Author: Tammy

Recipe: Cilantro Kimchi
Cilantro Kimchi: A Forgotten Korean Recipe with Deep Roots
You’ve probably heard the claim: Koreans don’t eat cilantro. Many food blogs repeat it like gospel. They say cilantro—also known as coriander—has no place in Korean cuisine.
But what if that’s not true?
The Hidden History of Cilantro in Korean Food
Let’s look north. In North Korea’s Hwanghae Province, there’s a traditional Korean recipe known as gosu kimchi (고수김치). “Gosu” is the Korean word for cilantro. This dish features fresh cilantro fermented with radish and spices—just like other kimchi. That’s right: cilantro kimchi exists and it’s Korean.
Before the Border Split
Before 1953, Kaesong was part of South Korea’s Gyeonggi Province. After the Korean War, it became part of North Korea. Kaesong is famous for its cuisine. It was even the capital of Korea during the Goryeo Dynasty.
Food from Kaesong—including cilantro recipes—faded from view after the war. Much of North Korea’s food culture remains undocumented or hard to access.
Refugees Remember Cilantro Kimchi
Joanne Choi, a Korean-American blogger, shared her father’s memories of cilantro-rich dishes from Kaesong. She called cilantro “comfort food” for him—something he missed deeply. Sadly, she couldn’t find any cookbooks or recipes from that region, even in Korean bookstores.
Clues from North Korean Tours
In 2008, a travel blogger visited Kaesong and noticed something surprising: cilantro on the table. It stood out as unusual compared to food in the South. That detail backs up claims of cilantro being part of the northern diet.
South Korean Buddhist Temples Keep the Tradition Alive
Cilantro hasn’t disappeared entirely. In South Korea, Buddhist temple cuisine preserves many old recipes. At Sanchon, a famous temple restaurant in Seoul, cilantro is praised for enhancing flavor—especially with meat-free dishes.
The Language Tells a Story
Here’s another clue: Koreans use the native word gosu for cilantro. They didn’t borrow the word from English or Chinese. That suggests it’s not new—it’s been on the peninsula for a long time.
Where This Cilantro Kimchi Recipe Comes From
This version of gosu kimchi comes from a North Korean source—yes, really. The original website is blocked in South Korea, but I found the recipe through archived content and compared it to a South Korean version: Gypsy’s Gosu Kimchi.
Only the North Korean version provided detailed measurements. That’s what I based this recipe on.
June 2, 2023
Blomster’s opens second Korean diner ‘popup’ in California wine country
It doesn’t seem to make sense that a 40-plus-year-old San Francisco Bay-area brunch joint is sharing valuable restaurant space with a fusion diner known for its Korean fried chicken and Los Angeles galbi with mac and cheese. It might be even more surprising that the owner of the Korean diner has never stepped foot in Korea, yet the breakfast baron has racked up many frequent flyer miles to Korea — particularly, Jeju Island.
David Blomster prepares to cut the ribbon for his second Korean diner, located in Santa Rosa, Calif., on Nov. 17, 2015. (Tammy Quackenbush photo)
David Blomster opened his second Dick Blomster’s Korean Diner officially Nov. 13 as the afternoon and night shift in Don Taylor’s Omelette Express, located in the historic Railroad Square district of Santa Rosa, a city about an hour north of San Francisco. During the ribbon-cutting party Nov. 17, I caught up with Blomster and Taylor, as the latter was pouring shots of homemade 12-year-old ginseng-infused soju for his business partners to celebrate the new collaboration.
Don Taylor, owner of the Omelette Express, shares shots of ginseng soju with business partners as he celebrates his new business venture with David Blomster. (Jeff Quackenbush photo)
Blomster opened his first pop-up Korean diner, called Dick Blomster’s, in Guerneville, California, in 2012, sharing space with Pat’s Diner, a Guerneville institution since the 1940s. For the first six months or so of his enterprise, Korean-American chef Eugene Birdsall helped him develop the menu for the restaurant and got the concept moving. Local residents embraced the restaurant so much that after a couple of years as a renter, Blomster made enough money to buy Pat’s Diner outright. A “popup” restaurant can be a one-off event, a market test or a business strategy to save money on rent and startup costs. So it’s unusual for a popup to buy its own landlord.
