Su-Ra, Wicker Park Korean

LTH,

Su-ra doesn't miss a beat, boppy, or is that bi bim boppy, techno tunes, exposed brick walls, windowed kitchen, ingredients with heritage this, heirloom that, organic, sustainable, free range, plates attractively accented with puffed rice noodle, lotus root and multiple dipping sauces. The owner was on hand keeping a watchful eye on detail, pitching in if needed, and the overall air is customer service friendly, we're happy to have you in our restaurant.

I wanted to like Su-ra, I really did, it's BYOB, prices are reasonable for presentation, ingredients and neighborhood, our server, if somewhat inexperienced, tried his best, but when it came down to what was on the plate Su-ra fell short, starting with doughy slightly underdone Hae Mul Pajun (seafood pancake), Duo of Mandoo, outer shell of the fired stretching the limits of toothsome and the potentially interesting cabbage wrapped mandoo evocative of the stuffed cabbage rolls I had earlier in the week at Smak-Tak, that is if Smak-Tak managed to make the cabbage leaves stringy and tough.

Mo Dum Jun (combination of lightly battered black cod, seasonal vegetables and duo of dipping sauces) was the best of our appetizers, consisting of undercooked lotus root, and lots of it (a recurring theme), undercooked zucchini, tasty tofu, decent eggplant and quite good, especially in comparison to the other items on the plate, moist cod.

Dol Sot Bi Bim Bop, with it's mix of barley and brown and white rice with seasonal vegetables, I didn't know sprouts had a season, and marinated prime sirloin verged on memorable, except for the fact the ingredients, including rice mix, were added to a heated stone bowl as opposed to being cooked in, thus no signature Dolsot noo roon bop (bottom layer of crisp rice). We had heirloom pork in two entrees, a daily special of 'pork neck' BBQ with three dipping sauces and Dae Ji Bulgogi (sweet and they do mean sweet and spicy marinated heirloom pork with seasonal vegetables). I'll give the chef high marks for consistency as the pork in both preparations was devoid of both flavor and moisture content.

Sea Bass with a caramel ginger sauce on a bed of rice and kimchee was the winner of the meal, moist fish flesh, house made kimchee topped with the Su-Ra signature undercooked lotus root and deep fried styrofoamesque rice noodle. Kimchee on the panchan assortment was quite good, slightly spicy with clear clean flavor, the owner, Mr. Hwang, said it was his mothers recipe. On the other hand, the black (soy) beans were horrid, incredibly salty and undercooked. (Yes, I know, this particular panchan is supposed to be slightly toothsome, I'm talking tooth crunching dense/undercooked)

Su-ra has an outdoor area for dining in back, it's BYOB, and everyone from the busperson to the owner seemed sincere, I wanted to like the place, I really did.

Oh, by the way, there is an new outpost of Jay's Beef a couple of doors East if you are hungry and in the area.

Enjoy,
Gary

Su-Ra Korean Restaurant
2257 W. North Ave
Chicago, IL
773-276-9450

De ja vu. How did it compare to the other techno-hipster Korean that used to be right down the street? Can't remember the name...

G Wiv wrote:
Oh, by the way, there is an new outpost of Jay's Beef a couple of doors East if you are hungry and in the area.

zinggggg!

oh, i think JeffB is referring to what was the always lamentable Soju. i remember being warned by a solicitous server there that the kimchi was "a little on the spicy side."

Su-Ra (not to be confused with Sura, or for that matter, She-Ra) gets a 4 out of 6 star review from Time Out here! So Gary, did you notice the chef's "deft touch"?

Thanks for taking a bullet on this one, Gary. I was curious, and not very optimistic after seeing the menu.

I was hit by that bullet as well. Painful. There was no "deft touch" involved. 4 out of 6 is laughable, but then, consider the source.

JeffB wrote:De ja vu. How did it compare to the other techno-hipster Korean that used to be right down the street? Can't remember the name...

That place was called Soju, I think it was close-ish to North and Ashland. I don't remember it being that great.

But if you want "techno-hipster" Korean, you can try Jin Ju in Andersonville. I once took my parents there and they enjoyed it. It's a bit expensive, but you are paying for the ambiance. I first didn't understand why someone would want to eat hip Korean food. To me, Korean food is something that was decidely not hip, growing up with it for dinner every night for my first 18 years of life. But I can understand how people might want an experience that's more American-friendly, with designer martinis and low light. But please please please don't make the food inauthentic or bad, as it seems in Su ra's case. Give me live coals, a couple of Hites, nose-running and tear-inducing stews, and every piece of stinky fermented kimchi under the sun, because that's the Korean food I know. Off to San Soo Gab San I go..

Sharona

Jin Ju
5203 N Clark St.
(773) 334-6377

I believe Soju begat Parlor.

Sharona wrote:
But if you want "techno-hipster" Korean,

I don't. I'm partial to the Hourglass and the occasional Garden Buffet; otherwise, it's Kang Nam.

I've been to Jin Ju once. The highlight was definitely the panchan -- you get tiny portions of three kinds, including one characterized as "very hot" which normal people, if they were being charitable, might call "slightly hot". But it was tasty and obviously some creativity went into it. Unfortunately, it was followed by rather standard entrees that, while in no sense bad, could just as well have come out of a hole-in-the-wall Korean kitchen near any medium-sized U.S. college campus. True, the portions at Jin Ju are smaller, but at least you do get to pay more and be treated like a mendicant by the waitstaff because you're not ordering mixed drinks.

jazzfood wrote:I believe Soju begat Parlor.

