Kim's Korean: Pork Belly Heaven [Pictures]

LTH,

Kim's Korean is one of the many suburban strip mall restaurants that give absolutely no indication of the deliciousness that lurks within. Last evening, thanks to Kuhdo and his colleague Jenny the Land Beyond O'Hare became a bit more enticing.

Kim's Korean


Though the focus is on Samgyupsal (pork belly) I very much enjoyed all that we ordered, starting with Hae-Mul Pa-Jun. (Korean style pancake w/assorted seafood and green onion)

Hae-Mul Pa-Jun


Whelks w/assorted veggies in spicy sauce was tasty and had a no nonsense heat.

Gol-Baeng-I Mu-Chim (Whelk w/assorted vegetables marinated in spicy sauce)


Pork Belly w/tofu and kimchi is one of my favorite dishes, contrasting texture and flavor evolve the components beyond their baseline.

Sliced Pork Belly w/Tofu and Kimchi


Spicy mushroom soup with beef and hand-cut noodles was enjoyable, though I did not get much hand-cut nood pop.

Beo-Seot Jeon-Gal (Spicy soup w/mushroom, beef and hand-cut noodles cooked in a casserole pot)



Kim's had a cool special pork belly grill, which I had never seen before. The fat run-off cut-out worked perfectly.


We had two kinds of pork belly, red wine marinated and curry/garlic. It was served with lettuce, paper thin daikon radish and a small tripartite container with fruit-garlic-onion/bean powder/bean paste.

(R)Curry Garlic Pork Belly (R) Three pork belly 'dips'


The pork belly was also accompanied by shredded marinated scallion.


Waitress/Jenny/Kuhdo


Red Wine marinated pork belly



The pork belly at Kim's was Black Pork and cut slightly thicker than I've had in the past, resulting in absolutely delicious texture and flavor.

Service was terrific, price, especially in light of quality, reasonable, beer and soju available and two type of seating traditional and table/chair.



A sincere thank you to Jenny for the look into the Land Beyond O'hare.

Enjoy,
Gary

Kim's Korean Restaurant
1827 W. Algonquin Rd.
Mt. Prospect, IL 60056
847-427-1642

G Wiv wrote:Though the focus is on Samgyupsal (pork belly)

Focused on pork belly? Wow. Is this a common class of Korean restaurant?

germuska wrote:

G Wiv wrote:Though the focus is on Samgyupsal (pork belly)

Focused on pork belly? Wow. Is this a common class of Korean restaurant?

It is in Korea.

Nice writeup and pictures, Gary. Kim Ga Nae is my go-to spot for sam gyup sal (pork belly), and it's a favorite among Koreans in the area.

The Mt. Prospect location opened recently, I believe, and I haven't had the opportunity to compare. But, based on your pictures, they seem not to have strayed far from the formula that brought them success in their Mundelein location.

Wow! Everything looks delicious! If only there's something like that in Chicago.

Maybe it's time for me to save up for a damn car!

Nah, forget the car . . . join I-Go! I ditched the car and joined I-Go - there are locations all over, gas in included, and it's only around $8 an hour. Although it seems a lot to go to a restaurant, think of how much you spend each month on parking and insurance.

This all looks delish. The next time I'm out that way, this will be on my agenda.

A bacon specialty restaurant. What evil genius devised this concept! This was truly an exceptional meal. Even more amazing when I learned that "Kim" was actually Kim Glubawitz and that all the food was actually kosher (or so Gary assured me).

m'th'su wrote:

germuska wrote:

G Wiv wrote:Though the focus is on Samgyupsal (pork belly)

Focused on pork belly? Wow. Is this a common class of Korean restaurant?

It is in Korea.

I'll never forget when I had sam-gyup-sal three days during the same week (both at homes and in restaurants). Now those were the days...

Reminiscing 'bout the Motherland,
Dan

LTH,

Had the pleasure of another meal at Kim's Korean which, if possible, was even better than the first. Ordered a number of the same dishes, why mess with pork belly perfection, with a few additions and sidesteps.

