Yesterday was Bert's birthday so we decided to go to where we were ALL supposed to go last week, Buga, located right off the lovely 805 freeway and Clairemont Mesa (west) exit. It's right by a Motel 6 so you can't miss it. If you recall, Bert was sidelined by a work-related call last Saturday night so he stayed home to help the customer while we trekked up for Korean food. See the circular area? That's a hidden garden.
There are overhead exhaust fans for nearly every table which all have gas grills.
Since Bert had already tried "OB" (a Korean beer) in the past, he went for the other beer the waitress recommended, "Hite". D'oh! It was a huge 40 ouncer! 
We ordererd one Bulgogi, one Jumulrook (aka ribeye which was inspired by Ronin last week) and one Chapchae (Korean potato starch noodle dish). This is the ribeye. Our service was exceptionally good that night. We were seated promptly by a waiter, then attended to by no less than three different female workers who took over on the grill. One time (at band camp), one of the women saw me "attempt" to turn over some of the meat. She rushed over quickly and took over... I was grateful actually because I probably let it sit too long. She was probably thinking, "Dumb-ass non Korean!" You could see the multitude of panchan dishes in the background; in the foreground is the dipping sauce for the meat (chili and some sort of sweet but mega salty sauce).
We had quite a bit of panchan that night. The waiter was quite helpful in identifying them for us. I had asked him what one particular dish was (since I had never seen it before), then he proceeded to describe all of them (which I already knew, but what the hell, I wasn't going to interrupt his spiel). This one below are anchovies.
A close up of the anchovies. They were dry and kind of chewy. One was all I had. These reminded me of a Filipino fish snack, called "dilis", but dilis are crispier.
Here's what I originally asked the waiter about...This panchan was "steamed egg". I wasn't too crazy about this because it had a mushy/soft texture. Our other panchan included the ubiquitous kim chi, sea weed with fernbrake (aka fernbracken or fiddlehead fern), spinach seasoned with sesame oil and garnished with sesame seeds, spicy hot daikon rounds, rectangular rice wrappers (for the bulgogi), fish cake, julienned potato and one or two more that I can't remember.
Here's the platter of the thinly sliced, marinated beef bulgogi...Look at that marbling. Mmmm...fat...
Chapchae noodles with pink and white fish cake, julienned carrots, green onions, and wood ear mushrooms (not pictured, but they're in there).
Here's the ribeye that we enjoyed...we actually had leftovers, unlike last week when we demolished everything that night.
Here I am turning over the bulgogi. You could see the separated slices of onion on the grill. They rub the (non-separated) rings on the grill before firing it up.
The aftermath...
Earlier that afternoon, I went to Eduard's - A Taste of Europe (a bakery in Otay Ranch) to buy a trio of mini cakes for Bert. This bakery is a hidden treasure and I'm glad it's there. I bought my brother's white chocolate strawberry cheesecake there and Bert's birthday strudel (last year), and many more fattening treats in the recent past. Eduard's is currently owned and operated by the second owner, Edwin Real and his wife Sara. The original Eduard sold it about a year or so ago...
This is the Royale Cake with Strawberries (I keep thinking, "Royale with cheese..." in my head) that I bought specifically for TC. All three of the cakes originally had a strip of plastic taped around the circumference, but I removed it for the photos. I'm sure the cakes would have looked prettier swimming in fruit coulis and chocolate sauce, but they sure do look nice on our (rarely used, but should be used more often) wedding china!
This was the Spicy Mayan Cake, which used chocolate from local company Chuao Chocolatier .This particular cake had cinnamon and pasilla chili infused chocolate. Actually, you could barely taste any spice in it, but it had a very interesting flavor. The ganache topping was so rich and thick.
This is what they call the Opera Cake. I wish I remembered what it was made of, but it shared the same delectable ganache topping that the Spicy Mayan cake had. I think the cake layer had walnut in it as well.
Cross section of the Opera cake...
We each sampled a bit of each other's cakes and saved the rest for the next day. The cakes were too dense and rich to unceremoniously chow down in one sitting, especially after our heavy meal earlier that evening. I'm happy to say that Bert enjoyed his first (and certainly not his last) visit to Buga. TC enjoyed using her wooden chopsticks to laboriously eat her rice, bulgogi and chapchae. What really impressed us was the really attentive service because it was pretty busy after we arrived (6 pm). Despite their many customers, we got checked on several times and of course, the waitresses made sure that we were not burning our food.
There are overhead exhaust fans for nearly every table which all have gas grills.
Since Bert had already tried "OB" (a Korean beer) in the past, he went for the other beer the waitress recommended, "Hite". D'oh! It was a huge 40 ouncer! 
