Korean Express

First time to KE yesterday. Bless the board for bringing it to light. This is a revelation. Okay, I'm exaggerating. But it's darn fine. Choose pork, chicken, or beef bulgogi and you'll have a heaping (and I mean heaping) serving of meat for $5.25. Kimchi is $1.

I just hope they put a nice chige (stew) on the menu once the weather changes.

Apologies to my coworkers for the kimchi stank on my return to the office.

Korean Express
330 South Wells Street
(312) 986-8009

what? a CHEAP! korean place that's not 10 miles away? it is a blessing, i'm going for lunch t'row!

Paul Tyksins wrote:Apologies to my coworkers for the kimchi stank on my return to the office.

Reminds me of a time years ago of a great dinner composed of mountains of kalbi, panchan & OB beers over an open brazier during a reunion with a bunch of the college buddies at Korean BBQ on Bryn Mawr, followed by cocktails & cigars at Green Mill. My friend's wife made the classic comment to him in her lovely Yorkshire accent when he crawled into bed at 2am, "you smell like a rubbish bin."

The bibimbop is really good at Korean Express too.

Fast Eddie wrote:The bibimbop is really good at Korean Express too.

Be sure to tell the lady that you like it Korean spicy, otherwise you only get a nominal drop of hot sauce.

I walk by that block of Wells street quite often, and the only Asian restaurant I'm aware of is the Panda Express in the store-front where the Perogi/Eastern Euro place used to be.

Is the Korean Express hidden from the street, or am I just blind?

It's a bit hidden but certainly visible from the Van Buren side. Do you know Billy Goat's Tavern? It shares a doorway with the Goat.

Korean Express is now offering a halfway-decent Kalbi, grilled to order (at least it was for my lunch companion yesterday).

This place remains on my very short list of edible fast food in the loop.

Best,
Michael

Wouldn't go so far as to suggest that Koean Express is very good, but it is a decent Loop option. Bi Bim Bap does not have any kind of egg, so how good can it be, really. Also, try to be sure the Korean owner makes it. The Chinese (Mandarin?) ladies running the other side of the room don't have much feel for the Korean stuff. In fact, when I spoke with the nice lady running the register, she made a point of letting me know that she knows zip about Korean food, an apparent source of pride and a tough trick in a restaurant that's half Korean.

My favorite Korean business in the area remains Pepper's.

JeffB wrote:Wouldn't go so far as to suggest that Koean Express is very good, but it is a decent Loop option. Bi Bim Bap does not have any kind of egg, so how good can it be, really.

My one time order of the Bi Bim Bap was pretty miserable since it was eggless and comprised mostly of limp, tasteless veggies that seemed to be cooked hours earlier.

Definitely not a "very good" place as you said*, JeffB, but I like the pork bulgogki.

*I'd call attention to the keywords "halfway-decent" and "edible" in my previous post.

yeah it's sad that Korean Express is all we Loop workers have for Korean food. can we strike? I'd like it more if the meats were not soaking in liquid, getting soft. Heat it up on the grill at least. And if they fried an egg for the bibim bop it would kick it up a bit in my book.

After reading the comments here I may have to give this place a second look. I ate there once awhile back, maybe a year ago, and had the worst bi-bim-bap I'd ever eaten. Dried out, stringy pieces of beef bulgogi, no egg, skimpy even on the veggies, it was a real disappointment. Really good bi-bim-bap takes effort but how hard is it to make a mediocre bowl? This is the only time out of dozens and dozens of bowls both here and in Korea that I can say it was truely awful.

I guess I'm easy to please, but Korean Express is my go-to place for a treat at lunch (my closest option is Venice Cafe--UGH), and the bibimbop is what I order there. It's true there's no egg (though the last time I was there the woman after me asked for one, and it seemed like the folks behind the counter were going to accommodate her), but it's hard to go wrong with a pile of rice, marinated vegetables, bulkogi, and gochujang.

I mean, it's not nearly as good as any bibimbop that you'd get in a real Korean restaurant, but for a fast food joint, it's reasonably fresh and tastes wholesome, you can sit down, it only costs $5-something, and you can get two mandoo for 99 cents.

Would I go there if I didn't work in the SW Loop? No. Would I recommend anyone go out of her way to try it? No. But I would (and do) certainly recommend it to anyone stuck in this area who otherwise faces tasteless pasta at Venice Cafe or and an array of taste-free options in the Sears Tower.

I visit Korean Express almost weekly - I work in the CBOT which is 1/2 block away. I love the Bi Bim Bap and the Chap Chae is really good (if you ask nice sometimes they'll throw in some gim chi too). I usually ask for 'spicy' and it comes pretty well spiced (however I am Korean and I think that when I say 'spicy' it means something else than when my white co-workers say 'spicy').