It's the same space, if thats what you mean (I don't think the same people are involved, but I could easily be wrong.)

Soju was actually the first time I'd ever had Korean food Hey, I was young. It was very forgettable, but it did push me to seek out the real thing (as in "there has to be more to Korean food than this") so in that sense, I guess it was a positive experience for me. Kinda.

Correct. Same place, different people.

Soju was actually the first time I'd ever had Korean food Hey, I was young. It was very forgettable, but it did push me to seek out the real thing (as in "there has to be more to Korean food than this") so in that sense, I guess it was a positive experience for me. Kinda.

Believe me, we've all been there on something.

Mike G wrote:Su-Ra (not to be confused with Sura, or for that matter, She-Ra)

I prefer Skoora, the Gentle Shark

/obsure Kids in the Hall reference

tem wrote:

Mike G wrote:Su-Ra (not to be confused with Sura, or for that matter, She-Ra)

I prefer Skoora, the Gentle Shark

/obsure Kids in the Hall reference

LMAO!

=R=

Mellon-hubby and I ended up meeting a bunch of friends at Sura last night. After reading this thread, I was less than excited to have dinner there - but the lure of seeing friends we hadn't seen in a while got us in the door.

So how was it?

Well, it wasn't bad...but it didn't strike me as great either. I had the Dol Sot Bi Bim Bop and it was a little sweet for my tastes (roasted red peppers and corn made the dish a bit sweet, and the spicy chili paste was a bit sweet as well). However it was served in a sizzling hot bowl and there was a layer of crunchy-crispy rice at the bottom. What I did notice is that there was very little rice in the dish at all. Don't get me wrong - I didn't eat the whole portion and had to take some home - but I'm just used to a healthy bit of rice, and this had about 1/3 the rice of other Bi Bim Bops I've had at some of the Korea-town joints.

After hoping for the sea bass on G Wiv's recommendation (they ran out...) Mellon-hubby had the "triple-pork-threat" special of Pork Neck prepared three ways. It was flavorful (surprise, surprise!) and moist.

We also had a special seafood appetizer which was pieces of hae mul (seafood) lightly tempura battered and fried, served with a soy-rice vinegar dipping sauce and a side salad. It was light and the seafood wasn't overdone...wasn't bad, just kinda "meh".

We did not, however get any panchan with the meal which kinda shocked me. We didn't really ask for it, but we didn't really notice it wasn't served until we left.

Thankfully our experience was better than G Wiv's, but unfortunately it wasn't good enough for us to be back...especially considering we live closer to Korea Town. I realize that "totally authentic Korean" is not exactly what they're going for, but it just wasn't good enough for me to eat there again. However, if you find that you have to eat there in the future (like we did) it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be.

I found it as bad as I thought it would be, so I can't say that I was surprised. I had poor expectations going in and very little I encountered there changed my opinion. Not a chance in hell I'd return.

The GF and I went to Su-Ra with a friend the night before our road trip south. I had noticed it earlier in the week driving by since it's BYO and we like that (being in the wine biz).

We got there early on a Saturday night (the 19th) so there were maybe 2 other tables at the time, but 4-5 more filled up before we left. Atmosphere was nice, "groovy" music and staff was pleasant.

I can't recall exactly what we ordered, but one of the apps was dumplings in the double-layer basket, which was pretty tasty. And I think we had a fried app (tempura?) as well.

We went for one entree to share, which our waiter lovingly described: heirloom pork (shocked?) shoulder slow-braised and served with many sides/sauces and also came with a dozen oysters on the half-shell. This dish was amazingly delicious and huge, about a 2lb pork shoulder (or loin?) that was slow-roasted in a "carnitas" style so it was like pork candy. It was a big hunk of meat on a plate, and about 6-7 sides/condiments came with it as well as the oysters, which we quickly slurped down.

We ended up letting our friend take about 1/3 to 1/2 of the pork home (since we were gonna be away) due to the grand size of this dish.

SIDE NOTE: One of my pet peeves in the restaurant biz is not telling prices of specials, especially if they are beyond the normal range of menu listed entrees. This pork special was $50. Enough said.

We left very happy, even it was a "hipster" Korean place, and not authentic, but I don't think that was important to us. What we enjoyed was the good ambiance (lighting and music levels were just right) and the food we had was very good.

wino66 wrote:
We went for one entree to share, which our waiter lovingly described: heirloom pork (shocked?) shoulder slow-braised and served with many sides/sauces and also came with a dozen oysters on the half-shell. This dish was amazingly delicious and huge, about a 2lb pork shoulder (or loin?) that was slow-roasted in a "carnitas" style so it was like pork candy. It was a big hunk of meat on a plate, and about 6-7 sides/condiments came with it as well as the oysters, which we quickly slurped down.

We ended up letting our friend take about 1/3 to 1/2 of the pork home (since we were gonna be away) due to the grand size of this dish.

Sounds like they are taking a page out of David Chang's Momofuku play book.

http://offthebroiler.wordpress.com/2007 ... -ssam-bar/

viaChgo wrote:
Sounds like they are taking a page out of David Chang's Momofuku play book.

http://offthebroiler.wordpress.com/2007 ... -ssam-bar/

Exactly like this, yes!

My fiancee and I are complete novices to Korean, but we live in WP- would this be a decent place for us to start?

That would be a negitory. For that I would steer you to San Soo Gap San or Hae Won Dae. In fact, I'd be glad to tag along and direct the proceedings as well. Get you off to a good start. Great cuisine when done right. My one time here was anything but.