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I'm planning to take my family & another family to either San Soo Gap San or Hae Woon Dae this weekend. Has anyone ever eaten n the small rooms? Do you have to call & reserve or is it just first-come-first-serve? Thanks!

I've always called ahead at Hae Woon Dae when I've had a big enough group for a room; they've been very accommodating.

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Solga...

The End.

The place is always packed and for good reason, some of the best pan chan you will find along with kalbi done right (marinated and easy to chew) I always prefer to order it already cooked, but to each their own.

Echoing nr's suggestion, I'd call and reserve as both places do a brisk business on the weekends. While I very much like both Hae Woon Dae and San Soo Gap San my preference for Korean BBQ is Hae Woon Dae.


While I agree with FoodSnob that Soga is quite good, I prefer live coal BBQ and Solga employs gas with a small amount of charcoal, which if they use at all, do not replenish. I disagree griddled in the kitchen Korean BBQ can hold a candle to cooked at the table with live coals.

Enjoy,
Gary

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Sauce on the side, always, implied, axiomatic..........never a doubt, BBQ sauce without.

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Weber Grill is always packed.


perhaps in Alaska.

Solga bites. no charcoal, crap for panchan, weak selection of meat cuts, small portions, overpriced, over-serviced. This joint, just above Chicago Kalbi, remains the bottom of the inedible K-joints in Chicago.

Ended up calling San Soo Gap San & making a reservation for Sat evening. They were very accommodating & it was a good thing I called too, since it got packed really fast. Great food, as always!

I had a tremendous hankering for Korean BBQ that was worsened by reading this thread, so budget be damned, we were off to Hae Woon Dae.

It definitely delivered. We enjoyed dolsot bi bim bab and BBQ pork (unsure of the proper name). I had ordered dolsot bi bim bab a million times in Berkeley, but for some reason "dolsot" was never part of the name, so until last night I was unaware that you could order it sans stone bowl. Why on earth would anyone do that? The pork was delicious, and we preferred the thinner of the two sauces, which was gingery in tone.

The raw crab panchan was pretty exciting, although I wonder if there is a more delicate way to free the meat. I ended up exhausting a huge stack of napkins and not getting much from the shells - I had never realized raw crab is gelatinous, which made it difficult to determine what was crab and what was sauce.

Suzy, it may seem indelicate, but you can just put it in your mouth and crunch-suck-crunch-suck. Then spit out what's left of the shell. It's perfectly mannerly.

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HI,

Maybe I am the indelicate one, I just chew, chew and swallow the whole mass. Am I wrong in doing this?

Regards,

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Cathy2

"You'll be remembered long after you're dead if you make good gravy, mashed potatoes and biscuits." -- Nathalie Dupree
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I don't think so.

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I noticed the other day they've added a subsign to their sign that says "Live Charcoal." Not sure if this means a change of policy or what...

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That's how I do it as well.

I wouldn't say "wrong"--eat them however you like--but the most common way of eating them is m'th'su's method.

That's my technique as well. Raw crab panchan at Hae Woon Dae Friday was top notch, as was our entire meal.

Hae Woon Dae Raw Crab Panchan (4.20.07)


It's been mentioned before, but set dinners at Hae Woon Dae are an absolute deal. 7 of us had a $99* diner for 5 plus steamed egg appetizer, mando and Yook Hwe (raw beef) for an embarrassingly large amount of really good food. $99 includes 5-BBQ meats of choice, large array of panchan and a number of menu items of your choice. We opted for seafood soup, spicy baby octopus, Hamool Pah Jun (seafood pancake), Jap Chae and one or two things I'm sure I've forgotten.

Yook Hwe (4.20.07)


Enjoy,
Gary

*Set dinner for 5 has 3-price categories, $79, $89, $99

Hae Woon Dae
6240 N. California
Chicago, IL. 60659
773-764-8018

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Sauce on the side, always, implied, axiomatic..........never a doubt, BBQ sauce without.

Low & Slow

How do you eat yook hwae? Wrapped in a lettuce leaf w/ the condiments?

Damn good meal this evening with family that flew up from Dallas. Family dinner has new pricing schedule though - now stated as dinner for 4; So the change simply means 1 less BBQ meat dish for the same price - still a great deal.

