Woo Chon -=killer value Korean=-

(my gallery2 setup is freakin out right now, so pardon the pixalated jpgs on photobucket)

Woo Chon Restaurant
5744 N California Ave
Chicago, IL 60659-4726
(773) 728-8001
open til 11pm
(corner of Lincoln/Cali)

Erik M inadvertently goaded me into this meal (even tho i just had Lee Wing Wah 2 hrs ago w/ VI & family) & i'm thankful. for this Korean joint is a solid affair. the smoky fog that confronted us upon entry convinced us to actually kill an hour @ Orange since the restaurant was completely packed at 9pm.

our $21.95 (after tax) bill made me feel like i took the restaurant to the cleaners. that's right, $22 for 2 orders of top shelf kalbi in the city. Gwiv noted the current kalbi sale @ Kang Nam and i get a erie feeling the kalbi sale is a universal fact this month at Korean joints all over town.



nothing is spectacular nor fancy @ WC. a dozen panchan, no kimchi, no muol chi, but the skatefish was perfectly seasoned. we polished off the pickled asian cucumber and asked for thirds. this, after the SO spent a whole week downing her mother's home cooked Korean meals.



Woo Chon could do no wrong tonite and ended with my secret Korean obsession (on par w/ my Taiwanese canned grass jelly obsession):


PS: the deng jang jigae made w/ overbundant unkimchi'd cabbage was a lil wack - tasted like a deng jang / kimchi jigae hybrid - and was served brown rice w/ beans; plain white rice completely unavail at this restaurant. BLECH!!!)

PPS: it's been a year since i visited Kang Nam and tho i don't quite remember the reason, i didn't/don't plan on going back. mediocrity is easy to come by in this town.

Cafe Orange
5639 N Lincoln Ave
Chicago, IL 60659 View Map
(773) 275-5040

(edited for pricing clarification)

TonyC wrote:(

Erik M inadvertently goaded me into this meal (even tho i just had Lee Wing Wah 2 hrs ago w/ VI & family) & i'm thankful. for this Korean joint is a solid affair. the smoky fog that confronted us upon entry convinced us to actually kill an hour @ Orange since the restaurant was completely packed at 9pm.

Now, I know why you wanted to skip the pork belly at LWW...

TonyC wrote:our $21.95 (after tax) bill made me feel like i took the restaurant to the cleaners. that's right, $22 for top shelf kalbi in the city. Gwiv noted the current kalbi sale @ Kang Nam and i get a erie feeling the kalbi sale is a universal fact this month at Korean joints all over town.

Tony,

Woo Chon sounds like a killer deal, was that for two orders of kalbi? I've always been a fan of Woo Chon, even more so since the owner change a year or so ago. My only minor gripe is they took Yook Hwe off the menu. The raw beef nicely complimented by Asian pear, pine nuts, sesame oil and raw egg.

Speaking of Korean BBQ, I was at Hae Woon Dae, still my favorite Korean BBQ joint, Monday night. No deals on kalbi, but everything was tip top, they even had raw crab and dried anchovy in the panchan mix.

Re little bottles of yogurt drink, Kang Nam gave us something similar after dinner last week.


Enjoy,
Gary

Woo Chon Restaurant
5744 N California Ave
Chicago, IL 60659
773-728-8001

Hae Woon Dae
6240 N. California
Chicago, IL. 60659
773-764-8018

Kang Nam Galbi
4849 N. Kedzie
Chicago, IL
773-539-2524

Gary,

You and I enjoyed an order of that "beef tartare" many years ago. We went yesterday, three of us. Woo Chon was very underwhelming in my opinion. I knew the fact that there had been few or no posts in the 8 years (other threads, perhaps???) was a bad omen. Extremely skimpy on the panchan...I cant imagine a Korean restaurant that serves kimchi 'by the tablespoon," (no exageration). And a tablespoon doesn't go very far towards satisfying three adults. We had to continually ask for more leaf lettuce, etc...even though we ordered three $20+ entrees.

I don't know the correct protocol, but to serve one set of panchan to three adults was beyond skimpy. It screamed "Lets make some money these ignorant round eyes." And even though there was only one other table in the restaurant, the refills came at a snail's pace, as if to punish us for the audacity of asking for more.

Quality of meats was fine. Kalbi beef, beef tongue, fresh bacon. Seafood pancake was underdone. No crispness, and wet/underdone inside.

$91 with one diet coke.

Evil,

Have not been to Woo Chon in years but, maybe a month ago, 7 people powered though a wide swath of mildly late night eats at San Soo Gap San including the dishes you mention, plus a few others including yook hwe (raw beef), and left happy and satisfied. Plentiful panchan, multiple refills of panchan, lettuce and sauces. SSGS seems to be stepping up its game as others close or drift in quality/execution.

Regards,
Gary

We went this weekend with another couple. Not the killer deal anymore, but we probably ordered for 6 versus the 4 that were actually there. Not too crowded (It was Saturday night with terrible weather) so we got a table right away. The Banchan was great.

I'm not sure responding to a 4 year old post is worth, it, but we just asked for more and they seemed happy to bring it out.

We started off with some dumpling and wings. They were OK. Then we got the pork belly, which was tasty. The Galbi was excellent. Great marinade with the char of the charcoal fire. We finished with some soup and rice. We shouldn't have ordered that as everyone was too full to enjoy it (probably shouldn't have ordered the extra plate of Galbi). I'm not sure I can tell the difference between good and bad Korean BBQ; that being said, the food was delicious.