Post-St. Patrick’s Day Korean Barbecue Blogging
by MelissaMarch 18th, 2005 8:21 pm
So, I told you guys about the new Bella Vista Korean barbecue restaurant, Porky and Porkie last weekend. Well, I’m happy to report that I had the opportunity to have dinner there last night.
For those not familiar with Korean barbecue, particularly Korean barbecue all-you-can-eat buffets, this restaurant experience may be somewhat intimidating. All tables are outfitted with a cook-it-yourself gas grill and a smoke-sucking vent fan that feeds into long metal tubes that move the smoke out of the building. Yes, Virginia, you’re now cooking with gas, not to mention, cooking your own food.
Two buffet tables fill in the side of the room. The first table is a fiesta of marinated raw meat. Two different cuts of beef, two different types of squid, spicy pork, bacon (aka pork belly - well, I think so, anyway, looked and tasted like bacon to me), two types of marinated chicken, two types of tripe, and a fascinating food product called chicken large intestine. The second table held mixed salad, lettuce leaves for wrapping the meat, two trays of sushi (futomaki and inari - nothing very impressive by the standards of a serious sushi lover), sliced garlic, sliced mushrooms, sliced hot peppers, coarsely chopped onion, and fresh broccoli. Cantaloupe, honeydew, and pineapple provided the dessert options. But take it from me, this place is all about the meat.
Since Porky and Porkie currently have no menu, the buffet is the attraction and at $14.95 per person (not sure if there’s a discount for kids) it’s a relatively inexpensive one. The servers will happily explain Korean barbecue to novices, but for the more experienced person, they’ll fire up your grill and let you get to cooking. Last night, we started with a bowl of soup that was included in the price. The soup was only lukewarm, but I think that may have been by design. The broth was flavored of seafood and the main ingredient appeared to be clams. One of my companions enjoyed the soup, but I did not really enjoy it, nor did our other companion. Three bowls of Korean pickles were provided. Kim chee cabbage and daikon radish were satisfying as always. Another bowl included fish cake, which we all enjoyed, and lastly was the seaweed that seemed to be lightly seasoned with sesame oil. I would have liked more of these little dishes, but for the price and the all you can eat buffet, I really can’t complain too much. The server also brought white rice, butter (for coating the grill), and a few different sauces. My friends enjoyed the soy sauce, while I was more enamored of the spicy garlicky bean sauce.
After the meat is cooked, for all the barbecue virgins out there, you then wrap some meat, rice, maybe some veggies, garlic, and hot pepper in the lettuce leaves that are provided. We enjoyed all the food, but in the future I would get more information on exactly how to cook chicken large intestine. The buffet attendant convinced me to try it, but he neglected to tell me how long it needs to be cooked. Suffice it to say, it had a rather weird, chewy, crunchy texture that doesn’t seem appropriate to chicken. My dining companions were partial to the flavors of the two different types of beef and the bacon. I enjoyed everything, but particularly liked both varieties of squid.
My primary recommendation would be to provide each table of diners with metal tongs to handle the raw meat. We had to pick up extra sets of chopsticks from surrounding tables so that we could have raw meat and cooked meat chopsticks. We eventually asked for a pair of tongs and they were provided with no argument, but this should have been obvious to the owner.
The whole experience is exceedingly messy and quite fun, especially if you’re a person like me who loves to play with his or her food.
No flirtatious waiters this time around, but I’ll give and Porky and Porkie 3.5 out of 5 sets of chopsticks.
