Credit: SeoulfulAdventures on Flickr
I hope we’re all enjoying the last days of summer on this gorgeous first morning of September. Weather folks are predicting rain in Seoul, but it’s a turquoise blue outside*.
Oh jeez, am I seriously talking about the weather?
Let’s get to some banchan before I start sharing ultrasound photos.
- Asian Feastival. New Yorkers. It’s coming this Monday, September 6th. That’s Labor Day, right? We don’t have that here. Go to it! Panelists include Eddie Huang, Stir-fry Grace, Joe DiStefano, Akira Back–and now Maangchi has joined up.
- Our friend Debbie Lee (Seoul2Soul, Next Food Network Star) is interviewed in front of her popular Korean pub grub food truck, Ahn-Joo–video here
- Cheap sushi buffet in Hongdae
- Eddie Huang is doing Cheeto Fried Chicken at his New York restaurant Xiao Ye
- Sweet Potato and Kimchi DeopBap? I’m intrigued.
- For beer lovers, Home Plus now sells Kaiserdom Alt-Bamberger Dunkel
- Speaking of beer, someone finally came up with a viable deep fried version. I attempted it a few years ago. Yes, it’s basically fried beer batter, but if they can just put Coke in a batter and call it “Fried Coke” then what’s the difference?
- Is it me, or does this “Korean BBQ Beef” look like a basic Chinese stir-fry plus gochujang?
- Just when the blueberries are good for you craze started pushing Korea to make blueberry plantations, we find that good ole black rice is even better
- David Chang’s in Vogue
- Paul Ajosshi introduces us to “the best damn fried dumplings in Korea,” which are related to Old Boy
- Quail Egg Toast for Kids. Hmm… pretty cool.
- Your voting guide for the second season of Food Network’s “The Great Food Truck Race” (is Ahn-Joo not eligible)
- The Knockout Taco Truck
- TaKorea
- Chilantro
- Yumbii
- The NYT features Korea’s charcoal saunas, which I think are the best sources for barbecue
- Korean BBQ Cheese Steak Roll. Prepare to drool.
- Singapore’s food blogging community is having a bit of controversy over freebie meals. Is this a case of bratty bloggers or a conspiracy by restaurants to get free publicity at their expense? I think this could seriously happen in Korea, considering of a couple restaurateur tales I’ve heard of Korean language food bloggers demanding free food for good reviews. There’s also a practice of print reviewers telling restaurants ahead of time when they’ll show so they can get the best free meal the restaurant can offer. At ZenKimchi, we always state if our meal has been paid for by the restaurant, and it never influences our reviews. That’s a note to restaurants as well as readers.
- Smashburger is likely coming to Korea in 2011. Very excited. It’s something that got big after I came to Korea, but I’m familiar with the mid-western to western concept of the smashburger. It sounds oh… so… good!
- It looks like Korean tacos, bahn mi and bibimbap will hit the fast food franchise market with the introduction of Del Seoul in Chicago
- Can’t make it to Chicago? How about making some killer Korean Burritos at home.
- But stay away from the Black Garlic Pastry
- A book recently came out by a person who really sounds like she shouldn’t have left her backyard–you know, one of those annoying people on the tour bus who wants everything her way? 101 Places Not to See Before You Die sounds like it would be entertaining, but the excerpts I read sounded like a whiny expat rant on Dave’s ESL Cafe. Some people are just not suited for travel. To quote Brian Deutsch, “If you get to a point where you start fighting with a monk, I’d suggest you’re the one with the issues.”
We got crabs!
I also went to Joshua “Wine Korea” Hall’s birthday party this past weekend. Did a Louisiana Shrimp & Crab Boil. Had some great wines, clay pot baked duck, and some clever company. And I finally got to meet our New York editor Shin in person. She’s a lot of fun. She’s visiting Korea for the week.
Oh, and the Baby Nixon thing? I don’t know. It’s cute.
* Oh, it’s nice and blue because we’re about to get hit with a typhoon.