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Friday, April 18, 2003
Tiny Taeja's Traditional Korean Cuisine a Winner
By Kelly Koepke
For the Journal
Sometimes good things come in small packages. And sometimes, good restaurants find homes in strip malls. The cozy atmosphere of TaeJa Restaurant, tucked into a corner of Fair Plaza Shopping Center at San Pedro and Lomas NE, exemplifies the adage that big doesn't mean better.
TaeJa Restaurant
LOCATION: 6001 Lomas NE, Fair Plaza Shopping Center, 268-8777
HOURS: 11 a.m.-9 p.m., Mondays-Saturdays. Closed Sundays
NO SMOKING
Serving traditional Korean cuisine, TaeJa packs a varied lunch and dinner menu into a limited space, which looks like what happens when Asian influence collides with a French country garden motif.
The walls of the single, open space radiate a happy yellow, set off by a rich chocolate brown ceiling from which antique white chandeliers hang. Black-framed, stark white screens covered with dramatic black calligraphy divide the dining area from the kitchen, and hang from the walls, right above the fans and pottery. An odd, but interesting scene.
What's not odd is the food; in fact, it's wonderful both in flavor and presentation. Korean cooking has a certain appeal over other Asian cuisines, partly because of its alternating sweet and fiery tastes, resulting in intriguing combinations and hearty dishes more complex than Japanese or Vietnamese, less saucy than Chinese or Thai.
Traditional specialties abound: bulgogi (marinated, barbecued meat), bibimbob (a one-dish meal of rice and cooked vegetables, meat and optional fried egg) and pajun (egg pancakes). Of course, there's kimchi, practically the national dish of Korea, made from pickled vegetables, usually cabbage.
Some say kimchi is an acquired taste, garnering raves from those who have acquired it. TaeJa, wisely, offers kimchi as a side dish to many entrees, or by the bottle to take home for true connoisseurs.
The mandu, sautéed dumplings filled with seasoned pork and veggies, were addicting with their smoky, rich flavor. The vegetable kimbob or Korean sushi rolls, featured pickled and fresh veggies rolled in nori. Both came on beautiful willow-painted plates. Indeed, the presentation of all the menu choices is simple yet artful, pleasing the eye as much as the appetite. Be sure to try the sweetly spicy ginger tea for an olfactory treat, too.
My companion's pork bulgogi plate ($6.95 for lunch, $8.95 for dinner) featured marinated strips of sweetly fragrant and garlicky pork, bean sprouts and a pickled vegetables, complemented by a mound of tender-chewy sticky rice. With the individual elements mounded discretely on the white plate, the effect was like that of an artist's palette. Shredded fresh sweet daikon radish, a hot radish kimchi (pickled daikon and spices), and vinegary-sweet slices of pressed, marinated fishcake as side dishes provided tantalizing contrasts to the warm pork and rice.
The seafood bibimbob delighted from the first with its unique presentation: a searingly hot stone bowl heaped with rice, tiny shrimp, mussels, octopus and squid bits, diced green and red pepper that sizzled well after I had made a dent. Add the spicy red chile paste for a perk, though the individual flavors of the ingredients really need no addition.
The beef and chicken bibimbob options come with the egg on top, though a savory egg would have overwhelmed the delicate seafood essences. Ranging from $6.95 to $9.95, the bibimbobs are filling and satisfying, and most likely offer leftovers for another meal.
