Happy Birthday Mom! (Chosun Galbee, Los Angeles)

A week late, but we finally made it out for my mom's birthday last night. It's been years since my family has gone to Korea Town and since my mom wanted to eat good Korean BBQ, my brother decided on Chosun Galbee. After hearing about all of the rave reviews about Chosun Galbee, we were all anxious to try this restaurant. Unfortunately my brother-in-law was not feeling good and couldn't join us, but the eight of us still had a nice night out. Initially driving up to Chosun Galbee I was impressed by the looks of the outside of the restaurant and also the crowds of people. First of all, the restaurant was much larger than I had imagined and secondly, the building was beautifully overtaken by shrubbery which gave it a nice feel. Once inside the contemporary style struck a chord with all of us and was also a pleasant surprise. Luckily we were able to secure a private room which made our dinner more intimate and comfortable. After looking over the menu and struggling with the language barrier we decided on: the Chosun Galbee (house special marinated short ribs), Seng Galbee Gui (non marinated short ribs), Bulgogi (thinly sliced marinated beef), Dak Bulgogi (marinated chicken), Daeji Bulgogi (thinly sliced spicy pork), Sam Gyup Sal (Bacon style Berkshire pork), Galbee Dolsot Bibimbab (sizzling rice pot with meat & vegetables), Yook Hwae (raw beef) and Job Chae (stir fried sweet potato noodles with beef & vegetables). One side note about the menu; After looking at the menu, I wanted to take a picture of the menu so I could remember what we ordered. At that time, one of the waitresses came up to me and started speaking Korean to me which I didn't understand but I could tell she didn't seem too happy that I was taking pictures. Minutes later another waiter came up to me and asked me "why are you taking pictures of the menu?" Needless to say I didn't feel too comfortable about taking pictures afterwards. Hence, the poor quality of pictures that I took for this blog. I felt that I had to take pictures like a spy. As far as the food goes, everything was very delicious. One interesting thing that took us by surprise was that we didn't have to do the cooking ourselves. We were all accustomed to doing our own cooking at Korean & Japanese BBQs. On the one hand it was nice, but on the other we couldn't cook the meats to our liking. As far as the food goes, the one thing that stood out to all of us, was that the meats were not heavily marinated as some other Korean BBQ places. The flavors were bold yet subtle. Nothing was overwhelming. My favorite was definitely the marinated short ribs.

Assorted Appetizers

Noodles with beef & Vegetables

Short ribs, Chicken, Spicy pork, Bacon style pork

Meat cooking on the grill

Chosun Galbee

3330 W. Olympic Blvd

Los Angeles, CA

323-734-3330