A rustic yet classy way to celebrate a new Korean restaurant venture: 12 year old ginseng soju. (Jeff Quackenbush photo)
“I knew there was a need in West County for Korean cuisine,” Blomster said, referring to western Sonoma County, located just west of Napa Valley. At the time of his debut in 2012, the nearest Korean restaurants to Guerneville were Tov Tofu in Santa Rosa, which is a half hour drive east of Guerneville, or Bear Korean in Cotati, which was about 40 minutes away until it closed in 2014.
David Blomster is the restauranteur behind Blomster’s Korean diner. (Jeff Quackenbush photo)
Although Blomster knows that popup restaurants are a hot trend in culinary circles, he doesn’t believe the term fully explains his restaurant concept.
“I don’t like being referred to as a popup, because popups lack permanence,” he said. “I consider Blomster’s Korean Diner a permanent popup.”
Blomster’s expansion to Santa Rosa’s Railroad Square district brings it among several high-end hotels, but there are few Asian restaurants within walking distance.
Taylor reached out to Blomster a few months ago to see if they could find a way to share his space with the Korean diner.
“This is a 40-year-old family restaurant that is not open at night, in the middle of Railroad Square,” Taylor said. “It’s a fabulous location.”
Blomster didn’t have to order up any Korean-style decor for his new popup. Omelette Express is already covered in Jeju-inspired items from Don Taylor’s frequent trips to Korea. (Tammy Quackenbush photo).
Blomster couldn’t ask for a better place for his second location. This Omelette Express restaurant is partially decorated with mementos from Taylor’s frequent trips over the last 15 years to Jeju Island, a popular vacation spot off the bottom of the South Korean peninsula. As a former Santa Rosa City Council member, Taylor has been instrumental in fostering Santa Rosa’s sister city relationship with Buk Jeju–Jeju City, the capital of the island province.
“I love Korean food,” Taylor said. “I am excited that David was making Korean food more accessible. He figured out how to make Korean food successfully.”
Blomster’s menu is partly inspired by his college years. He lived near L.A.’s Koreatown, with its mix of traditional Korean restaurants and more modern, hip noodle places.
“I wanted a playful combination of Korean, American and noodle dishes,” he said. “Ingredients like kimchi, ssamjang and gochujang are a starting point for the other items on the menu. We have a few traditional Korean dishes, like tteokbokki, which is a Korean street food, but I don’t claim to be or desire to be a traditional Korean restaurant.”
With dishes like mac and cheese, fried pickles and fried peanut butter and jelly sandwiches on menu, this Korean diner is equally inspired by Blomster’s roots in the U.S. heartland.
“I grew up in the Midwest, where ‘ethnic food’ was spaghetti,” he said.
One of Blomster’s favorite signature sides is buttered bread: sourdough slathered with butter and fried on a griddle. That’s inspired by his Detroit hometown.
Blomster’s Korean-style restaurant commands a 4 out of 5 rating on Yelp.
Dick Blomster officials opened his second Korean Diner on Nov. 13 at Don Taylor’s Omelette Express, located in the historic Railroad Square district of Santa Rosa, California. (Jeff Quackenbush photo)
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Dick Blomster’s Korean Diner
112 Fourth St.
Santa Rosa, CA 95401
www.dickblomsters.com
707-525-1690
Hours: 5–10 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday; 5–11 p.m. Friday and Saturday
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December 2, 2015
New York celebrity chef Hooni Kim marries Korean flavors to local ingredients
Hooni Kim, Michelin-starred chef of Danji and Hanjan restaurants in New York City, sees the marriage of Korean food culture with American food culture as Korean flavors married to local ingredients. At this time, one can’t be a “locavore” and make authentic Korean cuisine in the States.
I met up with him while covering the Korean Sensation Culinary Contest on Oct. 26 at The Culinary Institute of America at Greystone campus in the heart of California’s wine country, Napa Valley. He was one of the celebrity chefs judging entries from five student finalists in the competition, hosted with the help of the Korea Agro Fisheries & Food Trade Corporation (aka aT center).
“I define Korean cuisine as traditional flavors applied to local ingredients,” he told me during an interview that morning. “Certain ingredients you cannot get here (in America), such as gochugaru or doenjang. Then I apply it to local ingredients. I can get cabbage in Korea, but it’s better from New York or Napa — wherever you are from. Korean beef and American beef are very different, but it is still Korean food.”
