Amazing Korean BBQ on the West Coast

Seoul Oak

8295 Garden Grove Blvd

Garden Grove, CA 92844

714-530-5388

So if you haven't noticed yet - I am a fanatic for all things Asian (food wise that is) but I have a serious devotion to Korean food. I am a die hard Hoban fan for life and feel lucky to have a place like that close to the Twin Cities. I also make frequent trips to United Noodle (I'll tell you more about this later) for fresh Kimche and rice patties and do some Korean cooking of my own. I wouldn't call my versions authentic necessarily, but a Korean person cooking Korean food from a Korean cookbook is pretty close. So there's no real reason to go searching for much more...what can I say? I'm not a complainer. However, during my trip to California I knew I'd be in for a whole new world of Korean and Asian food options.

One-third of the nation's 14.9 million Asian Americans reside in California according to the US Census Bureau. That's a lot of good cooks, food and tradition! I don't know how I feel about looking like a cheeto 24/7 and spending a $75 on a t-shirt, but I almost considered moving after we hit the restaurant scene. Ever heard of Koreatown? Also known as Heaven to some...

But I digress. Seoul Oak was new to all of us (even our hospitable friends from HB). We basically just googled 'Korean bbq' and drove around til we found something that looked good and we ended up striking gold!!! The restaurant was decent sized and filled with a lot of Koreans - a good sign.

Each table has a small pit in the middle where the grill is eventually placed and the meat is cooked. Fellow adopted Korean Chris and I were asked if we spoke Korean (we do not) and while communication wasn't simple, we were able to get our orders in and got them correctly.

THE ORDER

At Seould Oak there is an all you can eat special, about $20 a person for all you can eat meat and banchan. Collectively as a group we chose 3 meats: short ribs, beef and bulgogi (marinated beef). I think we got our money's worth even though we only had one plate of meat.

As you can see in the photo above: the pit (the grill hasn't come yet) and the large amounts of food that has already filled our table. We did not order any of these things, they just come with the meat! Way to go Korea.

Okay, I'll try to point a few things out here. We got a large plate of salad (mostly romaine lettuce) lightly dressed with a mixture of sesame oil, cracked pepper and maybe a little salt. Also on the table are salted dried sardines, rice noodle wrappers, kimche (of course), fresh tofu, chap chae, radish slices with wasabi, pickled spinach and even Korean mashed potatoes! Everyone also got dipping sauce for the meat and steamed rice. The banchan keeps coming too. Once a bowl empties another one magically appears. Notice too the black bowl - a hot egg poridge of some sort? really good!

Now to the important stuff. Here is our meat plate being dished onto the grill. They leave the plate of raw meat and you watch your own as it cooks on the grill to your exact liking. Too bad they don't trust us midwesterns with open heating apparati. Why is that?

I would go back to California literally just to visit Seoul Oak again. If I was a millionaire that is...And if there wasn't any layovers...

THE VITALS
# of People: 4

Reservations: No need.

Day/Time of Visit: Sunday, March 8th @ 7:00pm

Will I be back: DEFINITELY!

YAYs!: Everything, what more can I say.

Nays: I read a few other reviews where people had complained about the service. I would disagree. I think that sometimes there is a cultural difference to food service. Here they bring you your food, they don't act like they're trying to sell you anything, you just sit back with your friends or family or whoever and have a good time.

Notes: When you are in So-Cal check this place out! Also, feel free to invite me along.

-B.W.

Roat Osha, the Identical Twin of Tum Rup

Roat Osha
2650 Hennepin Ave
Minneapolis, MN 55408
612-377-4418
http://www.roatosha.com/

So I thought I'd go ahead and write about Roat Osha since I just completed my Tum Rup Thai review. You can tell they are owned by the same people because their menus are almost identical. I'm glad to see another Thai place in town, but at the same time these places are becoming rather generic and all blending together. I guess if you want to eat pad thai everyday from a difference place then Uptown will do that for you. I'm not saying the food is bad, but I am looking forward to the day when I find a more down home authentic Thai restaurant in the Twin Cities. Hey - I'm new here, give me time.

I have to say that Roat Osha definitely wins in the dining space department. Compared to it's sister Tum Rup, it seems that Roat Osha stole all of the food growing up in this Thai family...It's bigger.

