It is perhaps not by mere coincidence that our restaurant pick for our second week of blogging is…Korean…again. We live in an area endowed with a high density of Korean restaurants — mostly mid-level in service, specialty and food quality, but satisfactory nonetheless, from quickly-tossed noodles to slow-cooked black goat stews. If you are looking for decent Korean food (and actually a handful of choices to worry your foodie head about within a 5-mile radius) north of L.A. — or even just north of Santa Clara / Cupertino — the Korean food in Oakland is most likely your best bet.
Tonight, we had our first meal ever at Ohgane BBQ, one of the higher-end Korean restaurants around here. Higher end, perhaps, only because of the gated parking lot with security guard, and the slightly inflated prices (”Slightly” is putting it mildly, as Elephant will be sure to clarify).
On the outside (and the front end of the restaurant), it seems to be a full-service “experience Korean cuisine” type of restaurant a la Chosun BBQ, with beautiful Hanbok-clad ladies — perhaps I was expecting waaay too much; I just have to go to L.A. for that. It turns out that the back end of the restaurant, the only part open to small-party diners, is just like a regular Kalbi joint - built-in charcoal receptacles, the exciting smell of marinated meat being grilled, drone-like servers, a wide-screen TV blaring with a football game.
The choice for Ohgane was somewhat pre-meditated. I have been craving for really good Bibim Naeng Myun for over a week - the hot weather really evokes the need for iced buckwheat vermicelli with tangy vinegar and spicy daikon. It’s just one of many things built into years of eating it homemade at my best friend’s house, and have much to do with my old obsession with Surig Essig Essenz Concentrated Vinegar http://www.surig.de/ (this was a major culinary revelation for me as a teenager – German vinegar in Korean cuisine — who would have thought?).
It turns out that Ohgane’s version really hits the spot - we had a half order of it with our Kalbi and Bulgogi and it was the perfect antidote to these smoky meats. Their hot pepper paste tasted freshly ground and mixed, and the noodles were really nice - thinner than somen, they had a surprisingly great mouth feel, and didn’t melt into the bowl nor our mouths. The half slice of boiled egg, brisket, and daikon slices were all nice complements, but the icy broth and the noodles were the true stars.
The meats were, alas, conclusively disappointing, given our expectations to its price point and all the 4-star Yelp reviews they’ve received. Although meaty and fresh, the thick slices of Kalbi didn’t have that extra kick of tenderness and juiciness that have made many diners swoon over at homey joints such as Koryo or Samwon. The Bulgogi was even worse — a much more lamentable technical failure in my opinion: the thinly-sliced beef should have been marinated just right without losing their flesh colors.
The service was pretty efficient but it turned hit-or-miss as the dinner neared its end. We didn’t get a very warm reception, and had to wait quite a while for the check and the Shik Hye to come. But I shall end on a high note: Ohgane BBQ has some of the more decent and most variety of Banchan around Oakland. From stewed Kabocha chunks to julienned acorn jelly, to egg-white seaweed rolls to baby bok choy kimchi, there was a full set of 17 different petite treats — savory, sweet, hot, and sour — and each dish afforded more than 3 bites on average. That, along with the more affordable Korean lunch buffet offered, may someday bring us back to Ohgane.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There are generally two negative aspects of gorging oneself on Korean BBQ: (1) you reek of smoke and garlic by the time you’re done, and (2) it’s pricy for something so homey. Since (a) Ohgane was really pricey compared to other K-bbq joints in K-town Oaktown and (b) Ohgane is highly rated on yelp <link>, I had very high expectations for this place.
It had to be better than both Koryo and Sam Wong, and have something more interesting than the kalbi jim at Jong Ga House. Paying a premium had to be worth it.
Sigh. I’m not much of a romantic, so I’m just gonna come right out and say it: in food, as in love and movies, you shouldn’t ever get your expectations too high.
I’ll let Hippo tell you all the good stuff - she’s generally better than me at being a halfway decent human being.
Ok no. Nevermind. I’ll tell you the good stuff, since I can quickly count them on three fingers:
(A) kabocha pan chan
(B) the 64″ rims wrapped in .5″ tires on the SUV parked outside
(C) Hippo loving her noodles
Great! Onto the bad stuff!
(i) After haggling (yes…haggling! We tried first to order just one plate of meat, then we tried to order two plates of meat, one of which wasn’t grillable on the table - we were refused twice), we finally received our $60 worth of meat. The plates were gargantuan right?! Wrong! TINY.
(ii) No worries, we got more banchan than other joints around the area. That must make up for the portion size of the meat, right? Maybe the banchan is delicious! Wrong again!
(iii) I read that the glazed potato ban chan was good - “crispy and crunchy on the outside,” one reviewer put it. Well she must have gotten a different batch than we did. Ours was rubbery. Hippo reminded me that it’s never exactly “crunchy.” “So? This is rubbery-er than the other places,” I told her.
(iv) Absolutely amazing homemade kimchi - that must be the secret to this four-star restaurant, right? Wrong.
(v) Ok, they can’t screw up my little anchovies right? Oh wait, yes they can. Soft. It’s not supposed to be soft.
(vi) What’s this fancy egg custard-looking thing? Looks good! Oh wait, wait…no; it has no flavor. Next.
(vii) Is the shiso/kkaennip supposed to be witheringly wilted?
(viii) This might have made us nostalgic for some better Korean meals we had in LA, but on the flip side, it also made me feel: gee, can’t we do this Oakland style, or if you’re going to copy the factory-style K-bbq LA thing, can you do it right? Did you know that $15 could get you pounds of meat in K-town?
(ix) I know, I know. You must be thinking, “Quit being an ass - the meat must have TASTED good right?” True, if the meat had blown me away, all of this would have taken a back seat. As my good friend once said while very drunk, “Meat. Meat. Meat. Meat. Meat.” Sorry to disappoint, but the bulgogi was not that flavorful or that tender, and the galbi was only okay.
(x) Just to make it an even ten: you know how sometimes when the meat ain’t so great, it’s still okay if you can dunk it in something relatively great? Well, the fermented bean sauce that typically comes with K-bbq was high on fermentation, but low on flavor. So even that couldn’t be a saving grace.
Sigh, ok I’m done. Anyway, all that criticism and I’m still stuffed and rolling around like a big, round BBQ ball, and actually quite happy, since, ironically, it was one of the nicest meals I’ve had with Hippo all week!!
Post a Comment