Chef Hooni Kim says Hi to Joe McPherson and ZenKimchi readers. (Tammy Quackenbush photo)
Kim has an interesting way of explaining the difference between Korean food and American food: the “flavor profile.”
“I think Korean food is more dynamic because it uses flavors like spice, salt, etc.” he said. “They (Koreans) go all out, whether it’s salty, spicy or umami. You can experience all these flavors. It’s exciting to your palate. It needs to be, because Koreans eat their food with rice, which is usually unseasoned and it’s a blank canvas.”
American cuisine has individually seasoned components on a plate, while Korean cuisine builds flavors in the mouth based on the banchan and rice.
“If I like saltier food, I can eat more of the food,” he said. “If someone else doesn’t like saltier food, they can balance the salt with rice. You will never find salt on a Korean table at a restaurant for that reason.”
Kim’s vision of Korean cuisine has won him Michelin stars, yet he can’t live on Korean food alone. What he enjoys besides Korean food are sushi and steak.
“Because I cook for a living, I like the natural flavors of ingredients,” he said. “There’s a change of textures and flavors, and I do that with Korean food but when I got out to eat. I want to taste raw fish or steak that is simply flavored with salt and pepper.”
Sometimes we need our food to be complex. Sometimes we want it as simple and clean as possible.
The future of Korean-American cuisine is “bright,” but Kim said he has been criticized for his Korean fusion offerings at Danji. Hanjan serves “Korean-Korean” food.
“The best chefs personalize their food,” he said in response to such attacks. “Even if different chefs are cooking the same thing, you should see their personality. A Korean-American growing up in New York City will have a different cuisine than a Korean-American from the Midwest.”
Part of the future of Korean cuisine in America must be a new generation to step up and make it.
“Coming to the CIA, there are over 300 Korean students studying here to learn how to be a chef,” he said. “That is a first step, having Koreans who know how to be a cook, cooking their own food in their own restaurant.”
Tips for foodies and budding chefs
The afternoon of the contest, Kim seasoned the questions from CIA Greystone students with sage advice.
1. “There are no shortcuts in cooking.”
2. Not everyone discovers their life’s mission in childhood. “I started cooking at 30. Growing up in a Korean family, cooking as a profession was not an option. It’s something to do if you aren’t smart enough to do something else. My mom was the worst cook. She just gave me money to go out to eat.”His marriage to a supportive wife is one of the main reasons he was able to become a chef. “I got married at 30, I was in medical school and I hated what I was doing.”
3. “Making soondae is all about technique. The ingredients have to be fresh and the technique has to been well done…. Soondae is a Korean blood sausage that is sold for about $5 an order on the street. You can take any dish to the next level. There’s no thing as cheap or bad food that can’t be elevated.” Even soondae.
4. “These days, you are looking for mentors. My mentor didn’t want to be a mentor. I cooked in a kitchen where I had to know. I wasn’t given answers. I had to figure it out; you don’t bother the chef. I make a mistake, I got yelled at.”
5. “You learn something in every kitchen and take something away from every experience.”
6. “MSG is like an athlete’s steroids. It makes food taste better without any work. It’s cheating.”
7. “You have to go eat out (to learn about cooking). It’s important to eat other people’s food.”
Kim offered this wisdom while judging a pork slider dish earlier in the day: “When you create something miniature, make sure everything is perfect. There’s no room for error.”
November 11, 2015
Winner of California culinary contest: ‘Korean food will become more popular’
The first-place winner of the recent Korean Sensation Culinary Contest at The Culinary Institute of America’s Napa Valley campus is neither a traditional North American college student nor a stranger to Korean cuisine.
A native of Montreal, Stephen Neumann came to culinary school to pursue a second career. He had spent 11 years teaching English as a second language in Busan and Seoul, South Korea.
Tthe 38-year-old student at The Culinary Institute of America at Greystone in St. Helena, Calif., is in second semester of his program. His externship is coming up in January.
Stephen Neumann introduces his Koreanized interpretation of Pate Chinois to the judges. (Tammy Quackenbush photo)
According to Neumann, there were more than 200 submissions from the three of CIA campuses in the States (Hyde Park, N.Y.; San Antonio, Texas and St. Helena). Students were given a list of five Korean ingredients and told to incorporate at least two into the final dish.