The egg is a bit scary (some really sorry looking scrambled egg sliced in to 'strips' and put on top...but give 'em a break, you can't really crack a raw egg over something that's not hot as an order of dul-sot) - but the bi bim bap sure beats the greasy stuff other places offer.

A year since the last post. An update.

Korean Express has upgraded their offerings. For a while, they got rid of the weird scrambled egg on the bi bim bap. Now, they are offering a pre-fried, sunny-side-up egg (held on a warmer) as an "upgrade" option. Not perfect, but not too bad. They key is to arrive at (or not long after) the time that they make a batch of eggs.

I noticed a sign today that said, "HEALTHY FOOD: Korean soft tofu and kimchee soup!" This is something I'll be trying in the near future, for sure.

Korean Express remains a pretty good loop fast lunch option.

Best,
Michael

I wonder if the sign is referring to soon doo boo.

If it is, that would definitely incent me to walk the 4 blocks there.

Please keep us posted.

Thanks,
Han

The main reason I go to the Korean Express about once a month is to watch the reaction of the Korean employees after I say "Annyong haseyo". I get a big kick out of that.
Besides that, I'm always amazed that I ever go back there. Even with their recent "premium" upgrade of their bi bim bop, which means basically throwing in a fried egg, this ranks as one of the worst bowls in the city. Terrible rice, poorly cut vegetables, and low-grade bulgogi. But being the tallest midget in the circus around there, it'll have to suffice every once in awhile when I get a yen for anything remotely Korean at lunchtime.

I know it's off topic, but has the wow bao opened up yet at 175 w jackson?

Well, yes, PIGMON. All discussion in this thread needs to be read in terms of "loop lunch options", the vast wasteland of barely edible food served as quickly as possible to as many people as possible.

In no way would I put anything at Korean Express up against anything at any other Korean restaurant in the city. Korean Express is fast food and a "loop lunch option". NOT a destination for anyone outside the loop or anyone who can take a lot of time for their lunch.

PIGMON wrote:The main reason I go to the Korean Express about once a month is to watch the reaction of the Korean employees after I say "Annyong haseyo". I get a big kick out of that.

If you really want a great reaction, go in to Peppers across the street for greesy burgers and say that to the ahjimah behind the counter. Then you can say "ahn-yung ee kay-say-oh" when you leave (it's kinda like 'good bye').

Stay away from the Jap Chae at KE. I had it a few weeks ago and it has almost turned me off from Jap Chae anywhere. I'm thinking of getting therapy in K-Town one of these days. . .

Han wrote:I know it's off topic, but has the wow bao opened up yet at 175 w jackson?

I walked by on Friday, and there were notes on the doors saying that they would be open on Monday, Feb 26th...

I was walking by Monday around lunch time and sure enough, the new Wow Bao was open as scheduled. At 11 a.m. already filling up with traders looking for an early lunch. Very friendly service, with lots of staff to help you figure out what you want. I had the BBQ pork and Thai chicken curry bao. The chicken didn't do anything for me, but the BBQ pork was excellent--probably the best steamed bao I've ever had (I prefer baked cha sui bao). In particular it's much better than the bao from Sixty Five Chinese Restaurant just around the corner.

Interestingly enough, no sauces were served with the bao. When I asked, they told me (nicely) that the bao didn't have sauce because they were already juicy and gave me some of their dumpling sauce (standard, perfectly adequate ginger soy) But I really wanted something like a chili bean paste. Have I been eating my bao wrong all these years?

I just got done eating a six pack of bao (kung pao chicken, thai curry chicken, and spicy mongolian beef). By the time I got back to my office, they had cooled down a bit, but they were very yummy. The fillings in each one had nice distinct flavors.

There was a sign for breakfast bao...I didn't catch what was in those.

In case anyone has problems finding it, even though the address says 175 W. Jackson, it's actually at the corner of Financial and Van Buren.

Did anyone notice what time they close?

Ann Fisher wrote:Interestingly enough, no sauces were served with the bao. When I asked, they told me (nicely) that the bao didn't have sauce because they were already juicy and gave me some of their dumpling sauce (standard, perfectly adequate ginger soy) But I really wanted something like a chili bean paste. Have I been eating my bao wrong all these years?

Yes and No. Chinese people do not typically eat their steamed, filled buns with sauce, however who's to say you can't eat your buns the way you want. Filipino and Japanese can on occasion be found eating steamed, filled buns with some type of glaze/sauce. For Chinese, plain or scallion man-tou (buns without filling) are often used as the "carb" accompanying entrees, and in that fashion can, on occasion be dipped in the sauces of the entrees.