The month of May marks Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month, and there are some tremendous food options in the city and suburbs that diners can use to celebrate.
NBC 5’s Food Guy Steve Dolinsky is fond of Korean cuisine, and there are several eateries that are worth visiting this month.
For suburban diners, Koreana in the 1100 block of North Salem Drive, is a long-time favorite, nestled into a strip mall in suburban Schaumburg, with a loyal clientele that is boisterous and jovial.
“It’s mostly a barbecue restaurant. We have all kinds of special meats like the pork belly, (and) the non-marinated ribs,” Ellen Chang, one of the restaurant’s staffers, says.
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The quality of the beef is critical, and you’ll get your money’s worth whether it’s grilled tableside or in stone bowls.
“You get a nice family experience as well, cooking together on the table and eating and talking and having a few drinks,” Chang said.
For an awesome experience, you can start with the restaurant’s seafood pancake, but don’t fill up, because there’s always vegetable-based banchan in store.
The Food Guy
“Dishes comes with side dishes called banchan in Korean. After you cook the meat you can make a lettuce wrap with rice, meat and some of your favorite banchan, and then you roll it up into a gigantic ball and you stuff it all into your mouth,” Chang said.
The pace is a bit less frenetic at Woo Chon Barbecue, located in the 5700 block of North California Avenue in Arcadia Terrace on Chicago’s far North Side. They go old school, using live charcoal, which really sears the marbled beef that’s been marinated, or not.
The banchan is stellar – you can always ask for more – and instead of wrapping the beef up in lettuce, try a thinly-sliced, pickled daikon radish for a smaller bite.
Avondale's Parachute, located at 3500 North Elston Avenue, emerged from the pandemic with a new focus on authentic Korean flavors. Gorgeous sashimi straight from Japan is served with aged Korean soy.
A vibrant, crunchy salad of whelks, or sea snails, is tossed with somyeon noodles, greens and artisan gochujang provide a tangy sharpness.
“Now we have a lot of access to artisanal products straight from Korea that have a deep flavor and craftsmanship behind it and I want to highlight those things,” says owner Beverly Kim.
There’s a delicate seafood and scallion pancake, plus bulgogi – featuring not only tiny enoki mushrooms, which adds earthiness, but also 30-day dry-aged Slagel Farm sirloin off the bone.
“It just has such a great, deep, umami flavor because it’s been dry-aged for 30 days. It’s also more tender because it’s been aged for that long. Our bulgogi is not your normal, typical bulgogi; it’s using really great product,” Kim says.
There is great Korean food all over Chicagoland these days – from the city to the suburbs – and it’s not always a barbecue house, with places like Parachute certainly proving that since they’ve been open.
