit go try it - but expect a long wait, especially if you have 5-7 people.
http://www.yelp.com/biz/brothers-restaurant-san-francisco
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