Not many people can say they used to snowboard professionally or be identified as a “rising star ” chef in the United States. Akira Back, born in Korea, moved to Colorado at a young age and became a professional snowboarder. He was featured in some of the top snowboarding magazines such as Transworld and Snowboarder and also earned prominent endorsements with companies such as Etines.

As a professional snowboarder, Akira also spent time cooking in local Aspen restaurants, where he realized his passion for food was equal if not greater than snowboarding. After a strong 7 year career in snowboarding, Akira decided to attend culinary school and began working for some of the best Japanese restaurants in the world, include Chefs Nobu Matsuhisa and Masaharu Morimoto.

Akira has been widely recognized for his food by the culinary world including being named one of the “Rising Stars” by Restaurant Hospitality magazine.  As the Executive Chef for Nobu Matsuhisa’s namesake restaurant in Aspen, he became even more popular for his unique style and precision.  He has prepared meals for many celebrities and important figures such as Jay Z, Mariah Carey, Paris Hilton and former President Bill Clinton.  Currently, he is the Executive Chef of Yellowtail Japanese Restaurant at the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas, where Grammy Award winner Taylor Swift has called the meal that Chef Akira Back prepared “the best of her life”.    Akira has also been featured on the Food Network’s Iron Chef America, taking on Bobby Flay in a spinach battle. (see battle video below)

Less than a month ago, we had the pleasure of trying out Chef Akira’s current restaurant to taste and talk about his food.

The food was a pleasant surprise especially for a Korean American. Although the restaurant is technically called a Japanese restaurant and you can order sushi, what makes this restaurant good is the Chef’s ability to use his creativity and integrate Korean flavors into fresh and clean tasting food. I would not call his food Korean Japanese fusion, but rather American Cuisine, using Japanese and French techniques using Korean flavors.

For example, one of my favorite dishes was his Toro Sashimi wrapped around some micro mixed greens and “gochujang” (korean red pepper sauce) topped off with some caviar. (see picture below)

I’d also recommend the Big Eyed Tuna Pizza, his signature dish that will blow your mind.  It’s basically tuna on a fried tortilla with some minced onions with some truffle oil and greens on top.  (see video below)

So the next time you are in Las Vegas, I would highly recommend trying at least a couple of Chef Akira’s dishes and ask for something with gochujang in it, because you won’t be disappointed.

At the end of December 2009, the Chosun Ilbo published an article stating that the current spelling of “Makgeolli” might cause some non-Koreans to mispronounce it as Mak-jolee. The author suggested that the spelling should be changed and this would popularize this alcohol overseas. He recommended a few different options such as Maggoli, Makkoli, and Makoli.

I wish that the author had done some research to test this opinion, because it caused quite a stir with the aT Center (The Agro-Trade Center) and amongst the Korean public. The aT Center is a government organization that has been heading the Korean Food Globalization project and my company (O’ngo Food Communications) has been working with them on several different projects including how to market makgeolli overseas.

Back in October of 2009, our company and the heads of many makgeolli companies had a meeting to discuss changing the name of makgeolli. I will tell you the same thing I told them: it is not cost efficient, it will cause needless confusion, and it won’t put the drink in people’s hands.

If you Google the current spelling of makgeolli, you will get 75,800 hits on the traditional rice alcohol. This is the spelling accepted by CNN, the Lonely Planet, Wikipedia, Korean newspapers, the Korean government, and overseas newspapers. If you search for maggoli (which sounds like maggots), you will get 103 hits — most are about a Scottish family. Makkoli has 35,000 hits (the top hits refer to a Japanese sushi restaurant in New Jersey) and most of the hits about “makoli” are of a famous chess player with the same last name.

Changing the name of something that is obviously accepted would cost the Korean government millions of dollars and cause endless confusion.

Go here to read the rest:
http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/NEWKHSITE/data/html_dir/2010/02/02/201002020014.asp

Posted By Daniel Gray of Seoul Eats

It’s that time of the year again for some hot soondooboo! As you may remember from my entry a couple months earlier, Korean soft tofu stew is one of my favorite Korean foods. My darling is still Cho Dang Gol, but it now has a hefty competitor sitting in the middle of 32nd Street – BCD Tofu House.