Obviously, the $7,000 scholarship from the Korea Agro Fisheries & Food Trade Corporation (aka aT) will come in handy as Neumann continues his culinary studies at the CIA. ZenKimchi Food Journal talked with him about his inspiration for the fusion dish, background with Korean food and insights on the future of Korean cuisine overseas.
ZenKimchi Food Journal: What is your food vision?
NEUMANN: I haven’t to discover that. My passion for this came from working in a kitchen. I have a lot to learn. That is why I’m here. Going into this a little older, I have experienced cuisines from all over Asia, especially Korea.
I lived in Busan for a couple of years and then to Seoul and Anyang. I taught ESL for 11 years there before coming to the USA to study culinary arts.
Stephen Neumann garnishes his yangchigi (Korean for “shepherd”) pie. This dish received quite a bit of love from the judges. aT Center Vice President Yoo Chun Sik said, “It’s a bit playful. The sweet and spicy play well in this dish.” (Tammy Quackenbush photo)
What inspired your winning dish?
NEUMANN: It comes from my mother’s French-Canadian background. It was a staple in my home. It’s simple, nice, easy to make. I love the sweet potato–kimchi combination.
My mother never uses lamb in her pâté chinois. But if I’m doing a shepherd’s pie, I wanted to be as authentic as possible. Lamb is a popular meat in China but not in Korea. The bulgogi sauce worked well with the lamb. I didn’t overload it with bulgogi sauce, but it balanced the edge that comes with lamb.
What Korean food blogs or Korean chefs did you study to prepare for this contest?
NEUMANN: I came up with the idea for the dish when the contest began. I submitted this concept and one other, and the shepherd’s pie was accepted. It was just an idea in my mind.
He told ZenKimchi he didn’t start working on the recipe until after it was accepted for the scholarship contest.
What are your favorite cuisines, beside Korean?
NEUMANN: I have been a fan of Mediterranean food. There’s a huge variety on offer: Southern France, Italy, Greece, North Africa. I don’t know enough about Mediterranean food, but I’m open to learn more.
Asian-wise, I was blown away by Vietnamese food. I love the freshness of the greens and the heat. I fell in love with Korean food immediately. There are very few things I have not tried yet.
How do you see the future of Korean-American cuisine?
NEUMANN: In North America and Europe, there is a lot of potential. Eleven years ago before I left North America for Korea, there was little interest in Korean food at all. Still, it’s a vague concept to people, but they love Korean barbecue. North Americans have a singular vision of what Korean food is, but that is going to change. It’s not just going to be Korean barbecue that people will talk about in the future.
The concept of fermentation has taken North America by storm. Korean food will become more popular. I would like to see more Korean restaurants open. They haven’t caught up with the passion or the demand for it.
Living in Korea, some of the humble aspects of the food like the kimchi jjigae and the side dishes — I love that simplicity. It didn’t need any flair to heighten it. It is a cuisine that can be elevated and taken in so many directions.
What kind of beverage do you recommend drinking with Korean food?
NEUMANN: With my dish, it is pub food. Having a stout, a pint of beer, with shepherd’s pie works well on a lot of levels. The beer is refreshing after the heat of the food itself.
My wife is in the accelerated wine program at CIA Greystone. We have started drinking some wine with our Korean meals. There are wines that go very well with Korean food too.
November 11, 2015
CIA Greystone hosts Korean cuisine contest
The Korean government doesn’t want Korean cuisine to be Los Angeles’ best kept secret, so the Culinary Institute of America (CIA) Greystone, based in St. Helena, Calif., in cooperation with the Korea Agro-Fisheries and Food Trade Corporation (also called aT for short), hosted a scholarship competition and recipe challenge on Oct. 26.
The Korean government has worked hard, over the course of two presidential administrations, to preach the gospel of the health benefits and bold flavor profile of Korean cuisine. Korean trade officials are hoping their three-year-long relationship with the Culinary Institute of America will help spark the interest of America’s up and coming chefs in traditional Korean ingredients and that their evangelical fervor will spread onto the shelves of America’s grocery stores.
