Wooil - Korean for A Day With Friends

My first time at Wooil restaurant in Buffalo Grove, but not the first time having Korean food. Typically, having Korean bbq involves table-side cooking (grill or griddle or hot plate or portable stove).

I was hungry, so don't judge me. I have ZERO pictures of the food. I was badly starved, so I forgot all about it. I did manage to snap one of beers.

Cass and Hite beers - light and refreshing and very bland

The food was just OK. My server was a person OJT-ing, which I usually don't have a problem with. However, I think a server's job is demanding and requires skills. She didn't have any.
Over the course of the night, my table was visited by three different servers, yet, no one bothered to ask if I wanted another drink (as if 1L of beer is enough for the whole night). It was. But  I wanted my check, and international hand gesture for bring me my check was sadly misinterpreted. Luckily, not in a negative way.

Kimchi dumplings were good: chewy and spicy, just the way I like them. Almost didn't need any dipping sauce with 'em.

Bulgogi BBQ (sliced beef with veggies) was placed on the griddle way before the plate was hot (thanks a lot OJT person). It made the meat soggy and done way before the vegetables were.
Typicall accompaniment of banchan (side dishes) consisted of some hits and misses: kimchi, musaengchae/muchae (white radish), dry cod (a miss), pickled peppers with dry anchovies (big miss), and a pickled koriander root.

One of the servers was so eager to help, at one point I was sure he'd take chopsticks and start to feed me. He kept insisting on showing me how to properly eat food, anxious and hopeful to have return customers. While it made me slightly resentful, at the same time I found it endearing.
Overall, it was an OK dining experience. Conversation was focused on the misfits of the OJT person (such as turning on the wrong gas stove - do you really want someone like that handling flammable surfaces?), but the food was all eaten (except the cod and anchovies side dish). That's always a good sign, isn't it?
If you find yourself there, let it be during lunch time. Prices would be lower and you can skip beer. If going for the BBQ, be assertive with your cooking stove and show them you know how to handle your meat.

Will I be back? Probably not of my own free will, but then, you never know.

February Pho

I was looking forward to Tank Noodles so much. Instead, I ended up at a restaurant next doors (Tank Noodles were on a month long vacation):

I had been craving Pho for couple of months, so it didn't really matter how good the food was. Pho was a Pho. I really wouldn't go back there on a schedule, but also wouldn't cry if I did go back there again. I'm more of 'meh' on this one than anything else. Was my craving satisfied. Yeah. In the end, that's all that matters.

That and the company :)

The Birth of: Slurp Chirp Burp

I like eating. I like diversity. I like trying something new. And, apparently, I like creating groups. 


In an email conversation today, someone asked if I was interested in seeing a 9hour movie (no, not a comedy). I thought of all the things I really like doing (as a reaction to how much I didn't want to watch a 9 hour long movie - and no, it wasn't a Start Trek or Star Wars or Harry Potter marathon either). I started thinking of eating (slurping) and writing (couldn't find a word). Then I chatted the co-founder (GS) and vetoed couple of his suggestions (fine, all of them) and thus arrived at group name: Slurp Chirp Burp - A Monthly Lunch Group, Chicago.


1) Eat somewhere something [SLURP]
2) Discuss food and culture [CHIRP]
3) Write a blog entry on the group blog if you feel like it [BURP]


Open to all to join. 


The first one is at Tank Noodle restaurant, Uptown, Chicago.
I've been craving pho since December :)