The chain was started in California in 1996 and has since expanded to the motherland Korea (I guess that’s how good it was), Japan, and most recently, New York. The decor of BCD is starkly different from other restaurants, with its tall, black ceilings and minimalist architecture. On first sight, BCD definitely strikes as a more modern setting, especially compared with more traditional, wood-floored restaurants like Kunjip or Woorijip.

The focus of BCD’s menu is unsurprisingly, tofu. The menu offers seven different flavors of soft tofu stew, and you can choose your preferred level of spiciness.  The meal is served with a variety of complimentary banchan dishes, but unlike other places, it offers a plate of fried fish. Each person gets one! I’m not a fan of their fish, but I do know some that swear by them. Taste-wise, BCD’s soondooboo is quite different from the one at Cho Dang Gol. BCD uses silken tofu that is extremely soft and slippery, whereas Cho Dang Gol offers freshly made tofu that has a more crumbly texture. BCD’s soup is also a bit heavier in flavor than Cho Dang Gol’s, but each to their own!

If you’ve never been to BCD and are curious, check out our video below!

You might have read about Hangawi on Korean Beacon earlier this summer, or last month in our entry on its sister restaurant, Franchia, but today will be a revisit to the popular vegetarian “shrine” in Midtown. Hangawi is not exactly off the beaten path, thanks to lots of love from Gywneth Paltrow, who makes no secret of her fondness, and the numerous accolades it has received over the years, including Zagat 2009 Best Vegetarian and Korean in New York.  However, the oversized door at the entrance is still quite intriguing, and it opens up to a very interesting, zen-like space.

The atmosphere at Hangawi can be described as spa-like, and is unlike any other Korean restaurant in the city. Customers are required to put away their shoes in a shelf leaning against the wall, and they dine on low wooden tables, sitting on cushioned bamboo mats.  Service is extremely attentive, and I was particularly curious to see what the Emperor’s Menu was all about. Yes, I did think the name sounded a bit cheesy and the price a bit steep ($40 a person), but we were curious to see what these “royal” dishes were all about, and went for it. We started off with the Steamboat Soup, which is served in a traditional metal casserole with a steam pipe in the center. Colorful skewers of with broccoli, turnip, walnuts, and gingko nuts are cooked over low heat in the pot, and the clear seaweed broth warms the body, preparing you for the delicious dishes ahead.

Next is the Fall Appetizer, with three different tastings. On the left is a Kimchee Tofu Skewer, with mashed tofu balls covered in a rich Kimchee sauce. It almost tasted like Teriyaki sauce, which was a bit weird, but the tofu balls were soft and very flavorful. The centerpiece of the plate is a fresh persimmon with a hallowed center filled with mashed persimmon with almond bits. This was my absolute favorite! The mashed persimmon was very icy, and the crispy almonds shavings added a nice kick to the texture of the dish. The last of the three is a lightly fried tofu cake with carrots and greens, drizzled in a sweet soy sauce and topped with minced chives. Overall, this dish offered a great balance with the different cooking methods: steamed, raw, and fried.

Fall Appetizer

The Chef’s choice of salad of the day was the Hangawi salad, which consisted of shredded cabbage lightly tossed in a sesame soy dressing. It pretty much tastes like what it sounds – simple, light, and tasty, but nothing really to gloat about.

Hangawi Salad with Sesame Soy Dressing

Now onto the rolls! Our first roll was the Emperor’s Roll, which is a tempura roll coated with seaweed wrapped around zucchini and carrots. To be honest, this dish could have easily tasted non-vegetarian, probably because the tempura coating was so nicely fried. Sadly, everything almost always tastes better when fried. The other rolls were more similar to a healthy wrap made of soft tortillas with alfafa sprouts, enoki mushrooms, and carrots.