The ambiance is nice and open. I enjoy the large windows in front where you can see out onto the street. There is also ample free parking in back and a larger 'lobby' area in the front entrance. The one negative thing I will point out about Roat Osha is the horrible music they play. I'm not sure if they are trying to be funny or trendy or what, but it's god awful. And if you're reading this Roat, CUT IT OUT! I think I heard 'Safety Dance' and something by U2, I tried to ignore the rest. Some people at my table started singing the fillet o' fish commercial music just so we'd have something better to listen to.

Okay, I'm back from my rant. The food here isn't bad, but like I said it's exactly the same as Tum Rup. I don't know if I'll even go into the full review here for fear of being redundant. I had spring rolls and pad thai...how original, I know. But in my defense I had a bad day and really just went for the beer. Food was just preventing me from getting totally plastered on a Wednesday evening. Oh, Roat also has a better selection of beer than Tum Rup. Sapporo on tap? COUNT ME IN!

The rest of the party did a lot of the same. Some lemon grass chicken here, some curry there. Every thing was good, nothing to officially complain about in the food department. Not a lot to write home about either...but I guess quite a bit to write blog about.

I would have to say the service here was also better. Our server was a little on the loud side, but definitely friendly and helpful. If you are looking for some decent Thai food for an affordable place I would suggest Roat Osha over Tum Rup Thai. I may also say if you want to spend a bit more money go to The King and I or Sawatdee or say 'fine, if you're not going to take my suggestion, YOU PICK!" and then run away crying. Kidding.

And a note to whoever does the reporting for yelp.com - the attire at Roat Osha is not 'dressy'. Also, you're an idiot. This place is definitely a casual dining place, with a little extra flare. I'm pretty sure they won't kick you out if you're wearing jeans...however, they might if you're wearing a tuxedo. I know I would.

-BananaWoo

Tuna Town in Cali Town

Tuna Town
221 Main Street
Huntington Beach, CA 92648
714-536-3194
http://www.tunatownsushibar.com/

So I was lucky enough to visit my good friend Chris this past week. He recently moved to Huntington Beach, CA near the Orange County area. I was looking forward to some catching up with my best friend, a little sun and some awesome food. One thing I can say about California is there is definitely lots of food options and you can almost always sit outside.

After the jetlag wore off Mr. B and I were ready for some adventures. We may have started out with some Carl Jr.'s, but we were just hungry okay! And being on a different time zone than the rest of California made our first morning rather painful. So...I won't be writting about Carl Jr.'s just yet.

A little background about my good friend Chris. He attended the C.I.A. during his college years and graduated not too long ago. He's lived/worked in New York, California and Minnesota. He was a long time assistant manager at Tryg's near Calhoun Village in Minneapolis. If you haven't been there you should try it out (although it's not the same now that he's gone). They have live jazz music on Sundays, which I enjoy. Anyways, the point is he knows his stuff. Soon he will be the manager of a resort restaurant on Laguna Beach. CONGRATS!

So our first official food stop in HB was Tuna Town on the downtown strip. We didn't have a destination at the time, so we just picked a spot where it looked like we could eat outside. Tuna Town is a sushi bar and teppan yaki grill restaurant, although we did not partake in either. We just did their lunch/breakfast menu along with some dollar mimosas. Dollar mimosas in California?? YES! It's true.

Our lunch was light, but excellent. I have to say hands down, best ham sandwich ever! Mr. B will agree. Plus all the vegetables are fresh and the mimosas large...At that point I almost thought about moving.

THE ORDER
Ham cheese sandwich $8 (Mine and Mr. B)
Served on a French roll with lettuce, tomato, avacado, bacon, cheddar cheese, grilled ham and this super awesome spicy mayo. Served with skinny fries and a side of pickles. The bread was super soft and fresh and all the veggies were crispy and refreshing. There's never anything wrong with ham, cheese or bacon, so I think it was the mayo that made this sandwich. I'm not exactly sure what was in it, but it had a kick and a really awesome flavor. Believe me, I will be trying to recreate this. To top it off this sandwich was affordable (large portion) and well worth the 8 bucks.

BLT $6.50 (Chris')
Basic BLT, but it looked amazing. Chris added the optional avacado for a fee of fifty cents (the coin amount, not the rapper). Fresh with lots of veggies on whole grain bread and served with fries. For 6 bucks this was defintely a steal.

That plus 6 mimosas for 6 bucks brought our total to about $21.

THE VITALS
# of People: 3

Reservations: Just look for the open seating outside.

Day/Time of Visit: Sunday, March 8th, 1:00ish.

Will I be back: Next time I'm in downtown HB.

YAYs!: Great food, good deals, right in the center of downtown and our waitress looked like a more distinguished version of Shannon Elizabeth.