Set dinners include:

Dinner A for 3 @ $79.99 which includes 3 meats, choice of 3 dishes from 6

Dinner B for 4 @ $89.99 which includes 4 meats, choice of 3 dishes from 6

Dinner C for 4 @ $99.99 which includes 4 meats, choice of 3 dishes from 6

We had dinner B with choices of haemuljungol (seafood soup), chapjae (stirfried potato noodle w/ beef and julienned veges) and haemul pajun (seafood pancake); They also gifted us with a spicy vegetable nyang myun (cold arrowroot noodle).

I thought it funny to see a whole tackboard with all the pics from LTHforum featuring CrazyC, GWiv, etc.

Although Garden Buffet's also a board favorite, we were very glad to have chosen Hae Woon Dae this evening. I have to say I enjoyed the family meal a lot more than a meal I've had at San Soo Gap San - but 24hrs has it's pluses too.

So I finally got my first taste of authentic Korean BBQ last night at Kang Nam. The GF and I met a friend who lives walking distance from the place and is a KN veteran. He said that the BBQ "entree A" list is the way to go so that's what we did.

We ordered OB (24oz Korean beers) and some steamed dumplings to start, and the dumplings came with a tiny starter salad each (nice rice vinegar-style dressing), a delicious hot soup with tofu, scallions and a sort of miso-style broth, and also a crepe-like eggy omelet thing. We also had some hot tea, I think it was a barley tea, quite tasty.


Starter salad, dumplings, and egg crepe thing

We were pretty hungry, so we each chose one of the BBQ entrees: pork bulgogi, kalbi (beef short ribs), and squid (I wanted some seafood with my meat).

This burly cook brought out the "bucket o' coals" for our table grill - real charcoal!!! We welcomed the warmth as it was in the 20's outside.
The nice lady brought out the short ribs first, marinated and off the bone.


Kalbi aka Short ribs

Along with the BBQ, she brought out about 15 little bowls of condiments, including lettuce leaves and thin-sliced radish "wraps" for the meat. We were not sure what of all of the condiments were, I think that one of them was marinated tripe (to left of beer in picture)...but they were all very tasty. The marinated okra had a really nice spice kick! Nice lady helped us grill the meats and gave us a bit of advice as to the radish wraps and the different panchan sides.


Pork Bulgogi and Squid waiting in the wings for the grill


marinated squid on the grill

We really couldn't finish everything and should've ordered two entrees for the three of us...good thing the squid went on the grill last since it got a tad over-cooked and chewy, but we were full by then.

When they brought the check, we were each given a tiny bottle of this yogurt-milk stuff called Biofeel, made in Korea. Really, really sweet but tasty, and has that lacto stuff for good digestion.



Kang Nam
4849 N. Kedzie (in strip mall)
773-539-2524
10:30am to 10:30pm every day

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Homer: Are you saying you're never going to eat any animal again? What about bacon? Ham? Pork chops?
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I am trying to find where I can get the best beef bulgogi in Chicagoland area, if anyone might know?

Hi,

Your query was merged into thread on this very topic. Please note Korean Garden or is Garden Buffet on Lincoln just north of Foster Ave recently closed.

Regards,

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Cathy2

"You'll be remembered long after you're dead if you make good gravy, mashed potatoes and biscuits." -- Nathalie Dupree
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I've moved back to Chicago and have been seeking out my favorite Korean spot. In the last few months, I've tried Kang Nam, Hae Woon Dae, and just this last Friday, San Soo Gab San.

Both KN and HWD were lovely. Great food, great panchan, friendly service. At HWD, the only downer was the grilled shrimp, which a companion wanted. They were small, shell-on and very hard to eat. At KN, the only problem is that our server didn't trust us initially to use the grill and poured all of our pork on the grill at the same time, which meant the food took longer to cook and didn't have a good sear on it. Other than those two relatively small problems, we really enjoyed ourselves. We look forward to returning.