Emperor's Roll

Spinach Enoki Roll

For the entrees, we had two options: Maitake Mushrooms with Spinach, and Pumpkin Stone Bowl Rice. I was really in the mood for avocado that night, so we asked if we could swap that with the Pumpkin. The maitake mushrooms were baked on a heated, flat casserole and mixed in with veggies. Not only are they great for your body, but they are also delicious.

Maitake Mushrooms with Spinach

The entree was served with red rice wrapped in a sweet-smelling bamboo leaf. The natural redness of the rice shows off its anthocyanins, which supposedly do wonders in battling free radicals in the body.

Side: Red Rice Wrapped in Bamboo Leaf

I’m a fan of bi bim bap, and a bigger one of avocado, so naturally I was a huge fan of the Avocado Stone Bowl Rice. I mashed the fresh avocado slices well with the veggies and kimchee miso paste, and I think I might have been too enthusiastic in my mixing, as the normally crispy rice became a bit too mushy. I would suggest leaving bigger pieces of avocado so you can taste the chunkiness in the texture (just like guacamole!)

Avocado Stone Bowl Rice

For dessert, we had the Chocolate Tofu Pudding, which sadly, was the least exciting portion of the Emperor’s Menu for us. The pudding is topped with coconut shavings, which do not mix very well with the rich, goo-ey texture, and the chocolate tasted a bit artificial. It didn’t taste bad, and we finished it all (dessert fiends), but personally I would not order that a la carte. We did overhear the couple next to us talk about how good the pear sorbet was, so that might be a big winner.

Chocolate Tofu Pudding

All in all, we had a very satisfying experience at Hangawi, and the restaurant did indeed live up to its name in the press. Hangawi is a great place to take friends that are visiting, and sometimes it can be nice to get away from the posh restaurant scene that’s oh, so very New York.

Cheers,
Jess

Hangawi
12 E 32nd St, New York, NY
10016-5419
(212) 213-0077

So what Korean food do foreigners like?  The winner is bibimbop and bulgogi.  This according to a survey released by Corean Image Communication Institute.  Sixty percent of respondents said Korean food stands a good chance of going global because it is healthy and made with plenty of vegetables. But they said high sanitation standards and traditional design of restaurants is essential if that is to happen.

The survey asked 207 foreigners in influential positions such as global company staff and professors, 78.7 percent of respondents said they like Korean food. Asked why, the vast majority or 60.2 percent said because it tastes good. Some 16.6 percent cited curiosity about new cuisine and 14.2 percent nutritional value. Respondents who did not like eating Korean food cited taste, smell, interior design of restaurants and sanitation.

Bibimbap was the favorite Korean dish of 17 percent of respondents. Some 13.7 percent of respondents said they liked bulgogi best, while 11.5 percent favored Korean-style short ribs. Only 5.6 percent liked kimchi, Korea’s signature side dish of pickled cabbage. More than half of respondents or 58.5 percent said Korean food can be globalized.

Asked why, 36.7 percent answered because it was made with plenty of vegetables, 21.5 percent cited the rich taste and 18.9 percent said the varied range of dishes. Some 29.1 percent and 20.9 percent of surveyed people said spiciness and strong smell could be an obstacle to globalization. Some 20 percent of respondents said improved sanitation and Korean-style interior design of restaurants are imperative for globalization of Korean food.

Source: Chosun Ilbo

Korean food seems to be the latest hot topic. Even my friends ask me about Korean food or ask me to take them out someday so they know what to order. Korean food is unique and has quite an interesting history. Let’s not kid ourselves, its evolution isn’t as glamorous as French cuisine but it’s our own and it is very delicious. Mmmm Mmmm! So for my friends out there who are interested in Korean food, here’s a quick 101 about Korean food. It’s the basic basics. Next week, we’ll introduce you to kimchi jigae!

