A Koreally good time!

Seoul Food and More!

Sure, you love sushi, and your grandparents always took you out for Chinese on Sundays. You’ve even been known to gorge yourself on some Pad Thai or soothe a tummy ache with some cheap-ass ramen. You love Kung-Fu flicks and you college roommate was named Ronald Liu, though his Mom calls him Wen-Ya. You drive a Toyota. You are not unfamiliar with the delights that the continent of Asia has to offer us. But when was the last time you and your sweetheart had a date inspired by Korea?

Dinner, a movie and desert, brought to you by the divided nation that gave us John Cho (Harold, of Harlod & Kumar Fame! Thank You!)

DINNER
Korean BBQ is amazing. Flame grilled marinated meats and mind-boggling amounts of little side dishes or, banchan are served with rice and the ever-present Kimchi. Kimchi is fermented vegetables, usually Napa cabbage, seasoned with chili peppers and salt. Though it can be a little intimidating for us gringos, some Koreans don't consider what they ate as a meal without Kimchi so you gotta try it. Just take a little bite! Go ahead! Now grab some water. That shit can be spicy.

Galbi or Kalbi or Bool Kogi (seriously, every website seems to call it something different) is called by some the pinnacle of Korean cuisine. Beef short ribs marinated in the most beautiful balance of sweet and savory flavors. If you aren’t feeling like going out for dinner, Trader Joes makes some pre-marinated Bool Kogi that is pretty damn good, and only takes a few minutes to cook on your grill.

There are Korean resturaunts all over Los Angeles. So here are some of the best, according to the interweb.
Citysearch
LA Weekly
LAOkay (arranged by neighborhood!)

Fun fact about Korean food- Korea is the largest consumer of garlic, ahead of the rest of Asia (particularly China and Thailand, excluding Japan) and the Northern Mediterranean (mainly Spain, Italy, and Greece). So bring mints or even your toothbrush! I am not kidding!

MOVIE
After dinner head over to the theater to see THE HOST, Korea’s modern take on Godzilla/Jaws/Little Miss Sunshine/ Soilent Green. The Host offers everything you could want in a murderous sea-monster movie. At least, everything I wanted. The monster attack sequences were thrilling the comic relief was hilarious, and the heroes were heartbreaking. It also had that wonderful, dark Korean mistrust of the government that I can never get enough of in a good, scary movie. I don’t want to say too much, I just want you to go and enjoy it. In the screening we saw, people screamed out loud, gasped and cackled. Almost everyone there was on a date, and everyone had a blast.

Check your local listings for showtimes and locations.


DESSERT
When you’ve caught your post-monster movie breath, (you’re stinky, garlicky Korean bbq breath) take your date to the greatest Korean import to date. The unstoppable pinkberry frozen yogurt . Hyekyung Hwang (a.k.a. Shelly), the mastermind behind the “Soft swirls of chilly bliss with a distinct pouty peak”, started with a small shop in a residential area of West Hollywood and it took off faster than you can say “Korean Genius”. The LA times called it “ The taste that Launched 1,000 parking tickets” due to the original location’s overwhelming success and subsequent logistical problems. Don’t worry; there are several LA locations now. Business is booming.

It is plain yogurt. Frozen. Tart and airy and sweet and… well you just have to try it. I like Granola and strawberries on mine, but they have everything from Captain Crunch to Mochi, so really it is hard to go wrong. Warning: it looks like ice cream, but it isn’t. It is tart yogurt, Tart, delicious, addictive, fantastic yogurt.

11 LA locations.

DRINKS
If you are going to have a beverage, stick with the theme and go for the Soju. It is like Korean rice vodka, and can be found all over the place in LA. You can get very snockered with soju. Watch out!

Here are some possible soju destinations:
Soju Town
Johnny's Cocktail Lounge

So grab that special gal or guy and take them on a fantastic theme date! You’ll be koreally glad you did!