SSGS was an entirely different experience. The grilled pork was fatty, hard to eat, and the seasoning appeared to just be kochujang. Boring. The dol sot bibim bop was pretty flavorless, and the kochujang made it only a bit better. We had a shredded beef soup that was decent, but didn't arrive as an appetizer, like we'd asked. The panchan were seriously skimpy - - a bite or two of most things. Probably half of what we'd gotten at HWD and KN. And, we noticed that others were getting different panchan than we were. We watched some of our panchan favorites being delivered to our neighbors and couldn't figure out why we hadn't been served the same. Anyone know why?

The main problem at SSGS, however, is that our server had absolutely no interest in us. I don't mind unfriendly service, but this was unacceptable. I need to at least have everything I need to eat my food. The server was slightly friendly until she took her order (hubby even got her to smile once), and that was it. She seemed disappointed by our skimpy drink order and that we didn't order exclusively expensive dishes (she kept pushing the bbq dishes).

We couldn't get her attention for additional panchan. And, it was difficult to ask her for the accompaniments to the grilled meat - - lettuce, bean paste, and scallions. The meat got cold while we waited and the scallions never arrived. I noticed that other tables had the bbq accompaniments even before the bbq arrived. She walked by our table frequently, and appeared to not see or here us when we asked for help. We heard her talk to others, so we know her English is decent - - language barrier wasn't the problem.

We eat out frequently and have had more than a dozen pleasant Korean dinners in the past few years, so this was definitely strange. We were polite and friendly, pleases and thank yous. I can't imagine what we could have done wrong. When she brought our bill, she didn't even thank us. And, I don't think we'd given her any reason to think that we were unhappy (we'd only managed to get attention to get the bbq accompaniments and a few extra panchan, so we weren't asking her to jump through hoops for us).

We normally tip 20% on the total after tax (95% of the restaurants we go to). We left her $3, which was under 10%. In retrospect, that may have been more than she deserved.

Would anyone have said something to the manager? I can think of two instances in the past six months where something was so wrong that I spoke to management. However, these two restaurants were places I'd dined before and knew had performed better - - I thought the management would want to know. In both instances, management could not have responded more admirably. For whatever reason, I didn't say anything on Friday night.

I can't stand San Soo Gap San either. Hae Woon Dae is great, our go-to place since Korean Restaurant closed, and I had a good experience the one time we went to Kang Nam. But I can't abide SSGS, and I can't understand why it seems so popular.

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trpt2345

I actually redirected my dining party tonight from Great Beijing in Lincolnwood to SSGS on Western because I'd much rather enjoy the stews/soups over there than have to keep thinking of how Great Sea (on Lawrence) does what Great Beijing does so much better (well, with most of the dishes I'm interested in). Of course, you don't go to SSGS for the service, and you can most certainly find better Korean barbecue elsewhere -- REB's comment about the grilled pork being fatty and hard to eat does resonate with me, but I almost always order the spicy cod stew, so the meat isn't as big of an issue for me. If boiling-hot Korean stew's not your thing, there are a lot of better places to go in or near Chicago.

But, yeah... the extended hours, plentiful seating, and easy North Side location probably draw a lot more people to SSGS than some other restaurants serving similar food, as do the numerous awards and mentions in the media (like a certain Great Neighborhood Restaurant nod). More reasons to love -- and maybe hate -- SSGS below:

viewtopic.php?f=28&t=8771

Not much panchan variety tonight, but the funny thing was that the waitress serving the party next to us was both smiling and participatory when the group started with "Happy Birthday," instrumentally led by a ukelele. We had the standard dour and unsmiling help at our table, but another person actually thanked us for coming when we left. Will wonders never cease...?

I generally find that, regardless of the venue, pork belly doesn't cook to my satisfaction over open flame, whether it be charcoal or gas. It's too fatty for that method, flares up and tends to burn before it gets tender at all. It may be an acquired taste, which I have yet to acquire.

The now defunct Kim's Korean in Mount Prospect did a great job with it and if you look at the pics in the thread I link here, you'll see that they devised a specific apparatus for cooking it, indirectly, over gas. The results were excellent and made me appreciate the thought that went into the preparation. As much as I love Korean BBQ over live charcoal, there are some instances when other cooking methods are superior.

Bottom line, I don't think you can specifically blame SSGS for the way their pork belly comes out. Given the cooking method, it would be difficult to expect any other outcome.