1. Bap (steamed rice) and Juk (porridge)
Boiled rice is the staple food for Koreans, it is eaten with almost every meal. In Korea people eat short-grained rice, as apposed to the long- grained Indian rice. Korean rice is often sticky in texture, and sometimes it is combined with beans, chestnuts, sorghum, red beans, barley or other cereals for added flavor and nutrition. Juk (porridge) is a light meal, which is highly nutritious. Juk is often made with rice, to which abalone, ginseng, pine nuts, vegetables, chicken, or bean sprouts can be added. As well as rice porridge, red bean porridge and pumpkin porridge are also delicious.

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Foodies and Francophiles alike gathered this weekend at P.S.1 Moma for the much anticipated two-day event of affordable haute cuisine hosted by Le Fooding, the provocative French culinary organization from Paris. With 12 chefs, three mixologists, two DJs, and more than 1,000 people in attendance, Le Fooding d’amour marked the organization’s first event ever in the United States.

For the curious reader, Le Fooding (founded in 2000) jumpstarted a culinary movement that elects a more casual approach to food vis-à-vis the strict, egalitarian norms in high-society French dining.

I, for one, was super excited about this event when I first heard about it. Secret codes for purchasing tickets were initially available only on a few sites, and foodies including me were probably scouring the web hourly to track them down. When I did find them, I instantly bought tickets to both nights and started perusing and dreaming about the menu online (click here).

Chefs from Paris like Yves Camdeborde of Le Comptoir du Relais and Inaki Aizpitarte of Le Chateaubriand cooked up a storm of beef dishes that perfumed the air with their smoky fumes. Nevertheless, the food was not strictly limited to French cuisine. Among the NYC representatives was David Chang, featuring his famous Korean dish, Bo Ssam from his restaurant Momofuku Ssam in the East Village.

David Chang, hard at work

Bo Ssam by David Chang, Momofuku Ssam

Despite all the hype, the grand concept behind Le Fooding seemed to have overweighed my actual experience. Long lines formed quickly and traced around endless loops, with guests waiting 30+ minutes (at least!) at each booth. The quality of the food was great, but not mind-blowing, at least for me. Perhaps it has to do with working in a small outdoor kitchen to prepare over a thousand small plates for a crowd of hungry foodies standing in the cold.

Nevertheless, Le Fooding was a fun and hip charity event that really is the first of its kind, and will hopefully return to New York next fall.

Korean food is magnificent at four in the morning. After a late night of partying, all I can think about is how delicious the steamed egg is going to taste when it enters my mouth. The steam rising from the bubbling pot of goodness makes me sweat a little, and the sweet aroma of the sesame oil infused in the egg instills a sense of comfort in my dreary mind and most importantly, keeps me from passing out on the sticky table.

I never intended to start a food blog, but that by no means suggests that my love affair with food has been a short one. Back in college by Morningside Heights, I loved binging on the decadent milkshakes at Tom’s and going up to Fairway Harlem to buy groceries for my weekly sumptuous cooking feasts with the “Iron Chef Society” I had formed with my two lovely male friends. During my investment banking days, I looked forward to scanning Seamless everyday for new restaurants and I’d often get calls from colleagues on random nights asking me for suggestions on places to take their dates. Before giving them a list, I always had them answer three questions: type of cuisine, atmosphere, and price. Now, they’ve appointed me as their “walking Zagat guide.” And so in February, I finally started documenting my reviews on www.jumelli.blogspot.com, and I recently decided to saddle up and take on the foodie role at Korean Beacon.

To give a “taste” of what I’ll be doing in the upcoming months, I will be posting bits and pieces on Korean foods, restaurants, events, recipes, and other delicious things of the sort. If you have any suggestions or ideas on things/places/events you like/hate/adore, please open your hearts and share them with me at submit@koreanbeacon.com

For those of you foodies who haven’t seen Julia and Julie yet, I highly recommend it! I love the one scene where Julie Powell tells Eric that no matter how terrible of a day you’ve had, you can always come home and find comfort in knowing that if you mix chocolate with butter, sugar, and eggs, you will get a fabulous chocolate mousse. I almost slobbered over myself watching her whip the mousse into a buttery, chocolate-y chunk of goodness on screen.

