Woori Village in Glenview or "If you can read this...&q

A quick search did not yield any postings for this restaurant, so here goes. The last week in October, my uncle was in Glenview for business, and we met up with him for dinner. It being close to 7 on a Friday night with my 39 1/2-week pregnant wife and 4 y.o. son in tow, we elected to stay close to the hotel for dinner and so arrived at Woori Village. Although we had never been there before, my uncle and his group had dined there the previous night and given it a hearty thumbs up. The dining area was brightly lit and quite large - probably about 25 tables - and was bustling that night. The menu is expansive, with a focus on grilled meats, though for those of you who are charcoal die-hards, be forewarned that this is a gas cooktop establishment. To be more precise, the cooktop grills are fueled by small cans of lpg which seemed a bit odd from a cost/overhead perspective. As we perused the menu, my uncle pointed out that the specialty of the restaurant was beef. Ever the aspiring comedian, he also pointed out that on the menu and the restuarant sign -'Woori' in Korean means 'Our', however the Chinese symbol for "Woori" on the restaurant logo actually meant 'Cow'. So the complete translation if you combined the Korean and Chinese would be "Our Village Cow". My four year old in particular got a good laugh out of the notion that we would be eating the village cow.

We discussed the usual marinated suspects such as kalbi, bulgogi, pork bulgogi etc., as well as some that I haven't seen elsewhere such as brisket, tongue and tripe (if I recall correctly). Prices were in the $15-20 per order range for the grilled meat dishes. Then, we noticed a small piece of paper written in Korean that was clipped to the menu. Since I cannot read or speak a lick of Korean, my uncle read and translated that this little piece of paper described an all you can eat special - kalbi and one other grilled meat plus rice, panchan and your choice of kimchi jigae or nang myen...for $20 per person. A special, were my uncle not with us, we never would have known. My wife gave me a knowing glance that that said "mmmhmmmm." Ever since our dating days, she has been convinced of what we jokingly refer to as the Korean-language cabal. That in fact those Korean language signs and banners that you see posted in all manner of Korean stores and restaurants roughly translate into, "If you can read this your _____ is free." or 20% off or whatever.

Having vindicated my wife's suspicions, we were on to the food. The panchan was a nice variety, about 10-15 dishes if I recall, with some interesting ones I haven't seen frequently. One was a kimchi that was pickled without red pepper and another was a steamed scrambled egg dish that I remember my mom making but haven't seen served as panchan. Kimchi also in the radish, cabbage and cucumber versions, and all were nicely tart, which you don't alwasy get. For our meats we selected kalbi, which was served boneless, and a beef dish of my uncle's selection that I've not had before. It was very thin unmarinated slices of frozen beef (frozen to aid in slicing I believe) that had a substantial fat collar about 1 inch wide on one side. I am not sure what cut it was and cannot remember what the name was, but it was quite tasty. The beef had the chewiness of the center portion of a ribeye, and the fat collar provided a great richness and mouth feel. The kalbi was pretty good, although not as well marinated as I would have liked. Given that it seemed like a busy night, I would chalk that up to high turnover with not enough marinating time. My wife ordered the jigae, and my uncle and I had the nang myen, which is thin, very chewy noodles in a cold, slightly vinegary broth with a hard-boiled egg. The jigae was what you would expect, boiling hot spicy soup. The ice cold, vinegary nang myen actually made a refreshing counterpoint to all the beef and heaviness of the meal. My son also had a plate of average tasting pan-fried mandoo which he all but abandoned in favor of kalbi. All in all, we consumed our way through two platters of the thinly sliced beef and four platters of kalbi along with our nangmyen. Service was prompt, and the waitress stopped by frequently enough to refill our platters. We left feeling very full and satisfied. Given that we live in the city just blocks from Korea town, it won't necessarily be destination dining for us. However, it is definitely on our list of places to go for Korean when we are in the area and is worth a try if you are in the area. Happy holidays to all!

Woori Village
9870 N. Milwaukee Ave.
Glenview, IL 60025
(847) 299-2555

Thanks for the detailed post.

I'd been in that restaurant in its previous Korean incarnation a couple years ago, and it was similar in price and probably decor (still all white inside?). At that time, $15-20 for an entree at a Korean restaurant was a little higher than average, and I wasn't impressed with the service, and I haven't been back since they changed names.

I can't read any Korean either -- but I have learned to say "Thank You."

It's interesting that the boring chains are slowly eroding from that neighborhood:
Woori Village was a Bonanza (I think -- it was some cheap steakhouse) (edit - Ponderosa, not Bonanza)
Periyali was a Red Lobster
Pita Inn was an Arby's
The Burger King closed this last year -- no sign of what it'll be next
Senoya (around a big corner on Golf) was an Olive Garden

Sure, we've still got McD's and Taco Hell in the same block, but add in a couple Taquerias (Los Comales and El Norte), an ex-Fluky's hot dog stand (forget the name), Giordano's, Nancy's, a couple other Korean places, it's a very chow-friendly neighborhood... and that's not even counting the Golf Glen collection of restaurants from Omega to Twin Dragon with a bunch in between.

JoelF wrote:... an ex-Fluky's hot dog stand (forget the name) ...

Goodi's I think though it's not, particularly.