Hae-Mul Pa-Ju (A3), Welk with assorted vegetables marinated in special sauce (A4), Sliced Pork Belly w/Tofu and Kimchi (A5), Wine Pork Belly (B3), Garlic Curry Pork Belly (B7) were delicious repeats.

Garlic Curry Pork Belly


Hae-Mul Kal-Guk-Su Hand-cut noodles with clam, shrimp, mushroom and assorted vegetables cooked in a traditional Korean Casserole pot (C2) was a sidestep from our previous version w/beef. I preferred the seafood, we also allowed the noodles to cook longer before eating which I thought gave them better texture.

Hae-Mul Kal-Guk-Su


In amongst the more traditional creatures from the sea were sea squirts, odd texture with an even odder taste. Jazzfood likened them to eating the "ass end of the ocean"

Sea Squirt


After Pigmon's Al Bap post from Los Angeles we were quite excited to see it on Kim's menu. Nothing like what Pigmon had in LA, yet tasty in it's own right.

Hae-Mul Kimchi Al-Bap (D21)


In the over the top, died and gone to heaven, though if you eat more than a slice or two of the rich, fat laden cartilaginous pork you actually do die and go to heaven, the Hwang-Je-Sal, or Meat from Pork Collar Bone, is the clear winner.

Hwang-Je-Sal -Meat from Pork Collar Bone (B8 )



Sliced beef brisket, Dduk Bo-Ssam, was tasty but the comparatively lean beef seemed anticlimactic after the intensely rich pork collar

Dduk Bo-Ssam -Sliced beef brisket (B2)


Jok-Bal Pork Hock was, well, a pork hock, tasty, if a bit under seasoned, and very photogenic.

Dmnkly w/pork hock



Nice selection of panchan, differing sauces for the various meat and razor thin marinated Daikon to use as wraps.




Surprisingly, it does not take long to get to Kim's from the Northwest side of Chicago proper. It's only a mile or so off I90 at Elmhurst Road.

Second meal at Kim's held up to, and even exceeded, the first. If you like Korean style pork belly, and who doesn't, a trip to Kim's is in order.

Enjoy,
Gary

not that i have personal experience. that was just conjecture.

FWIW,
Kim's was originally located at:
358 Townline Rd, Mundelein, IL
(847) 949-9900

the Algonquin owners sold the Mundelein locale last year and the food has (so I was told) suffered greatly.

The Lovely Donna and I were out in Mt. Prospect this past Sunday for a Chicago Trombone Authority performance, and she reminded me how close we were to Kim's.

Thanks to all for the heads up on a truly memorable meal. We tried both the soybean and curry-garlic marinated bellies. Our waiter Andy asked us how we found the place, and before I could answer, he said "Internet, right?" He went on to tell us how grateful the owner was for all of the additional business, but from the looks of their full to capacity dining room, they didn't need any help.

I plan on ordering the collar next time around.

We were there at 6:30 Sunday evening. The only downside was that after our meal, our clothes were permeated with the aroma of pork fat. Come to think of it, that's not so bad after all.

HI,

I was another of the internet crowd to visit a few months back with Josephine and CrazyC. We tried four different pork belly preparations. We then surprised the restaurant by bringing our own pork belly: I had just finished smoking my first bacon earlier in the day. We made enough to share with the staff who were either impressed or very polite. I believe our waiter was Andy also, who joked, "A new definition of BYOB: Bring Your Own Bacon.

Regards,

Just had lunch today at Kim's. Had the curry/garlic pork belly and bamboo powder/secret sauce pork belly for two of us.
We were shown 'how to' by the owner who owns Kim's with her husband.
Very attentive service but we quickly got the hang of it having eaten at Korean BBQ before but never with the tilting griddle.
Everything was excellent but what was particularly interesting was that nothing was spicy or had much garlic. I assume this was to allow the taste of the pork belly to come through. The spiceyest thing I tasted was the soup! At first when the pork belly was brought out it looked like an awful lot for my son and myself but when we were done, we were not stuffed, just pleasantly full. Had large Hite beers(just one a piece) to accompany the meal.
Have to go back and try other dishes when we are in the area again but it is 70 miles for us from Wisconsin.-Dick

Does anybody know if they're open on Sat for lunch? They dont seem to like to pick up their phone.

sinos wrote:Does anybody know if they're open on Sat for lunch? They dont seem to like to pick up their phone.

