Uncurdled bean curd at LA Korea Town

An increasing number of people leave for Los Angeles for business, study or visits to their relatives these days. There are lots of Korean restaurants in the L.A. Korea Town, but it is not that easy for the travelers to find a good one to satisfy their tastes abroad. Which is recommended?

Although LA is an American city, few Koreans face difficulties in finding three meals in the city, although they cannot read or speak English. Shops, stores and restaurants with Korean boards line the streets.

Let¡¯s visit the "Pukchang-dong Sundubu (uncurdled bean curd: tel. 232-3452-6633)¡¯¡¯ in Willshire Street in the Korea Town in Los Angeles dubbed "Nasong-gu of Seoul.¡¯¡¯

"Dubu¡¯¡¯ or bean curd is called tofu or versatile in the U.S. The name of versatile was given to it in comparison to milk. Americans usually use dubu along with salad, omelet or dished served in pot.

If a customer orders the menu of sundubu as main dish, an egg is placed in the hot uncurdled bean curd. Side dishes are pretty good, including crabs preserved in soy sauce, pickled clams, kimchi, Korean pickled cucumber, seasoned seaweed and boiled fish pastes. The rice is served in a hot stone pot. The customer is recommended to take out the boiled rice and pour hot water into it to enjoy the scorched rice from the bottom.

The price is $6.93 (about 8,000 won) and there are many types of sundubu. It is served with kimchi, beef, pork each, or mixed with shrimps, beef and clams. Then there¡¯s seafood sundubu with oysters, shrimps and clams, sundubu with small intestines of cow, dumpling sundubu with dumplings and beef, laver sundubu with laver and soy bean paste sundubu with mushrooms, beef and clams. In particular, this restaurant offers a special menu for vegetarians: vegetable sundubu with brocolli, mushrooms and other vegetables.

As its set menus ($8.75 for lunch, $11.04 for dinner: about 11,000-14,000 won), it presents pibimbap (boild rice with assorted vegetables) sundubu, beef ribs sundubu, chicken deriyaki sundubu, and grilled pork sundubu. Especially, pibimbap sundubu is a favorite of customers owing to the good taste from the mixture of pibimbap and sundubu.

The restaurant is located at the corner where Willshire and Kingsley meet in Korea Town. It is easy to find the restaurant because it is next to the Radio Korea building. It is open 24 hours a day.

By Kim Jae-Chan, dentist