K-Town Late Night Eats

Korean BBQ
Location: Korea Town
Wilshire and Western

Los Angeles, CA 90010

Entertainment value: Nightlight friendliness and Social Fun
Food Cost: $15 all you can eat Korean BBQ

My best friend's last night in town and what better time and place to reminesce about times old and new than to drink soju with Hite beer as chasers in front of a stone platter packed with good food in the wee hours of the night. For many people, eating and drinking with friends or coworkers from 11pm to 4am is a lifestyle (or at least an Asian businessmen lifestyle at that). Many Korean restaurants at K town stay open until 2am and even some others open until 4 am.

The night life is comprised of being around good friends with good food and good alcohol. It is the trinity of K town essentials--for the K-newb this means that it is your opportunity to lay your cards down. Well, at least flash it for a little bit, especially after the fifth shot of soju. Here, table etiquette means to be loud and gossip--about people, politics, religion, sex, and the like.

We had the option of being in door or being in the outdoor patio, smoking area. The transparent plastic tarp that covers the patio makes it look like a scene from a Korean film. It really does bring out the excitement of late night outings but retains the closeness felt wrapped in plastic. Under the flourescent lighting, it brought back the "night light eats" of Taiwan and China, what they call "she ye", literally translated as "city night".

The smoky steam rising from the stone pots and the sizzle of satayed brisket, bulgogi, beansprouts, and kimchi saturates the air so much that it seeps into our hair, our linen, and our pores. The fermented saltiness of pickled radish, spicy tofu, and other vegetable sorts complimented the burning meat cooking on the portable grill. Most Korean bbq restaurants give you 10 banchan, or side dishes, that comes standard with your main entree.  The gratuitous side dishes alone would have filled up the stomach, but to the experienced K-bbq patron, this is just the tip of the iceberg.

We laughed, guffawed, gasped, and hooplaud our night into a finale of blissful stupor. Our bellies told us we were at full capacity yet our inebriated minds told us we could still make room for the delicious bimbi-bap that followed the 6 or 7 meat items that were already cooked and eaten. Since it was all you can eat, they just kep on piling it on the grill. They use a certain type of white radish that cleanses the burnt chards of the grill and simultaneously takes away the smell that comes with the brownish black color. It was fun seeing the waitress clean the grill with white radish while we continued to "gan bei", or toast, to our fortunes and our future.

It is the after party of the after party that friends, tired and hungry from dancing all night, would commence as their last soree of the night. The denoument to a fun filled night. It could also be the foundational base to the young night life of  shooting pool, singing karaoke, playing nordabang (PC Cafes), and K clubbing. For others, it means a social avenue to network with friends and, still others, it is the avenue for business networking.

For Amy and I, this was our way of saying goodbye and I love you. It was our way of letting our hearts vibrate with the soju clinks of our gan bei. It was a celebration of our past times growing up together, our present fun, and the future prospect of many wishes, hopes, and dreams to explore.

Cheers!!