Boston Globe Review: Korean Grille

Photos by Shirley Goh/Globe Staff

I was excited to do this particular review because Korean barbecue is a favorite of mine.  I have fond memories of my parents taking me and my siblings to Flushing, Queens, in New York to eat it.  The restaurant had grills built into the tabletops, and it was fun to watch my parents cook it.  When I got home and hung up my jacket in the coat closet, it still smelled like that delicious beef, and so did my hair.  I was a little disappointed that Korean Grille does its grilling in the kitchen, but the bulgogi is so good you can overlook that.  The restaurant has other Korean specialties (that's bibimbop above the bulgogi), as well as sushi.

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Bittman's Bulgogi (Korean Barbeque)

One of my fondest childhood memories is my parents taking us to eat Korean barbeque.  We'd make the trek from Brooklyn to Flushing, in Queens.  I would arrive home with my jacket smelling like the grilled beef, and it was Carnivore Nirvana.  When I moved to the Boston area, my sister would eagerly make the treks with me to Koreana in Cambridge.  The waitresses would bring us nearly a dozen side dishes, and we would cook the meat on the tabletop grills.  The beef would be flavorful and juicy, but just slightly crisp and charred at the edges.

When I saw Mark Bittman's Backyard Bulgogi article, I got excited.  Sure, he's not Korean, but the man can cook, can't he?  I liked how simple the recipe was, but it sure didn't look like the time my summer term college suitemate from South Korea made bulgogi (I remember a lot more soy sauce, and sliced white onions).  The verdict: It didn't taste quite like bulgogi, but it was still pretty damn good.  You really can't go wrong with marinating beef in a paste of soy sauce, sesame oil, garlic, and scallions.  The only real change I made was to broil the beef, since the last time I used my gas grill it caught on fire -- no, not the way it's supposed to.  But the broiler did the trick, and it was close to Carnivore Nirvana.