beXnlog

Grilling

For their Summer 2005 intern dinner, E and K chose Gyu-Kaku in the East Village. It's in the same building as The Village Voice on Cooper Square in the East Village. I've been to Korean BBQ places in K-town with groups, but didn't do the BBQ part myself due to lack of meatless options. Gyu-Kaku, however, is a Japanese BBQ place which happens to offer many vegetarian options, even for the grill (plus some Korean dishes too!)

First off, the restaurant is beautiful. Most of the furnishings are dark wood tables and booths with paper lanterns and an overall simple, modern feel. The partially-open kitchen, friendly atmosphere and group-mentality made it a lively place to be. Plus, the fancy bathroom sinks had river rocks in the basin while the counter had mouthwash (i guess, good for dates!) and lotion.

Each table or counter seat had its own built-in BBQ grill imported from Japan. It was the size of a large plate, heated by an imported charcoal called Binchotan and fueled by gas. The waitstaff periodically adjusted the flames and changed the metal grill plate. Each person in our group ordered 3 or 4 items; each item is a small serving, good for sharing but you'd need a few to fill up on. I got the tofu, which came with 3 tofu slabs and many seasoned, fried tofu pieces and a delicious marinade; a foil packet of asparagus and a foil packet of garlic butter mushrooms. The mushrooms were awesome but the asparagus - i've had better. In addition, i got the tofu salad with greens, croutons and a delicious special dressing which came in a giant bowl. Everyone else also ordered meat: basil chicken, kalbi-marinated beef and lamb, which they enjoyed. For dessert, 3 of us ordered the s'mores which arrived with skewers, 2 marshmallows, 4 graham crackers and 4 pieces of Hershey's chocolate each. Even though marshmallows aren't really vegetarian, nor do i even like then that much, i have fond memories of s'mores from our 4th grade camping trip so i ordered them. Still good, but not as good as on a real fire on your own self-picked stick. As for price, each grilling item cost anywhere from $4 - $10 and the dishes run from $9 - $15: not cheap but not crazy pricey either.

We all agreed that Gyu-Kaku would be a great place for a group dinner in wintertime. The grill emits a nice heat! Not that it wasn't fun during summer, but sitting in a booth with friends over a hot grill when it's snowing outside sounds good! As we were walking out, i saw someone who ordered the mushroom plate which looked awesome. be would totally love it!

posted by beXn @ 11:21 AM