CIA students from all three of their American campuses submitted recipe ideas and the five students with the most promising concepts were invited to travel to the CIA’s Greystone campus to compete for scholarships ranging from the first prize of $7,000 to the fifth place prize of $1,000.
The culinary students were given a list of five Korean ingredients to chose as the inspiration of their recipes: gochujang, bulgogi sauce, kimchi, yujacha (citron tea) or boricha (roasted barley tea). The students were required to use at least two of the ingredients in their final recipe.
The Korean Sensation Day at CIA Greystone was not just a scholarshp contest, it was also an opportunity for CIA students, media and guests to taste some innovative dishes using Korean ingredients.
The finalists, listed in the order their food was presented to the judges, were:
- Eric Garcia, a student at the CIA Greystone in St. Helena. He made a recipe called K-town Carpaccio, which was made with gochujang and kimchi.
- Stephen Neumann, a student at the CIA Greystone, made a dish he called Yangchigi Pie (which means Shephard’s pie in Korean) or Pâté Coreen was his his Koreanized take on a traditional Quebecois dish called Pâté Chinois, which strongly resembles an Anglo-American Shephard’s pie. This dish featured Korean sweet potato, kimchi and lamb marinated in bulgogi sauce.
- Elizabeth Aristeguieta, a student from the CIA in San Antonio, Texas. Her dish was called Mah-Sit-Sso-Yo Pork, which used roasted barley, yujacha and gochujang in the sauce and marinade, garnished with grilled green onions.
- Sean Dodds, a student from the CIA in Hyde Park, N.Y., made Memphis/Seoul Pulled Pork sliders, flavored with bulgogi sauce, gochujang and topped with finely julienned kimchi.
- Jun Heum Park, a student from the CIA in Hyde Park. His dish, called Yuzu-like Ssam Pork, was a pork roll flavored with gochujang and yujacha.
The dishes were scrutinized and judged by several judges including:
- Marja D. Vongerichten of Kimchi Chronicles
- Chef Hooni Kim of Michelin-starred Danji and Han Jan in New York City
- Yoo Chung-Sik, Vice President of aT
- Chef Bill Heubel, instructor at CIA Greystone
K-Town Carpaccio. Chef Hooni Kim said of Garcia’s K-town Carpaccio, “The beef took a back seat to the salad, but the salad had the salty, sweet and spicy of Korean food.” (Tammy Quackenbush photo)

Yangchigi Pie. This dish received quite a bit of love from the judges. aT Center VP Yoo Chun Sik said, “It’s a bit playful. The sweet and spicy play well in this dish.” (Tammy Quackenbush photo)

Mah-Sit-Sso-Yo Pork. Marja Vongerichten, host of the PBS TV series and author of the cookbook, Kimchi Chronicles praised the dish saying, “Wow, this is perfectly cooked. I can really taste the yuja.” (Tammy Quackenbush photo).

Dodd’s Memphis BBQ pork slider featured pulled pork marinated in bulgogi sauce. It was cooked slow overnight sous vide. The recipe also had the distinction of using 4 of the 5 featured ingredients. Chef Hooni Kim called it, ‘The most delicious thing I’ve tasted today, but when you create something miniature, make sure everything is perfect. There’s no room for error.” (Tammy Quackenbush photo).

Park’s Yuzu-like Ssam Pork with couscous was brined and then marinated in ssamjang, which was not one of the featured Korean ingredients. Marja Vongerichten said, “It looks like western dish but with every bite, there were true Korean flavors.” Chef Bill Heubel, an instructor at the CIA called it, “a restrained dish even with the bold flavors” that showed that “Korean ingredients don’t have to be loud.”
None of the students left empty-handed. Each of them won an aT Center culinary scholarship. The grand prize $7,000 scholarship was awarded to Stephen Neumann (CIA Greystone) for his Yangchigi Pie (Shepherd’s Pie aka Pate Coreen). Mom’s home-cooking won Neumann a nice reward.
Elizabeth Aristeguiesta’s (CIA San Antonio) Mah-Sit-Sso-Yo Pork won her second place and a $4000 scholarship. Maybe the dish’s name, which literally means “Delicious Pork,” was a subliminal message that help her come very close to the top.
Eric Garcia’s (CIA Greystone) K-town Carpaccio won him the third place scholarship of $3,000.