Nays: Nothing I can think of. The other diners were a little interesting, but nothing bad.

Notes: Get the ham and cheese!

-BananaWoo

First Day of Spring!

Happy first day of spring everyone! I'm ready for some patios, happy hours and cold beer!

Sushi Tango Anyone?

Sushi Tango
3001 Hennepin Avenue
Minneapolis, MN 55408
612.822.7787
http://www.sushitango.com/

Sushi Tango is located on the second floor of Calhoun Square, with a second location in Woodbury. You've probably seen the Sushi Tango face before as you drive down Hennepin even if you've never been. It is relatively new to the Uptown scene, but has managed to hold it's ground. In close proximity is an array of other sushi restaurants such as Fuji Ya, Chino Latino and the newly opened Tiger Sushi. I guess it's safe to say that Sushi Tango has a far amount to offer, otherwise it wouldn't have survived so long.

To date I've never had an awful experience at Sushi Tango, but it seems Uptown (particularly Calhoun Square) is visibly suffering during this economic downturn and isn't what it used to be. There is some fresh construction going on though, so hopefully things will improve. On that note, the once great CS parking ramp is also under construction. You can still park there, but it is all valet and the cost is $7.

It's funny that it's taken me so long to write about Sushi Tango because I actually go there more than a little. It was also the first sushi place Mr. B had ever been to, so it hold a special place in the heart.

THE ORDER
Edamame $4.75 ($3.00 during HH)
Yes, I like my steamed, salted soy beans...sue me. Nothin' wrong with these guys, plus they're only 3 dollars during HH!

Gyoza $5.00 ($3.50 during HH...don't hold me to that, but they were cheap)
Pronounced something like this 'GEE-YO-ZAH'. These little dumplings are filled with Chinese pork and pan fried. Served with a salty, sweet and sour dipping sauce. These things are awesome. We had them at Fuji Ya also, but they were steamed and not fried. Still good.

Tango Tataki $10.00 tuna or beef ($7.00 during HH)
We had the tuna. Seared lightly and topped with garlic, ginger, shiso leaf, kaiware, lemon juice, ponzu and togarashi. You may not know what half of those things are, and if I have time I'll explain. Just know it's good stuff. Mr. B would live on it if he could...then again he did manage to get off his caterpillar roll kick after eating too many.

Tekka Maki $4.75
Good ol' tuna. You are my only friend. Yummy. You get 6 pieces. The only thing that makes me sad is it's not on the HH menu. Still, $4.75 ain't bad.

Futo Maki $6.50
I've decided to try this everywhere now. So far I've had Samurai Futo and Fuji Ya Futo. It's basically the same no matter where you go, just lots of deliciousness stuffed into nori. Although I got 5 pieces instead of 4, I'd have to say this was not my favorite so far...but it's defintely in the top 3...becuase it has to be...because I've only tried 3.

Dynamite Roll $6.00 ($3.00 during HH)
This roll has assorted fish mixed with sesame oil, Thai pepper, lettuce, kaiware, cucumber and spicy bean sauce. If you're a big wimp stay away from the guy. I even get a little watery eyed when I'm eating this one, but it's good. This is probably my favorite roll at Sushi Tango, plus it's on the HH menu. Awesome.

Toro Sashimi $15.95 (Market price)
If I'm the Futo girl then Mr. B is the Toro dude. He started out by saying this was his favorite Toro ever, but then 3 seconds later changed his mind and said it was his 3rd favorite. Miyabi 9 of Des Moines still ranks #1 in his book...I would have to agree. The toro here was more thinly sliced then others we've tried. That may be a plus, but Mr. B prefers thicker slices. Plus $15.95 for 2 pieces of sashimi is a hefty price. At Fuji Ya (although it is big eye toro) it is only $7.95 for sashimi. However, this fish goes by market price so the cost will fluctuate. Maybe it's $15.95 at Fuji Ya right now too. I should probably go and investigate after work.

THE VITALS
# of People: 2
Reservations: No
Day/Time of Visit: Wednesday, March 4th - 5:45 pm
Will I be back: Yes, I like the atmosphere and the HH prices are reasonable.
YAYs!: Friendly staff, nice atmosphere, ample seating, good HH drink deals, attached to parking ramp.
Nays: No simple sushi on HH menu, only rolls. Maybe a little understaffed? Staff is friendly, but it seems pretty busy during HH and like there aren't enough servers.
Notes: Try the dynamite!

Seacrest out.

-BananaWoo