Perhaps not everyone out there may be a little miss piggy like me, but I hope you will share my journey with me every Wednesday on Korean Beacon!

Cheers,
Jess

The warm weather lately has been good and bad. Thinking back, I realize how long of a winter we’ve had this year. On the cold, wintry nights, I often found myself craving a bowl of hot tofu stew (soondooboo chigae) from Cho Dang Gol, a favorite restaurant of mine. Tucked away from the fluorescent lights of Korea Town on 32^nd Street, this relatively unknown gem is a real treat for fans of authentic Korean cuisine.

The woody, rustic interior of Cho Dang Gol offers a subdued, calm haven away from the bustling streets of K-Town.

One thing I love about Korean restaurants is the unlimited small plates, panchan, which encompass all sorts of foods – grilled fish, fresh kimchee, fried zucchini pancakes, just to name a few. Although the panchan here does not include my favorite steamed egg (served at Kunjip), the majority would agree that the kimchee is far superior, with just the right marinade of soy sauce, garlic, brown sugar, sesame oil, and hot chili peppers.

Tofu, the highlight of the menu, is made fresh daily on the premises, and featured in a variety of specialty dishes. We start off with the traditional Seafood Tofu Soup, whose bright redness gives it a deceivingly spicy facade. The piquant broth (which actually isn’t very spicy) is made from kimchee, kochukaru (red pepper powder), seafood, saewoojeot (salted shrimp), sesame oil, and various ingredients depending on the chef. The tanginess of the stew balances the tofu, which has a chunky, crumbly texture that differentiates itself from the cartons of processed tofu usually available in Asian supermarkets. The stew is served with sticky purple rice, which not only tastes delicious but is also rich in anthocyanin antioxidants, which have been proven to help combat free radicals in the body. If you are not a fan of seafood, the Kimchee (with Pork) or the Vegetable are also excellent choices.

Fortunately, pork is still safe to eat these days. The Herbal Pork Belly, Bo Ssam, is one of the signature dishes at Cho Dang Gol. Fresh slices of marble pork belly marinated in traditional herbs, giving it a slight medicinal taste, are arranged neatly in an iron pot and kept warm by a portable stove. Then the ornamentation begins. The pork belly slices are placed on thin, round translucent sheets of daikon and garnished with shrimp sauce (that is also the acting agent in fermenting kimchee), soybean and chili pepper paste, shredded sesame leaves, and raw onions. Then simply fold the daikon in half. Voila! The succulent pork fat melts quickly in the mouth, and is perfectly balanced by the raw onions and the crisp, refreshing slices of daikon.

We finish up our meal with a cup of hot ginger lemon tea complimentary of the restaurant, preparing us for entering into the cold again. All in all, a deeply satisfying meal, and pleasantly, without the side effects of MSG.

By: Jessica Chang

Cho Dang Gol
55 W. 35 St
NY, NY 10001
(212) 695-8222

What’s kimchi without the strong garlicky odor?  Right?  In this morning’s LA Times, there’s a story about Kim Soon-Ja who is the annointed Kimchi Master of South Korea, and about how she pursued the creation of an odorless kimchi.  This was ignited by a comment during a trip to Europe: ”My tour guide asked me not to take out my kimchi in public because it can be distasteful to foreigners.”  Ouch!

After much research and diligence, she has created a “new type of freeze-dried pickled cabbage that doesn’t smell even after water is added, appealing to both foreigners and the fussiest Korean eaters.”

The obvious reason for such a pursuit is to better globalize kimchi by making it more appealing by the suppression of the kimchi smell.  The South Korean government is making large investments in the midst of the global recession to evangelize Korean food around the world, and kimchi is one of the central pieces of both Korean food and culture.  However, the raging debate from the purist is that the odor of kimchi is what makes kimchi so unique.  Do you take out the olive oil in Italian cooking?  What do you think?  Should kimchi go odorless?  Remember when you were a kid and you invited your non-Korean friends over to the house and your mom busted out the kimchi next to the sandwiches and turkey.