Fourth place went to Sean Dodd (CIA Hyde Park) and his Memphis Seoul Pulled Pork Slider and a $2000 scholarship.
Jun Heum Park’s (CIA Hyde Park) Yuzu Ssam Pork came in fifth place, netting him a $1,000 scholarship.
This scholarship was a student innovation challenge. The CIA and aT Center have no plans at this time to make this into an annual contest.
October 28, 2015
Fried Seasoned Zucchini (호박볶음 hobak bokkeum)
Zucchini are coming into season in California now, and I received a medium-sized one in my community-supported agriculture package last week.
I could have again made 호박전 hobak jeon (zucchini pancake), which is always tasty. Another option was 궁중 떡볶이 gungjung tteokbokki, the royal ancestor of the spicy, warm 떡볶이 tteokbokki (rice cake stew).
Yet hobak bokkeum is a simple dish and once you make it, you can either serve it on the spot in banchan form, or you can set it aside and put it into your bibimbap.
The zucchini I used here was a little fat for bibimbap but it work well as a typical American side dish.
Hobak bokkeum 호박볶음
1 medium zucchini (about 10–12 ounces)
1 tablespoon grapeseed, rice bran or high-heat oil (recommend: non-GMO)
2 teaspoons fish sauce
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 scallion, finely chopped
2 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon sesame seeds (optional)
Directions
1. Slice zucchini thin.
2. Heat a pan with the grapeseed oil over medium high heat.
3. Mix the remaining ingredients in a small bowl, creating a sauce.
4. Add the zucchini to the skillet, and cook for one to two minutes.
5. Add the sauce and cook for one to two more minutes, stirring well until the zucchini is softened and turns translucent.
6. Drizzle with sesame oil before serving.
October 27, 2013
Review: Dick Blomster's Korean Diner, Guerneville, Calif.
Finding California wine country’s hottest new 한식 hanshik (Korean food) can be as challengingly fun as discovering next pinot noir wine sensation, but it’s equally well worth the effort.
Dick Blomster’s Korean Diner, formerly known as Hi Five Korean/American Diner, began pleasantly piquing the palates of locals and visitors to the Russian River Valley winegrape-growing region of western Sonoma County an hour north of San Francisco late last year.
You’ll find the diner on Main Street of the riverside community of Guerneville. Yet you won’t spot a large neon “Blomster’s Korean” sign. That’s because this Korean hot spot is a popup restaurant in Pat’s Diner, a fixture of downtown Guerneville since 1945. And it shows in the decor of the 70-seat diner, which shares space with the bar next door.
The name change is only a a month old, but the birth of Blomster’s came in December 2012. According to a waiter who served us at the counter, the owner plans to purchase the building. That’s a sign of success and future job security.
The owner, David Blomster, and chef Eugene Birdsall are alumni of Boon Eat + Drink, which is located next door to the current restaurant. Chef Birdsall was blessed with a Korean mama who taught him how to make traditional Korean cuisine.
The best description of Blomster and Birdsall’s take on Korean cuisine is fusion diner food. It’s American diner food with Korean ingenuity.
The menu was a bit confusing for Hubby and I to navigate. We couldn’t tell for a while whether many of the items were separate or part of a combo.
I normally don’t buy appetizers at a restaurant, because the main course usually is more than enough. Yet this appetizer menu was intriguing enough to warrant ordering more than one.
Hubby really wanted to try “Hand-cut Seoul Fries” ($5). The homestyle fries were smothered with minced garlic and topped with toasted Korean chilies, green onions, thin strips of roasted seaweed, and black and white sesame seeds.
Accompanying the basket of fries was a small dish of kimchi-topped aoli for dipping. As someone who loves to dip French fries in mayo, this aoli was a fun kick in the pants.
The minced garlic on the fries had been massaged with 고추가루 gochugaru (spicy red pepper powder), doubling the lip-tingling fire. I liked the savory saltiness brought by the the seaweed rather than just salt.
Shortly after we put in the order for the Seoul Fries, the entire restaurant smelled like garlic. I wouldn’t be surprised if our clothes smelled of garlic when we walked out. Our breath certainly did and the diet coke and water I drank with my meal did not put a dent in that breath.
