Do Hwa (Korean BBQ)

As promised, we're back to bloggin! On Wednesday evening, we went out to dinner with our dear friends, LT & J-Fark. Despite Jess' stomach feeling a bit under the weather, we decided to check out Do Hwa, a Korean BBQ spot in our neck of the woods. We learned about Do Hwa through a BlackBoard Eats deal (25% off) and wanted to get outside our culinary comfort zone. LT had been there before and said it was good so we headed down to Carmine Street to get our Korean BBQ on!

We entered Do Hwa and were immediately taken back by the tasty aroma filling the air. After a long hump day, we all needed a cocktail... I was the only one who went outside the box by ordering the Yuja martini (chilled citrus vodka topped off with champagne & lemon sorbet). It went down easy and packed a punch... pretty much, exactly what you want from a martini. I didn't dabble but they had a nice selection of beers on tap, taboot.

We shared 3 appetizers between the 3 of us: Obok Salad, Japchae, and Dukboki. Not sure what any of that means? Me neither! Check out their menu here: CLICK ME! (From what I've read, it's always changing.)

Despite carrying some serious kick, the best app, IMHO, was the Dukboki. It looks like ziti pasta in a red sauce, but looks are deceiving. What looks like ziti are actually tender rice cakes, and what looks like red sauce is a hot chili sauce. We kept eating this tasty dish despite our mouths being on fire. Both the Obok Salad & Japchae were completely finished by the time the entrees came around, so don't think that they weren't good as well. The vinaigrette on the salad & the noodles in the Japchae really made the dishes.

The entree that both Farks got was the Steak Bibimbop. This dish consists of slices steak & loads of veggies packed on top of rice (white or brown) that's served in a way-too-hot pot. Oh, and it's topped with a fried egg (if that's your thing). You control your own spice & flavor destiny by mixing in as much chili sauce as you'd like. I think I might have put a bit too much on as I was sweating by the end of the meal. But, that might have had something to do with the dish being served WAYYYY TOOO HOT! I couldn't eat for a good 5-10 minutes til it cooled down to a reasonable temperature. It was rather tasty & quite hearty with a nice mix of flavors going on in the bowl. J-Fark thought that it lacked flavor and I understand why he said that.. there was a bit too much going on in the bowl, and combined with the hotness, all the flavors kinda blended together. I would get it again, but not before sampling some of the other items on the menu.

The garlic spinach side dish had LOADS of flavor and I'd definitely recommend this to anyone who likes the garlic-spinach combo.

Due to her aching belly, Jess went with the most neutral soup on the menu - the Mandu D'Uk Gook.  It was homemade dumpling soup with rice cakes and was basically like wonton soup on steroids.  There was lots of flavor in the broth and the dumplings and rice cakes really soaked it all up. 

Overall, it was a tasty meal that turned us on to a type of food we weren't very familiar with. More importantly, it was great times with friends, and I think we would all come come back to check out their do-it-yourself grilling tables. Head down there & let us know what you think of Do Hwa!

Joe's Shanghai - Midtown West

We were very excited to try Joe Shanghai's famous soup dumplings! We went before seeing a Broadway show, so it was on the earlier side. The place was pretty much empty when we arrived but was filling up as we left.

We put in our order for soup dumplings right away - they come as a mix of crab and pork meat. We had read how you're supposed to eat them before coming, so we were somewhat prepared. We took our soup spoons, held the soup dumplings, took a bite so as to let out the soup liquid, sipped it up and then ate the rest of the dumpling. It was delicious! Our only complaint was that it was a little greasy. I'm not sure what type of broth was in the dumplings, but it was great - super flavorful - and just what you would want on a cold winter night!. For the rest of the dumpling, you are given a soy-based dipping sauce to dunk the dumpling in. Eric liked the sauce and thought it made the meat come to life, since you can't really taste the pork/crab. I wasn't as much of a fan so I ate the rest of the dumpling sans-sauce.. yummy!

The other food we ordered (chicken & broccoli/shrimp & scallops with garlic sauce/moo shoo vegetable) was just OK - standard Chinese food. The midtown west Joe's is supposedly a lot more spacious and "less authentic" than the Chinatown spot so I still wanna head down to Chinatown to check out the Pell Street restaurant.

You really should go here for the dumplings!