International Blue House of Pajeon

Hope you’re keeping warm. It looks like Old Man Winter, after outliving his welcome earlier this year, heard people complaining about Hot Ass Summer and rushed back. Poor Autumn–it’s my favorite week in Korea.

So, the cold weather is here before the leaves have even had a chance to change. It’s a good day to curl up with some hot tea and read the banchan.

• ZenKimchi chingu Chef Young-sun Lee is getting back into the business in NYC with a food truck selling kimchi tacos, burritos and grilled cheese. (original Village Voice article)
• ICHI Lucky Cat Deli in San Francisco has a noodle dish with “Shiso Pesto.” Must be ZenKimchi fans.
• The Korean government is opening a restaurant in New York, which has gotten its share of criticism from The Korea Herald, The Korea Times, The Marmot’s Hole, Michael Breen, Hanopolis, Korean restaurateurs in New York, and, really, most everyone. This deserves its own post, but quickly, the government is at least being consistent–government solutions to everything combined with more Yangban-to-Yangban marketing. “Hansik globalization plan” sounds more like a fascist doctrine than a marketing strategy.
• And sticking with the “We Love Yangban” theme, we have another CEO pretending to cook in a hotel kitchen, brought to you by the JoongAng Daily.
• Again, no Korean restaurants made the Singapore-based Miele Guide’s Asian top 20. I bet if a K-pop band owned one of them we’d have the ballot box stuffed.
• Steampunk ice shavers
• Seoul hotels, which have mostly shunned their native cuisine, have become fair weather fans because of the G20.
• Korean pears are invading the U.S. I hope they succeed. YUM!
• Sashimi, grilled beef and fresh oysters. Birthdays are best celebrated in Korea.
• No link, but I spotted a baking mix for Indian Curry and Garlic Naan made by Korean company Q1. For those of you who don’t live in Korea, it’s rare to see “ethnic” cuisine in supermarkets, especially made by Korean manufacturers.

Restaurants

• Norumok Gobchang — Brooke again proves that she is the perfect woman with her love of gobchang.
• The chef has a Korean-sounding name, but it doesn’t mean that he can cook Korean food.
• Gord Sellar praises the java at Momo.
• New American-style Chinese joint in the HBC

Recipes

• Dried shrimp and anchovies are some of the banchan cooked here
• Aeri does some great Spicy Squid with Watercress.