Korean pickling is something I’ve come to love in the past decade and a half, but traditional Euro-American cucumber pickles are my comfort food of yesteryear. So I really wanted to try “Fried Sonoma Brinery Pickles with Sausalito Springs watercress” ($5). The batter was delicate and crisp, and the pickle slices were not soggy or greasy.
With more kimchi aoli for dipping, this was not a low-calorie start to our meal.
For the main course, I ordered “LA Kalbi Mac & cheese” ($10). Instead of the typical yellow cheddar macaroni sauce — or otherworldly neon orange-yellow of box-based preparations — this dish topped the hollow pasta elbows with with white cheese sauce.
Topping the noodles were Los Angeles-style 갈비 kalbi (barbecued beef ribs), generous garnish of fresh 고수 gosu (cilantro or coriander), sliced green onion, buttered toast. The onion and cilantro thankfully provided extra character to what can be a bland noodle dish.
The kalbi was grilled — with the smokey char marks to prove it — yet the meat was still tender and succulent, while still being cooked completely. A hint of fruitiness, particularly cherry, in the marinade makes me think it contained Dr. Pepper or a similar soft drink. That certainly would match the diner theme of the decor and the menu.
Hubby ordered Blomster’s–Hi Five’s signature dish, “KFC (Korean Fried Chicken/Crack)” ($15). The teriyaki-style barbecue sauce on the crisp-breaded leg and wing was thankfully more honey-like in flavor and texture, rather than overly sweet.
Accompanying the chicken was a soy, ginger and vanilla coleslaw, garnished with sliced radish.
Dick Blomster’s Korean Diner
16236 Main St., Guerneville, Calif.
707-869-8006
Hours: Sunday–Thursday, 5–10 p.m., Friday–Saturday, 5–11 p.m.
October 26, 2013
Woomi Dakgalbi, Chuncheon, Korea
Woomi is an old-school 닭갈비 dakgalbi restaurant that has been in the mountain lakeside city of 춘천 Chuncheon, South Korea, since 1970.
If you see the wagon wheel, you know you’re in chicken heaven. (Jeff Quackenbush photo)
This was the Chuncheon dakgalbi I remember from my teaching English in the city in 1997. That was before the 2002 Korean TV drama 겨울연가 Gyeoun Yeonga (Winter Sonata) turned the sites used for filming into a foreign tourism magnet as well as the 2005 closure of the U.S. Army’s Camp Page carried the city’s destiny in a totally different direction.
“Authentic” ingredients for the spicy marinaded chicken stir-fried dish Chuncheon is known for are 가래떡 garaedeok (large rice noodle), julienned sweet potato, diced Nappa cabbage, 껫잎 kkaenip (Perilla frutescens var. japonica), green onion, garlic and onion. Key components of the marinade are 고추가루 gochugaru (spicy red pepper powder), ginger, soy sauce and a dash of Korean- or Japanese-style curry powder.
More recent variations of Chuncheon dakgalbi include finishing touches of rice or noodles and lots of cheese.
This is where the tasty begins. (Jeff Quackenbush photo)
반찬 Banchan (appetizer or side dish) for our dakgalbi at Woomi was a small bowl of 동치미 dongchimi (“winter kimchi”) to refresh the palate. Leaves of romaine lettuce to slather with 고추장 gochujang (spicy red pepper paste) and wrap around the dakgalbi, raw onion and raw garlic.
This is where the tasty chicken ends up, laying on a bed of gorgeous lettuce with some raw onion tucked inside. (Jeff Quackenbush photo)
Going back to Chuncheon
Attending a friend’s wedding in mid-May was a good excuse to indulge in the many good reasons to visit Korea. For me, the most exciting reason was a return after 15 years to my Korean “hometown” of Chuncheon, located about 75 kilometers east-northeast of Seoul in 강원도 Gangwon province.
It used to be a two-hour train ride between Seoul and Chuncheon, but now there’s both ITX high speed rail — takes about an hour and has mostly reserved seats for ₩6,700 (about $7) — and a subway line — takes about 90 minutes with first-come seating for ₩2,800 (about $3).
If you have any doubt as to which train to catch, just follow the throngs of middle-aged men and women decked out in their matching hiking clothes and equipment. Most likely, they’re heading toward Gangwon for some prime hiking and camping somewhere in between.
