Bibimbap Thursdays

We've been making it a weekly event, our sojourn to Yu Chun Restaurant at 6th and Catalina Alexandria in Koreatown. It helps that the place is a short walk away, and on the days when we have errands, we can slide into a spot at a nearby meter, regardless of the construction going up nearby, and easily take our leave post-meal.

I'd originally tried this restaurant when my friend Kathy asked me to accompany her to a prospective student orientation at the local acupuncture university (when I say local, I should say, the one within walking distance of my apartment). The very kind and funny administrator took us all out for lunch to this particular restaurant, and it was there that I learned to savor the tastes of a good portion of my neighborhood's culture. As soon as I could, I returned, husband in tow, so I could partake of the meal without the requisite conversations and table manners I would assume with people I don't know, thereby making me forget the tastes I'd absorbed. Now I could stop, inspect, sniff, and taste the Banchan (side dishes) and sip at the clear soup; I could pour all of my attention into the bibimbap in a hot stone pot, admiring the gelatinous egg yolk before stabbing it lightly and spreading its goodness around the rice, mushrooms, carrot, zucchini (and what might be bellflower root, though I'm not positive yet). Oh, and the beef. I adore how preciously thin it is, and how it doesn't overpower any of the other ingredients. I could use this lesson in our own kitchen, where sometimes meat overwhelms the meal. My husband, too, learns this, as he eats his weekly "cold" bibimbap--lettuce leaves adorning the sides of his bowl before he mixes it in with the food and spoons it over his rice in its silver bowl.

And so it has been, for the last month or longer, that we've made Yu Chun Restaurant our regular stop on Thursdays for lunch. As we likely will next week, and the week after, and the week after...

Yu Chun Restaurant
3470 W. 6th St. #11
Los Angeles 90020
213-389-1200

Comments

[erin]

I, too, am a bibimbap fan. My office is at 6th/Normandie, so I'll have to check this place out. If you ever want to change it up, there's a place called Mapo in the strip mall at the northwest corner of Normandie/6th that does a wonderful bibimbap in a sizzling stone pot.

[Wendy]

This is an incredibly helpful tip--thanks! We need to be urged to change it up more often. I'll try Mapo this week or next!