As per Mike Sula of the Reader Kim's Korean is (sadly) out of business.

sinos wrote:Does anybody know if they're open on Sat for lunch? They dont seem to like to pick up their phone.

Indications are that they have closed permanently

=R=

cross-posted w/ G Wiv

Dammit! Just when I am moving to the area.

I drove by Kim's tonite and they seemed to be open as usual.

kuhdo wrote:I drove by Kim's tonite and they seemed to be open as usual.

This, obviously, bears further investigation. Thanks Don

G Wiv wrote:

kuhdo wrote:I drove by Kim's tonite and they seemed to be open as usual.

This, obviously, bears further investigation. Thanks Don

I will try to check it out -- in person -- in the next day or 2. I'm very excited at the prospect of this place still being open.

=R=

Hi,

The one time I visited Kim's, I brought my fresh from the smoker bacon. The kitchen and staff loved it.

Regards,

That was a mistake.

They are in fact still open but answering this number: 847-545-9210. Open daily 11:30 am to 10 pm

I'm so excited, I want to hug all of you!

Anyone up for lunch here on Saturday 1/12? If so, I'll start a new thread on the Events forum.

=R=

ronnie_suburban wrote:Anyone up for lunch here on Saturday 1/12? If so, I'll start a new thread on the Events forum.

=R=

It's on for lunch tomorrow. Please feel free to join us.

=R=

well because of all the hullaballoo about this place, i ended up visiting this place last night with a friend. i was way too comatose to post afterwards. good food. friendly but harried service, the place was almost full and the two gracious waitresses were quite quite busy.

to those that order the highly recommended pork belly (we got two orders of the garlic curry) cooked at the table... it may not look like alot of meat (we seriously thought about getting more food), but IT VERY MUCH IS. probably 90% of the way working through the seemingly small stack of pork belly slices... it hit me and my friend like a overturning semi trucking a load or porcine goodness on I90. we seriously had to struggle eating the last four slices. neither of us felt good for a couple of hours. stuff is delicously rich.

and quite open and busy.

my coat still lovingly smells of pork fat.

jeffcoloma wrote:It hit me and my friend like an overturning semi trucking a load of porcine goodness on I-90.
...
My coat still lovingly smells of pork fat.

One or both of these lines needs to hit the top of this web site.

Just sayin',
Dan

My coat: still lovingly smells of pork fat.
My coat, still lovingly, smells of pork fat.
My coat still - lovingly smells of pork fat.
Still, my coat: of pork fat, smells, lovingly.
Lovingly, my coat, smells still of pork fat.
My coat still smells lovingly of pork. FAT!
Of pork, my smells, lovingly, still coat.
Smells still coat my pork, lovingly. My!
My pork still lovingly smells of coatfat.
My fat stoat still lovingly smells o' cork.
I, troll, solve my lofty licks 'mong pals.

Okay alright your coat smells of pork fat....pork belly. What the heck is pork belly?? Sounds disgusting but looks good. Is it another name for bacon???

Santander wrote:My coat: still lovingly smells of pork fat.
My coat, still lovingly, smells of pork fat.
My coat still - lovingly smells of pork fat.
Still, my coat: of pork fat, smells, lovingly.
Lovingly, my coat, smells still of pork fat.
My coat still smells lovingly of pork. FAT!
Of pork, my smells, lovingly, still coat.
Smells still coat my pork, lovingly. My!
My pork still lovingly smells of coatfat.
My fat stoat still lovingly smells o' cork.
I, troll, solve my lofty licks 'mong pals.

Do I detect the influence of Gertrude Stein?

Speaking of Gert, I'm surprised that in the annals of LTH, there has been no discussion of Tender Buttons, surely one of the most compelling (if not downright bizarre) literary works on the subject of food (as well as objects and rooms).

SINGLE FISH.

Single fish single fish single fish egg-plant single fish sight.

A sweet win and not less noisy than saddle and more ploughing and nearly well painted by little things so.

Please shade it a play. It is necessary and beside the large sort is puff.

Every way oakly, please prune it near. It is so found.

It is not the same.