Korean Ping

Howdy.

Assume I know nothing of Korean dining. I really don't know much. I went to San Soo Gab San a few times for sushi only. I used to live down the street from Chicago Food Corp, and shopped there often, grabbed stuff from the food bar all the time, but honestly, I've never gone out to a restaurant for Korean food at a Korean place.

So, on Sunday afternoon, we're going for Korean food, somewhere. I don't care where. We will be joined by a Korean woman from Detroit who speaks Korean, and is looking for good Korean food. We will also have an almost two year old in tow. 5ppl in total, one kid, one Korean lady who speaks Korean and wants good Korean food, 3 others who are adventurous.

If you wanted to impress the Korean lady, how would you narrow the choices of what she would enjoy? Ex: Northern, or Southern (if there's any real difference.) BBQ or non BBQ?

I've quickly looked at a few threads, and Hae Woon Dae, Kang Nam, San Soo GS seem to be most mentioned, and are on my list.
Any other suggestions on what to do here? Maybe reserve a "small room" at one? I simply have no clue. I'm just trying to make this a great meal, and I know that the other two non-Koreans will have no idea. Suposedly the Korean lady is asking a friend where to go, and I will get that information, but I'm wondering if that info will come from someone who "went to restaurant X once 9 years ago, and it was the best ever" ya know?

Cho Sun Ok for Cha Dol Gui. Having a Korean speaker dramatically improves the experience, and this meat, the salt/sesame oil for dipping, killer fried rice on the same stone afterwards, and pretty solid banchan make for my favorite Korean dining experience in the city. Go early, though--don't think they do reservations, and the place isn't big.

I recently had an excellent dinner at Cho Sun Ok w/a friend who while not Korean, was able to communicate effectively with the staff. We had the dish described above and it was terrific. It's kid friendly to the extent that it's loud, bustling and no one should be disturbed by a toddler (so long as (s)he isn't screaming ) but you'll want to keep an eye on the cooking surface!

You can't go wrong with Hae Woon Dae.

If you want to do the BBQ yourself with a good selection of panchan, I can't think of a better place the SSGS. They bring the hot coals to a brazier set in the middle of your table with a vent hood above.-Dick

I reaaaaallllly don't know what happened, but we wound up at Evergreen for Peking duck instead.
The Korean lady's friend said that San Soo GS is his new "go to" after explaining that Hae Woon Dae had been slipping after an ownership change. I was, and still am pretty bummed about the whole thing, but I made them promise to take us to a Korean joint for a full blown Korean experience next time. They should be back in three weeks.

Follow up -
Life happened, and the follow up dinner was last night at SSGS.
My first Korean BBQ. It was all insanely delicious, imo. The only "miss" was a pan fried flounder. We were there with two Korean speakers, and we grilled up a storm. I brought the camera, but it seemed it would have been a tad intrusive on the meal - the table was absolutely covered, and we had two infants with us. Busting out the camera didn't seem like a good plan.

Rice covered with kalbi and kimchee is now on my list of "eat it till it's gone." Their soups were delicious too. We had one with rice cakes, and another with rice cakes and dumplings. The pan fried mackerel was soo good, we ordered another. Two year old seebee jr was literally sucking on the mackerel's bones at one point. The table was amazed at the things he was trying (and going back for more.) Good food is good food - period.