korean restaurant, part II

This time around, Seppo got the fatty pork (the non-spicy kind) and I got a potato stew, starting with the bin de dduk again. In most places, the fatty pork is cooked by itself and served with the sauces (generally one or more of three: the typical bean paste/red pepper paste combo; a mixture of sesame oil, salt, and pepper; and a fermented shrimp sauce), to be eaten wrapped up in lettuce with rice. This place cooked it up with some garlic, peppers, and onions, which lent a nice fragrance to the meat, but did not explicitly apply other flavors to it, if you know what I mean. This dish got a thumbs up from me.

The potato stew was a half-winner, half-loser. The potatoes and pork ribs were really perfect. I could not ask more of the flavor or texture. But the stew itself was too... peppery or something. It had both red pepper and black pepper, and was really spicy in a way I did not expect from this dish. It felt like someone had cooked the dish, and at the last minute, put in a large handful of black pepper. The flavor of the stew that I could discern under the pepper taste was good -- it was rich and had a good mouth-feel (wow, that sounds so pretentious). But it was just too spicy, and I honestly felt like it was spicy in a way that it was not supposed to be. I don't know. It could just be that the chef is from a different region of Korea than my family. Update: See notes below.

They gave us plenty of side dishes and were quite attentive with the water and tea. The check came out exactly when we wanted it. At the end of the meal, they served us what I think is called su jung gwa, a cold spicy, sweet, reddish drink with bits of dried jujubes and a couple of pine nuts floating on top. It tastes a little like chai, but has no tea in it. Seppo and I really like this drink.

I would definitely recommend it. When I remember the name, I'll be sure to post it. :D [Update: It's called Sahn Maru. I think means the foot or base of the moutain, but I might be misinterpreting.] It's across the street from Koryo BBQ, one door down from the corner. The corner is a new sushi-boat restaurant that we suspect is run by Koreans, as a lot of the business there is Korean-run. We haven't tried there yet.

Update: I found a couple of reviews, all of them positive.

• a local's blog review
  
• East Bay Express
• short comments on a review site [in Korean, but you can see from the scores next to words in English that two out of the three reviewers liked it]
• a ChowHound review from before it moved to Oakland from SF
  

The reviews solve the mystery of the soup. It seems they use a similar broth to the black goat stew, which at least two of the reviews refer to as flavored with mustard. I think it threw me off because I wasn't expecting the flavor or the intensity of the heat, but now that I can retroactively apply this new knowledge to my memory of the dish's flavor, that makes perfect sense. My mom doesn't use mustard very much in her cooking, so that probably just confused me. As the last review mentions though, "The owner is from the Cholla region in the southwest." My mom is from the same region, and that region is famous country-wide as having the best cuisine, so it makes sense that I like this restaurant.

Another bonus is that it is open until midnight! Nice. Another nice thing is that they bring you refills of the side dishes without you having to ask them. The waitstaff (which I suspect is just the owner's wife and daughter) are dressed in modified traditional Korean clothes (hanbok). It was genuinely a pleasant dining experience.

Warning: They are not a bbq joint, so don't expect to cook at the table. Well, except for stews. Some of the stews are cooked at the table if you order for 2 or more.

They are located at 4315 Telegraph Ave in Oakland. [google maps]