Christmas is usually held at my aunt’s house in delaware, but we had a change of plans this year. It was at my mom’s house, yes, where I grew up. No ham or turkey here folks, just good old-fashioned korean fare.
The spread. Ain’t it beautiful?

My aunt fried up some shrimp tempura. Ok, so that’s not korean, it’s japanese, but hey, it’s still tasty. How do these shrimp not curl up when fried? It’s a secret. And now I know the secret!
Mrs. K made us a batch of these little pancakes. Not typical of what we would normally eat, as these were made up with ground mung beans, cabbage, and some other stuff. Quite mild, yet delicious.
What’s this weird gelatenous stuff on this plate? It’s muk. I’m not sure what kind of muk, whether it’s made from acorn starch, or buckwheat starch, or mung bean starch, but it’s some kind of korean muk. It’s jello-esque in texture, but still not. Hard to describe. The muk itself essentially has no flavor. So you have to adulterate with something. Here, my mom has just doused with some sort of soy sauce based nonsense, green onions, and eventually, after this photo was taken, some crushed up nori sheets. I know it’s a strange concept, but I dig this stuff.
Grilled squid on the left, and some kind of grilled long skinny fish on the right. Both marinated with some spicy shizz.
A close up of the squid. Beautiful, isn’t it? It’s painstakingly scored in both horizontal and vertical directions. Why? I have no idea. I think it has to do with how it always curls when cooked, but it’s also because it looks so bad ass.
Some spicy pork ribs.
My aunt made some galbi jim, or korean braised short ribs. A family holiday gathering certainly isn’t worth anything if it doens’t involve stuffing your face with good homemade eats.

My family doesn’t really do much for thanksgiving. It’s never been a big holiday for us, and we’ve never really gotten together with extended family for it. At least not for at least 15 years. This year wasn’t much different. Just my moms, bro, and sis-in-law eating well, let’s face it, a very schizophrenic thanksgiving dinner.
I told you we didn’t go traditional, but we had to have turkey. I really do like turkey a lot, so this had to be included. And heck, let’s throw in a ham while we’re at it.
In addition to other non-traditional random foods, we had kalbi and some of these shrimps that my mom had marinated with lemon and lime juice, tons of garlic, and some parsley. The only annoying thing was that she left all the shells on. Totally wished she would have peeled em. There was tons of other food too, including some delish spring rolls, but more on them later. It was so much food that when I saw the table, my immediate reaction was “who’s gonna eat all this food?” But I guess that’s what thanksgiving is all about.

LA is home to an impressive koreatown. It’s sizeable and has tons of places to eat, of the korean variety, and otherwise. It also has multiple all you can eat korean bbq joints. I’ve never been to one, and I didn’t want to pop that cherry on this trip. So instead, we went to a slightly fancier korean spot for bbq and other food – Soowon Galbi Korean BBQ. We went simple and ordered the galbi. We only ordered one portion, so we did not get to grill it ourselves. They only let you grill at the table with two or more portions. We didn’t mind, because we were starving and didn’t feel like waiting any longer than necessary. Unlike any place I’d ever been, we were given somes salad, and the above accoutrements for the meat. Some dipping sauces, thinly sliced pickled daikon, and rice cake wrappers. I’ve been eating korean food and korean bbq my entire life, and I’ve never seen these accessories before. Is this a west coast thing? Something new I haven’t been made privvy to? Their selectin of banchan was pretty standard. They’re so anal, they have to line up the banchan dishes just right. I liked their kimchi, it was fresh and light, not very fermented, the way I like it.We also ordered haemul pajeon to have a little something else to eat. This was unlike any haemul pajeon I’ve ever eaten. It was super duper thick, like a deep dish pizza. And the thing was so hot and steamy. I typically like it more thin and crispy, but it was still good like this. But really, I prefer the pancake thinner.And finally, the meat! It was pretty yummy. Good quality meat, nicely flavored, not super sweet. It’s a bit pricey, but still a good portion. The service was really good. The dude that was our waiter was super polite and seemed to be fresh off the boat. It’s a bit nicer than most bbq joints, so if you don’t want to scare first timers, this would be a good spot.

Soowon Galbi Korean BBQ
856 S Vermont Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90005
(213) 365-9292