We ordererd one Bulgogi, one Jumulrook (aka ribeye which was inspired by Ronin last week) and one Chapchae (Korean potato starch noodle dish). This is the ribeye. Our service was exceptionally good that night. We were seated promptly by a waiter, then attended to by no less than three different female workers who took over on the grill. One time (at band camp), one of the women saw me "attempt" to turn over some of the meat. She rushed over quickly and took over... I was grateful actually because I probably let it sit too long. She was probably thinking, "Dumb-ass non Korean!" You could see the multitude of panchan dishes in the background; in the foreground is the dipping sauce for the meat (chili and some sort of sweet but mega salty sauce).
We had quite a bit of panchan that night. The waiter was quite helpful in identifying them for us. I had asked him what one particular dish was (since I had never seen it before), then he proceeded to describe all of them (which I already knew, but what the hell, I wasn't going to interrupt his spiel). This one below are anchovies.
A close up of the anchovies. They were dry and kind of chewy. One was all I had. These reminded me of a Filipino fish snack, called "dilis", but dilis are crispier.
Here's what I originally asked the waiter about...This panchan was "steamed egg". I wasn't too crazy about this because it had a mushy/soft texture. Our other panchan included the ubiquitous kim chi, sea weed with fernbrake (aka fernbracken or fiddlehead fern), spinach seasoned with sesame oil and garnished with sesame seeds, spicy hot daikon rounds, rectangular rice wrappers (for the bulgogi), fish cake, julienned potato and one or two more that I can't remember.
Here's the platter of the thinly sliced, marinated beef bulgogi...Look at that marbling. Mmmm...fat...
Chapchae noodles with pink and white fish cake, julienned carrots, green onions, and wood ear mushrooms (not pictured, but they're in there).
Here's the ribeye that we enjoyed...we actually had leftovers, unlike last week when we demolished everything that night.
Here I am turning over the bulgogi. You could see the separated slices of onion on the grill. They rub the (non-separated) rings on the grill before firing it up.
The aftermath...
Earlier that afternoon, I went to Eduard's - A Taste of Europe (a bakery in Otay Ranch) to buy a trio of mini cakes for Bert. This bakery is a hidden treasure and I'm glad it's there. I bought my brother's white chocolate strawberry cheesecake there and Bert's birthday strudel (last year), and many more fattening treats in the recent past. Eduard's is currently owned and operated by the second owner, Edwin Real and his wife Sara. The original Eduard sold it about a year or so ago...This is the Royale Cake with Strawberries (I keep thinking, "Royale with cheese..." in my head) that I bought specifically for TC. All three of the cakes originally had a strip of plastic taped around the circumference, but I removed it for the photos. I'm sure the cakes would have looked prettier swimming in fruit coulis and chocolate sauce, but they sure do look nice on our (rarely used, but should be used more often) wedding china!
This was the Spicy Mayan Cake, which used chocolate from local company Chuao Chocolatier .This particular cake had cinnamon and pasilla chili infused chocolate. Actually, you could barely taste any spice in it, but it had a very interesting flavor. The ganache topping was so rich and thick.
This is what they call the Opera Cake. I wish I remembered what it was made of, but it shared the same delectable ganache topping that the Spicy Mayan cake had. I think the cake layer had walnut in it as well.
Cross section of the Opera cake...
We each sampled a bit of each other's cakes and saved the rest for the next day. The cakes were too dense and rich to unceremoniously chow down in one sitting, especially after our heavy meal earlier that evening. I'm happy to say that Bert enjoyed his first (and certainly not his last) visit to Buga. TC enjoyed using her wooden chopsticks to laboriously eat her rice, bulgogi and chapchae. What really impressed us was the really attentive service because it was pretty busy after we arrived (6 pm). Despite their many customers, we got checked on several times and of course, the waitresses made sure that we were not burning our food.
7 comments:
Oh, you guys got the anchovies, something that I always look forward to when Screg and I go there. Too bad we didn't get any when we all just recently went.
I remember you saying that you liked the anchovies. I thought of you when I saw this side dish. It's always different for every visit. I guess it depends on what they have each day.
MMMM, did you try the anchovies? They're a little sticky and sweet. And salty. Yum.
the one i did taste was pretty salty. but it was too dry and chewy. like a tiny fish jerk. so, i guess you could say i'm not a fan of this particular side dish.
I thought the anchovies were good. They were pretty salty so the beer helped. The dinner was great. There's nothing like having some rib-eye straight from the grill. I'd definitely go back. I'm not sure how you five plus TC managed all of the bowls and plates on the table. It would've been interesting if I was able to make it last week.
The number of plates was a challenge. We began consolidating and stacking. It was wall to wall plates, no surface area showing. So much fun, we should do it again.
Being the carnivore that I am, I just luuuuuv the ribeye.
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