Arirang (Niles, Korean)

As anticipated towards the end of these threads:

http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=6677
http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=9849

Arirang, a Korean BBQ restaurant, has opened in a dedicated space just around the corner from the H Mart in Niles (you can almost miss it, it's just west and south of the Murray's Auto Body in the same master complex as the H Mart but only accessible from the outside, I believe).

This was the cleanest K-BBQ I have seen in Chicago, with polished floors and tables, excellent ventilation, plasma TV showing a perky K-Pop concert, and a great backlit aquarium. The servers looked as appealing and edible as the food. Don't get me wrong - I enjoy the medieval Klingon refectory atmosphere of San Soo Gap San's ilk and their doughty table matrons, but I was quite ready for shinier digs.

Arirang offers standard tables for kitchen-cooked dinners and hot pot ($9-16) and gas-fired grill booths for barbecue. Our party of three chose the latter, and was disappointed to note that all barbecue-at-table items on the menu MUST be ordered in duplicate, with no mix/match: you had better want a LOT of kalbi or have a party of five or six to do really well with variety. We were only three, but we bit the bullet and went with the requisite double order of pork belly and a double order of spicy squid and beef with rice noodles.

The banchan sides came out first and were remarkable in quality and flavor, including pickled (or at least vinegary) crab legs and salmon-textured gelatin in ginger-sesame dressing, and string beans in a syrupy soy paste reminiscent of hoisin. The cabbage, squash, and radish were well seasoned though not particularly spicy, and two of our servers displayed delight and surprise that we enjoyed and finished them and asked for more.

The pork belly preparation we selected was marinated in white wine and HANDFULS of bay leaves, which blackened and left the most heavenly aroma lingering over the grill. Our server cooked the first batch and left the second to us. With added soy paste, chili oil, slivered scallions, and some pickled garlic and jalapenos, the squares of perfectly tender-crisp pork were phenomenal, wrapped in lettuce or just forked off the plate. I just wish a plate of naan was handy (I always wish a plate of naan was handy, regardless of cuisine).

The spicy squid and beef hot plate (item G1) was served as a casserole, already bubbling from the kitchen, but was set down into our table and divided into three portions. The first was served to us. After ten minutes, a huge bowl of bean sprouts and scallions was added to the second portion and redistributed to us. After another ten (and complete fullness), our server again appeared, this time with two bowls of rice, one red and one white. The heat was turned up, cooking oil was added, and the third portion was fried to a crisp along with the rice. This will make a prodigious lunch for us tomorrow, as we could barely try a spoonful at the table. This dish in its three manifestations would have been plenty of food for about four people (it was $16 x 2, the minimum order).

I did not find any of the food really hot like I sometimes crave, but I did find it wonderfully spiced and carefully prepared from very fresh ingredients (not surprising since it is co-owned and provisioned from the H Mart, according to our server). The pork belly in wine and bay was one of the best Korean dishes I've had in the city and is particularly recommended. It would be possible to order more cheaply than we did - bout $95 with tip for three people, including a $13 bottle of wine - but it still seems to run pretty high when I compare to what I could get at Le Bouchon Tuesdays, Bonsoiree, Avec, or Meiji for similar coin (or for apples:apples, San Soo or Cafe Corea). As mentioned, service was delightful and very attentive. I look forward to opinions from the native Korean community members and K-cuisine experts among us.

Arirang
801 Civic Center Drive (SW from H Mart entrance)
Niles, IL

I've been meaning to check this place out since I saw it opened a few weeks ago. I'm sorry to hear that they use gas powered, rather than charcoal powered grills. Oh well, I'll probably check it out one of these days anyway.

Thanks for the review; I was actually thinking of asking recently if anyone had ventured to try this new restaurant.

A friend and I went to Arirang for lunch the other day before shopping at H Mart. Our pro and con observations were similar to those of Santander's original post. Less pro, though.

The space is indeed attractive, and three or four large groups of Koreans seemed to be enjoying their lunch very much. Service was prompt, but our server's English skills were inadequate to the task of waiting on non-Koreans. We both liked very much the seafood and scallion pancake that we shared. Of the panchang, the only things we liked were the kimchees (cabbage, daikon, and especially the cucumber). We did not get served some of the sides Santander mentioned, such as the green beans.

Particularly annoying was a dish described as shrimp fried rice, which did contain shrimp, but the rice was steamed only and not fried, and mixed with a corn/pea/carrot/green bean mix that had to have come straight out of a plastic bag from the frozen veg aisle. Worse even than my worst-ever attempt at fried rice at home. We couldn't bring ourselves to either eat it or take it home to inflict it on anyone else.