For the possibly under-equipped hiker, an ajumma walked through the subway cars, selling wide-brimmed hiking hats, gloves and face guards.
This is not Joon-Sang and Yu-Jin’s Chuncheon station. (Jeff Quackenbush photo)
The first thing we noticed about Chuncheon’s ongoing facelift was the train station itself. The simple train platform we frequented, and seen in Winter Sonata, had been replaced by a architecturally modern glass-and-stainless-steel building.
This is what is left of Camp Page in May 2013: a water tower and a large green field. The imposing concrete wall topped with razor wire is long gone. (Jeff Quackenbush photo)
A second major difference: The tall razor-wire-topped concrete walls of Camp Page no longer blocks your entry into Chuncheon. Instead of spending an extra ₩2,000 in taxi fare to circumnavigate the base as we used to, we had a straight shot from the station through the former base grounds to downtown and 명동 Myeong-dong (the main shopping district).
We walked from the train station straight up 평화로 Pyeonghwa-ro/금강로 Geumgang-ro to the Myeong-dong plaza (on the right, just past 정강로 Jungang-ro). It would have been a 20-minute walk or a few minutes by taxi, but on the way we meandered through the underground shopping bazaar, which was under construction when we were last there.
“Dakgalbi Street,” an alley dakgalbi restaurants side by side, is off the central Myeong-dong plaza, with its Winter Sonata memorial Christmas trees on each light pole. (The trees recall a scene from the drama.)
Hubby and I would come to Dakgalbi Street after our morning classes, so being back there was like 1997 all over again. But at that time, rather than trees on light poles, the recurring motif in the shopping court was the soundtrack to the hit TV drama of the time, Star in My Heart, seemingly on a continual loop from music store outdoor speakers.
Woomi Dakgalbi (우미닭갈비)
Dakgalbi Street in Chuncheon’s Myeong-dong
50-5 Joyangdong (Chuncheon Myeongdong District), Chuncheon-ssi, Gangwon-do
조양동 50-5 (@ 춘천명동점), 춘천시, 강원도, KR
www.ccwoomi.com
October 25, 2013
San Francisco-area food documentary to feature Koreafornia Cooking
Koreafornian Cooking will star in a food-culture documentary on San Francisco Bay–area Korean cable television station, set to air in late October.
San Jose, Calif.-based KEMS-TV broadcasts on cable channel 197 in most of the San Francisco Bay area. Beside original Korean-language programming, the channel also airs Arirang K-pop shows and MBC dramas.
KEMS Rosa Kim contacted me in June via YouTube about being part of a Korean food documentary. Each of the five 30-minute episodes in the Rising Korea series covers a different topic. Korean cuisine is the theme of the first episode, “Korean Cuisine Is Coming,” in which I’ll be appearing.
The episode includes visits to a couple of South Bay–area restaurants and a Korean home cooking demonstration and discuss the growing popularity of Korean cuisine in the San Francisco Bay Area and around the world.
My Korean TV debut is scheduled to air in the San Francisco Bay area on Friday, Oct. 25, at 9:30 p.m. and be rebroadcast Monday, Oct. 28, at the same time.
October 24, 2013
Tammy's interview with Roy Choi of Kogi BBQ
On Sept. 11, I spent an hour of my day interviewing Roy Choi of Kogi BBQ. Choi discussed his soon-to-be-released biography, Flavor! Napa Valley and his opinion on pairing Korean foods with wine, the marketing of Korean cuisine and advice for the next generation of chefs and food writers.
Choi is preparing for the Nov. 5 release of his book, L.A. Son: My Life, My City, My Food. The book, co-written by Tien Nguyen and Natasha Phan, is the second publication from celebrity chef and TV personality Anthony Bourdain’s line of books for Ecco.
“You can count on one hand the chefs who have tilted the world with their innovation,” said
Michael Chiarello, event founder and owner-chef of Bottega in the heart of California’s Napa Valley. He also owns the lifestyle brand NapaStyle. “Roy (Choi) and his Kogi BBQ truck have forever changed the landscape of cooking in America. Flavor! Napa Valley was created to celebrate great chef innovators like Roy.”
Click here to read Tammy’s complete interview with Korean-American Roy Choi.
October 24, 2013