Just because I’m of Korean ethnicity doesn’t mean I eat KBBQ all the time.
In fact, I actually just had my very first self-grill all-you-can-eat Korean barbecue (KBBQ) experience today.
Back when I was still a resident of Illinois, I lived in the peaceful Chicagoland suburbs where most people are white. Pretty much all the stores were American or European, and there was very little Asian culture represented in my area. I was perfectly fine with this, though – I generally find American- and European-inspired stores to be much cleaner and appealing than Asian stores. I also barely left the house anyway, apart from just going to school, because I liked sitting inside and doing stuff on my computer, so the kinds of stores and restaurants around me didn’t really even matter.
Because of this, I actually didn’t really realize that self-grill all-you-can-eat Korean barbecue restaurants were a thing. Surely, if someone had brought up the concept and asked me about it, I would’ve probably concluded “yes, that seems like something that would exist,” but I had never been to such a restaurant before, and I wasn’t really even interested in it anyway.
Today, I was somewhat forcefully taken to a KBBQ restaurant by a few of my friends. Although I wouldn’t exactly say it was the most amazing experience, I think it’s something I could get used to over time, and once I figure out the strategy behind optimizing just how much food I can get, it could get close to being worth it (although at the current price of somewhere around US$22/person for dinner, I don’t think we got our money’s worth today).
The environment was nice, clean, and modern, even though the photograph of the inside of the restaurant might not necessarily reflect that due to the fact that it was somewhat dark inside. I guess service could’ve been considered “slow,” but I think that is more of a result of us being poor with timing orders, rather than the waiters actually being slow. The taste of the food was pretty good, and it was nice to be able to control the level of “cooked-ness” by seeing the meat right in front of our face and removing it whenever we wanted. I’d presume that cooking is a hassle, but because it was my first time there today, my friends took care of all the cooking.
Apparently this is really popular in the Los Angeles area, so I would assume that I’ll be returning here quite a bit. I perceive ordering at KBBQ as sort of like a game, where I can figure out strategies and micro better in order to optimize food consumption and minimize downtime … maybe I’ll even make a guide one day on how to be an expert KBBQer, once I gather some more first-hand experience.
I requested the Crying Tiger to be cooked medium rare (which I generally do for all meat), but it ended up being closer to medium well. Regardless, I think this is now one of my top favorite meat dishes. I’m generally good at justifying my statements, but for this, I actually have no idea why, but it tasted great. I also like raw onions, and the sauce having chopped raw red onions inside made the whole thing even better.
Today, I went to a different restaurant – a dumpling house closer to the city of Los Angeles. I ordered some dumplings, obviously, but I also ordered some Chinese beef rolls, which is a dish I’ve only had once before. The first time I tried it, the meat tasted a bit overcooked and it was covered in a strong smell of grease (maybe because it was very fried and very greasy), but my friend with whom I went to this restaurant insisted that the beef rolls here were much better.
Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case, as the beef rolls here were also somewhat dry on the inside and dripping grease on the outside.
… At least it made for a good photo opportunity. 
