Kimchi Sot Bab

by Celia Sin-Tien Cheng
November 25, 2005

CHO DANG GOL
55 W 35th St
(5th & 6th Aves)
New York, NY 10001
212-695-8222

Cho Dang Gol has been my favorite Korean restaurant in the city for many years now because the food and service is of the highest quality in Korea town and the atmosphere is absolutely charming. How can you not love it when the “grandmother” — the matriarch of the proprietors — is sitting in the kitchen (visible to diners) preparing the panchan, or side dishes, herself?

Cho Dang Gol’s specialty is tofu. While I love the biji — ground bean-curd, pork and vegetable casserole — I don’t necessarily go there for their tofu. All the appetizers are great, and I love their specialty casseroles: boo dae jun gol, which my friends and I call the “Spam pot” because it includes Spam and hot dogs and pretty much every kind of pork you can think of (I know not everyone appreciates Spam, but hey, I grew up in Hawaii) and gam ja jun gol, which is spicy pork bone soup with potato. The menu says these casseroles serve two people, but in reality, it’s more suited to four to five people.

On this visit, with a party of five, we ordered some of the usual dishes but also tried the kimchi sot bab, namely steamed rice mixed with kimchi and pork (or beef or shrimp) in a hot stone pot. It arrived at the table still cooking in the stone pot and that’s in order to get the rice to stick to the outer edges of the pot and make it crispy and crackling, for which you then have to use your spoon to scrape and scoop out. In other words, you have to work a little for the good stuff. When you mix everything up, in a single spoonful, you can taste kimchi, pork, steamed rice and crispy rice — it’s as if all the stars are in perfect alignment!

I’ve always loved kimchi and pork, a dish the Japanese themselves have adapted into part of the regular izakaya (the Japanese pub) repertoire called buta kimuchi. I used to cook my version of kimchi fried rice at home, but now I know what I’ve been missing: the stone pot. The crispy rice really does add another dimension to this simple dish and elevates it to another culinary realm. My friend who ordered the dish cannot take too much spice, so I was more than happy to partake of more than my allocated share. I liked it so much I wanted to go back the following night and order the same thing. Don’t get me wrong, this is a rustic and simple dish, but it’s one of those things that you just can’t stop craving. And then there’s the spice factor: it’s just so easy to get hooked. I’m planning my week now to see how I can take a detour through K-town just to get my fix.

Also in Kimchi, Koreatown, Korean, Rice, Spicy