Two Favorite Korean Restaurants at Chicago

category: restaurants
by Yun,

Chicago offers so many restaurants with excellent food, and it’s impossible to name it one by one. My two most favorite Korean restaurants at Chicago are Cho Sun Ok and Boo Il Galbi. Before we went to Chicago two weeks ago, I created a list of restaurants that we planned to visit. I knew for sure that I wanted to eat Korean, but which one of the two restaurants should we pick? It’s hard for me to decide which one is better than the other, because each has its own unique signature menu.

A surely wouldn’t mind to eat Korean twice in a row in two nights. But how about my friend who also joined our Chicago trip? I bet if I told him about my plan to eat at both Korean restaurants, he would think that I was crazy about Korean food that much. Fortunately, he didn’t mind to experience two different Korean restaurants as long as both were good. Hmm… Good for me, isn’t it? Hehehe…

On the first night, we had a dinner at Cho Sun Ok. My Korean friend highly recommended this restaurant to me two years ago when I spent the entire summer living in Chicago. Since then, A and I became die-hard fans of Cho Sun Ok. When you first enter this restaurant, look around and you will notice that almost every table orders Chadol-gui, which is very-thinly-sliced unmarinated beef cooked over a stone pan. You cook the beef by yourself at your table. They give very generous portions of panchan (Korean side dishes). So far, we always had around ten panchan as an appetizer. Other than panchan, we were given garlics, jalapenos marinated in soy sauce, seasoned sliced green onions, and sesame oil mixed with salt and pepper, all to be eaten with the Chadol-gui beef later on.

After finish eating the Chadol-gui beef, the fun part begins. Waitress will come to your table and throw all your panchan leftover to the stone pan together with additional kim chi and white rice, to make fried rice out of them. A lot of people love the fried rice, especially when it is a bit overcooked as the rice become crispy and stick to the surface of the stone pan. I always try to cleanly collect all the crispy rice. Mmm… yummy. Unfortunately, a friend of mine that joined our trip this time couldn’t really enjoy the fried rice, as he thought that it tasted funny.

On the second night, we went to the other Korean restaurant, Boo Il Galbi, specialized at charcoal BBQ. You have to order at least two BBQ orders if you want to grill them on your own table. Otherwise, if it’s only one BBQ order, they will grill inside their kitchen and bring it to your table. Don’t worry about having too much food because two orders are just enough for two people. Their galbi is really really good. It’s probably one of the best galbi I’ve ever had. The meat is tender, juicy, and marinated well to perfection. One of the reasons I love galbi at Boo Il because they still use charcoal. It gives extra flavors to the beef after you grill it over charcoal. I love both the smell, as well as the taste. Please don’t flip galbi over too often since doing so can make it less juicy. Just let the galbi be cooked on one side and flip it once to the other side, and then wait until it’s cooked before consuming.

They also give you tons of panchan, including steamed egg and soups. A lot of lettuce and sliced green onions are also provided. The traditionally Korean way to eat galbi is to wrap it in lettuce with a little rice, garlics, sliced seasoned green onions, and a bit of ssamjang (fermented bean paste).

The fact that both Korean restaurants are still very traditional makes your eating experience very interesting. The places are not fancy (both kind of old buildings) and some waitresses cannot even speak English very well. Don’t come there if you look for a good service or a comfortable ambiance. But for the food, you certainly won’t complain. Also, be prepared that your clothes will smell BBQ badly after eating at these restaurants. So, keep your fancy clothes at home, and just wear clothes that are ready for laundry.

Cho Sun Ok

4200 North Lincoln Avenue
Chicago, IL 60618
773 . 549 . 5555

Boo-il Galbi

3346 West Bryn Mawr Avenue
Chicago, IL 60659
773 . 588 . 3112

Comments

6 Comments so far

Im3th | 11 December 2008, 04:50
Sayang gw gak doyan beef Yun..padahal kata laki gw masakan beef ala korean food itu endang gulindang (enak bgt)

oh jadi elo ga makan segala mknan yg mengandung beef ya met? sayang banget yah… ya pesen yg pork aja kalo gitu, ada jg kok yg enak, ntar kalo pas gue mkn yg pork gue fotoin buat elo
Paulo | 11 December 2008, 05:23
yg dibikin fried rice jadi semacem bimbimbap ya cik?

kayane lebih mirip ke kimchi fried rice drpd bibimbap lo pol….
veny | 11 December 2008, 08:49
buset deh Yun , jadi juga lo cobain 2 resto korean itu ? ha222
meski g ga suka korean food tapi liat beef nya segerrr banget jadi mau deh kalo menu BBQ .. mau donk .. he222
itu photo2 nya >> nice shot .. hebat deh !

Cobain deh Ven, enak2 kok mknan korea.. cobain yg bbq gitu dulu aja, jgn yg aneh2….thanks ya ven:)
Im3th | 11 December 2008, 21:03
Wah thanks Yun! gw doyan deh kalo yg pork hehehe.

kapan2 ya met kalo pas makan yg enak gue tulis disini biar elo ngiler hehe
dwiana | 12 December 2008, 09:09
lekkerrrr tuh makanan yg tersedia di resto. Yun, kalau gw disuruh makan kek elo bisa embul dgn sukses deh!
meet weekend say.

makannya nyomot2 aja mbak Have a good weekend too! Enjoy snow
rina | 12 December 2008, 12:09
Yun, kalau ngelihat bbq-nya, jadi mirip-mirip hanamasa gitu ya, Yun haha, betul juga, pakaian kita pasti bau asap ya… persis kayak gue kalau abis pulang makan dari hanamasa =)

Iya rin sama2 baunya kalo dari Hanamasa