When in new york, one must eat a genuine nyc style bagel. We asked the concierge of our hotel for a recommendation on a bagel place, and luckily, there was a great place around the corner – Ess-a-Bagel. The place has bagels, of course, and other deli offerings. It’s all certified kosher. There’s a good number of seats in the place. You pick up your order and sit, there’s no table service. They don’t have crazy flavored bagels, just your standards.

They do have a crazy number of cream cheese flavors. Do you see all these? It’s kind of like when you go to a gelato place and see all the flavors in the display, except this is cream cheese, or schmear. Love that word, schmear.

Also lots of smoked meats and pickled what nots. Pickled sour tomatoes. This looks cool to me. And various pickled herrings. This, perhaps not so much.

For as many different bagel flavors and schmears they offered, I was really boring. I mean, you can’t get more boring than this! I got a plain bagel with plain cream cheese. Ha! But this thing was perfect. It did not need to be adulterated by any kind of stuff in the cream cheese or any topping on the bagel. These bagels are ginormous. Really, they’re the size of my head. They’re super dense and chewy on the inside, and the outside is perfect too. It’s not crunchy on the outside, but it’s not chewy either, it’s just right. And the amount of cream cheese slathered on here is ridiculous. It was the first thing I ate that day, and it was so big that I could not finish it. It won!

For a proper meal, we headed back to koreatown, because we had both been wanting to go back to KumGangSan. We had gone here together a bunch of years back and had remembered how good it was. We had a bit of a wait though, but it was worth it. The place has two floors and lots of tables, but it was absolutely packed. And you’re talking about a street that is chock full of other korean restaurants. Yet on a tuesday night at 7, this place was still packed. You know that’s a pretty good sign. Oh, and the thing I love about koreatown is that so many of the restaurants are open 24 hours as day! It’s a dream!

Holy banchan! Marinated spicy squid, which almost seemed raw or nearly raw. Two different kimchis, one was regular, but was a bit watered down, and the other one was an actual watery style kimchi. Broccoli and imitation crab meat, and some mystery fungus dish at the bottom. We’re thinking it’s a mushroom of some kind.

Spicy squash, a savory eggplant, two different types of tofu (one was bluish?!?), some type of mystery sliced root, and a salad.

I really loved this salad! It had some kind of dressing that I absolutely fell in love with, yet I can’t really describe what it tasted like. I couldn’t distinguish its main flavor. But it was awesome. I wish they’d bottle it.

We got some kimchi fried rice. Kimchi fried rice isn’t nearly as kimchi-y as you’d think it would be. It’s actually quite mild, not at all spicy, and a bit nutty. It’s basically just a fancy rice, in case plain old rice doesn’t do it for you. This one had meat in it, but it was tiny little bits of meat and there was barely any in it. You can get it with chicken or veggies too. It was good and as you can see, a huge portion.

The dish that we came back for – the ojingaboekum. I’m all about this squid dish at most korean restaurants I go to. And I remember coming here before and absolutely loving and devouring it. As before, it didn’t disappoint. There’s tons of hunks of meaty squid in a spicy, sweet, and savory sauce. Yes, it’s all three of those flavors. There was also a few slices of rice cake in there, as a little added surprise. But it was only a few, as in maybe 5. I wish there had been 50! This dish is just particularly good here. Can’t describe why, it just is.

For dessert, we were given complimentary samples of this ice bean thing. The placemats at the tables were hocking a few different products that KumGangSan makes, including this ice bean stuff. What is it? Well, as A described, “it’s like science in your mouth.” That’s what it is. It’s fruity and icy, and then in your mouth, it turns into a creamy yogurt type consistency. Very sciencey indeed. Made by the power of sugar and chemistry. So it has the word bean in it, and it does have a slightly bean-ish aftertaste, so it must be made from something involving beans, and not regular dairy.

The service here is ok, nothing stellar, just standard korean restaurant service. One thing to note, you will stink like korean bbq after you eat here. The smell is everywhere and it will seep into every crack and crevice on you, and of course, your clothes. So you will smell like this until you wash yourself and your clothes.

Just before my official holiday break from work, I took a few extra days for a mini break to NYC. After trying out the Bolt Bus for the first time (everything went well), we stopped by Koreatown for a quick snack, since the bus drops us off in midtown. We wanted a snack, and not a meal, so we stopped at Mandoo Bar. It’s a korean style dumpling restaurant. They have a few other korean food dishes as well, and itt seemed that everyone else ordered dolsot bibimbap. It’s a small and narrow space, with a clean and modern design. There are little korean ladies in the front, right at the windows, making the mandoo.