=R=

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REB,

I feel you pain, first timers at Hai Woon Dae always seem to want to order shrimp, which is the one and only item that is less than satisfactory. They come to the table barely thawed, if that, are small and over cook to tire tensile strength in a flash. Avoid if possible.

In general I'm a fan of Hai Woon Dae, Kang Nam and San Soo Gap San, all use live coals and have their individual strengths, though left to my own devices I typically pick Hai Woon Dae.

Enjoy,
Gary

Hai Woon Dae
6240 N California
Chicago, IL 60659
773-764-8018

San Soo Gap San
5247 N. Western Ave
Chicago, IL
773-334-1589

Kang Nam Galbi
4849 N. Kedzie
Chicago, Il
773-539-2524

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Sauce on the side, always, implied, axiomatic..........never a doubt, BBQ sauce without.

Low & Slow

In my pork-belly eating prime during my last visit to Korea, I remember having sahm-kyup-sal three times in quick succession... and loving every moment of it. There's just something about that round raised metal pan that got the pork goin' whether cooking off a gas grill (on the floor) at home or taking care of business at a local eatery. I'm not quite as eager to chew threw the layers of fat and "skin" these days, but some grilled pork (as opposed to grilled pork bellies?) can be really difficult to chew, cut, and swallow sometimes, depending on the cuts chosen by the restaurant. I assumed REB was talking about the non-bellied(?) form of pork, but I can't be sure. Feel free to correct me, folks!

Yeah, it was the non-bellied pork - - it had bones. Our server wouldn't let us order the belly, so it really wasn't an option. Grilled spicy pork, no bones, is our usual order (great at HWD and KN), but wasn't available at SSGS. In Asian restaurants, generally, hubby and I prefer pork to beef.

And, yes, the shrimp was a mistake. My companion who wanted it was a Korean bbq virgin, though, and we didn't want to discourage her. She seemed to like it okay. We've had far greater success with squid and octopus on the grill.

As long as we're talking about "best Korean BBQ," let me put in a plug for New Seoul in Des Plaines, which also uses lump charcoal, and offers 30 different items for grilling, besides a full menu of other fare.

Some good photos here:
Daily Herald review

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Dining Chicago
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We went to SSGS today and had a very nice meal: the 'spouse got Katsu-don, and I had the dol sot bibim bop - rapidly becoming my favorite cold-weather meal as I'm always sweating by the end of it, just from the heat of the bowl. We enjoyed our meals, but I kept hoping for a condiment other than kochujang to appear (and/or wishing for the balls to ask for it) The bibim bap really needed a hit of salt, and I'd have loved to have doenjang instead (I assume that's the dark brown salty stuff that's often served in ketchup bottles along with kochujang?) Would that have been inappropriate? The waitress came by and urged me to put kochujang on the rice, which was fine but didn't address the need for salt.

The complimentary soup aroused our curiousity me quite a lot: the Katsu-don came with standard Japanese-style miso, but the bibim bap came with a similar soup, but clearly handmade in appearance, but with a chunky miso base and hand-cut blocks of tofu and pepper slices floating in it. It was very interesting to contrast the two; I'm inclined that the more rustic soup was better.

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Yes, a more egregious insult than the whole ketchup on hotdog issue... although, take it for what you will, in the past I'd eaten hotdogs with ketchup.

I'm not a big fan of doenjang -- unless it's used to dip some grilled meat in -- but if you end up mixing some in to your (already mixed) rice, it wouldn't be the first time that was done in a Korean restaurant (or SSGS, for that matter). Unfortunately, I've only recently seen it done there by my sister for her two young sons, as the duo wanted the doenjang soup mixed into their white rice. But take some comfort in knowing that Korean adults have been known to drop rice into doenjang soup in my personal experience; the drier reverse I'll leave to the cultural/etiquette police.

Those soups are what I'm all about at SSGS, and it's one of the few places where I'll even consider ordering doenjang jjigae (more a stew than a soup?). The "thicker" the stew the better in my book. Substantial tofu and pepper slices only improve the picture from there. Almost forgot to mention that I might stop by SSGS Friday night, actually, at a friend's request. Cod fish stew or grilled meat -- that is the question....