Dae Jang Keum Korean BBQ

It's really refreshing to eat somewhere without any preconceptions, especially if the food is great. Without reading 75 reviews, googling and yelping, but just getting in a car and driving or taking a walk and stopping when you see a sign that looks good. I knew there was good Korean food in North Philly & Cheltenham but didn't really do any research first. Which can be a disaster when you travel 10 or 1000 miles and come home to realize you ate at the crappy knockoff version of the real place that was 2 blocks away, which has happened before (chicago, paris) but not this time.

Dae Jang Keum is right on the border between Philadelphia and Cheltenham. Beneath the sign for BBQ in korean is a big yellow banner that reads "Shrimpie's now open! Largest Shrimp & Lowest Price!" but once inside there was no evidence of the korean-bbq turned fried fish restaurant I was sort of scared (hoping?) we might find. Nobody spoke a word of english which is a good sign in my book.

The semi-private booths are super comfortable. Huge karoake rooms outfitted with BBQ tables and flat screen TV's are available in the back. Anyway this was some serious Korean BBQ, much better than anything I've had in center city or South Philly. Pork Belly, Bulgogi, Short Ribs and 7 million sauces and garnishes. The servers cook the meat for you here, nice but I actually enjoy doing it myself, although probably not a good idea for the hung over state I was in.


The BBQ here was so good, really nice looking meats and very different from the sort of sad looking scraps you might get at lesser Korean spots. And more garnishes than I've ever seen, covering every inch of the table, all really good, various marinated and pickled things, great Kimchee that I guess I've never had made right because I went through two plates of it here, that they kept refilling.


They also brought us a steamed egg dish and some desserts on the house, furthering the theory that every time the camera comes out restaurants give us the VIP treatment. I also might bear a slight resemblance to a grainy xeroxed photo of a certain philadelphia food writer... or maybe the service is really just super friendly. 3 meats and a few sides plus freebies, for 4 people and I think our bill was something like 58 dollars?? Amazing. Definitely going back soon.



Since then I've read that Kim's BBQ is the go-to North Philly Korean BBQ and surprised to find almost no reviews of Dae Jang Keum. We also checked out the shopping mall around the corner that has a giant Korean H-mart grocery, Paris Baguette Cafe and more places to eat. Also a guy out front selling roasted sweet potatoes aka goguma from a makeshift cooker, it was good but could have used some salt or something? But for 2 bucks, can't really complain.

Dae Jang Keum
1910 W. Cheltenham Ave

H-Mart Korean Mini Mall
7300 Old York Rd.
Elkins Park, PA

For more about Koreatown check out this great Rick Nichols article from a few years back-
•The evolution of Korean food in Phila (Inquirer)

Korean BBQ

Summer is here in full force and its a time when I sort of want to detox and eat the beautiful seasonal bounty that living in Pennsylvania offers me. Like fresh Jersey blueberries or strawberries and spinach from someones farm in Lancaster. But alas nothing takes hold of me in the summer stronger than grilled meats. That's right BBQ. So on a nice Sunday afternoon we set out for Korean BBQ. It's harder to find Korean BBQ out here in Philadelphia in comparison to where I used to live in Oakland. Oakland had the best Korean sushi and San Francisco had the best Korean BBQ. But there are places popping up here and there in Center City Philadelphia that aren't bad. In fact we went to Miran on Chestnut and it was pretty good.

When you walk in you see these tables with fancy silver grills and spaceship like lowering air vents with a touch of a button. Very fancy compared to the charcoal style chicken-wire-heavy-scary ass bring to your table grills I was used to in Oakland.






We started off with Kim Chee Pancakes. They were delicious and oily and had whole chives and huge bits of kim chee and onions in them. The sauce it came with was a little to salty for my taste though. We also got our delicious side treats. Another stark difference from eating in the Bay Area. Here we only got 4 side dishes whereas normally I am used to getting at least 8 sometimes 10 side dishes. My favorites are always the tiny kim chee'd anchovies. The side dishes here were pretty tame. Although I did enjoy the potato salad and the kim chee was delicious.





Here comes the delicious part, the Bulgogi (thinly sliced marinated beef)and the Kalbi (marinated rib-eye). Nothing is better than getting piles of raw meat and getting to grill them on the hot car rim that is your grill.


In the end I was deeply satisfied. Me and Hawk each had the "King's Piece" the huge bone with mostly fat and gristle on it. But due to the high fat content and the marinating, gets all carmelized, juicy, and delicious. Take my advice though, if you are going to eat this part, it takes a really long time to grill, so put it on a little earlier than right at the end.



Overall a delicious experience, and the staff is super friendly.

Miran
2034 Chestnut St
Philadelphia, PA 19103
(215) 569-1200