Chicago Foodies

DragonLady Lounge: Vegan, Korean, All-You-Can Eatin'

Just around the bend from Kuma's Corner and down the street from Urban Belly is a dark, understated storefront that you could easily pass without a backwards glance. Except, the sign features a most arresting juxtaposition: vegan/vegetarian Korean bar food? Perhaps that warrants a closer inspection.

Indeed, many who stumble inside DragonLady Lounge are people looking for a distraction from the lengthy wait at Kuma's. But the buzz has quietly been building about this bar converted to a Korean restaurant, and plenty of people return for its ecofriendly, heavy metal-free charms. In particular, Thursday nights feature an all-you-can-eat buffet of vegan Korean food. This seems to attract an eclectic collection of vegetarian women wearing handknit shawls, plaid-shirted hipsters and nostalgic Asians.

Crisp, the New KFC

In Chicago, the Korean fried chicken craze has not quite approached the madness of say, haute cupcakes, but we do have a number of options for Asian-inspired fried chicken. Prompted by Josh's newfound love for Korean fried chicken, I went to investigate Lakeview's Crisp, which does the honors of putting the Seoul in soul food.

Southern-style fried chicken relies on dredging the chicken in a thick crust, sometimes made thicker through a buttermilk soak. In contrast, Korean-style chicken is unique in its very thin flour coating and twice-cooked frying process. The first round of frying renders out most of the fat, and the second round turns the skin crisp, almost translucent. This results in an unbelievably crunchy exterior that is not greasy. After frying, the chicken is given a light coating of sauce, which is absorbed into the crust. Done well, you will have flavorful, but not soggy chicken.

At Crisp, just approach the counter to place your order for a half ($9) or whole chicken ($13), and in a few minutes, your name will be called out to pick up your food. I clutched the basket of Seoul Sassy chicken, expertly seasoned with ginger, soy and garlic flecks. The meat was juicy, sizzling hot, and perfectly crisp. I am proud to say that I gnawed away until the bones were picked clean.

Bill Kim's Urbanbelly

It's hard to explain how my Friday was redeemed. It was a long day. I was graciously getting a ride home that was delayed an hour due to construction on the inbound LSD... are they kidding! Traffic outbound wasn't much better so I was needed something nice. I saw a listing on LTH for Urban Belly and made the Bill Kim connection and talked the driver into a detour to California, just North of Diversey. In a strip mall is Bill Kim's new diggs. Sure enough three weeks into the endeavor he was right there in the kitchen dishing out dumplings, rice dishes and bowls of noodles. Once you order at the counter seating is at one of four communal tables. It surely isn't Le Lan. But TGIF.

Alice and Friends

Alice and Friends is a vegetarian restaurant on the north side in Edgewater. I've been there several times and have never had a bad meal. I'll go as far as saying that it's not only my go-to veggie spot, it may be my favorite restaurant in Edgewater. It's also almost entirely vegan.

The un-meat selection consists of beef, duck, chicken alternatives and my dinner companion questioned how it was possible for someone who doesn't eat meat to make food that tastes like meat. How can the chefs be vegetarians? Who knows but the bottom line is that the different pseudo-meats are disturbingly close to the genuine article.

San Soo Gab San

This was my first time venturing into a Korean barbecue, tucked away on Western by Foster, which is nothing like a Mongolian barbecue or stir-fry type of place.  The thick smoke from the barbecue from the various tables, is the first thing you notice when you step inside the place--and the last thing you remember—especially when you get home at night and smell the smoky barbecue embedded (deeply) in your winter wool coat.

Kang Nam

A couple months ago I met Mike from Eatchicago.net at Kang Nam. It's a Korean BBQ spot in a strip mall off of Kedzie. It's by the brown line stop and well worth the trip. It was my turn to spread the word and brought a group of 4 for dinner this past Saturday night.

The deal with Kang Nam is that the BBQ is over charcoal. Every time I've tried Korean BBQ it has been over gas. The coals add a distinct flavor to the already distinct marinades bulgogi (Pul-Kogi), kalbi, and others. The nice thing is that the flavors match so well.

I think I've admitted in some article that I'm not super crazy about the vinegary base to Korean flavors. That seems like it's changing slowly. I made my way through most of the panchan this time. The 15 or 20 different sides that magically appear with everything from everyone's favorite kim-chee (pickled cabbage) to pickled cucumber slices, spinach with sesame sauce, even crab legs. Well I didn't try the crab legs... I had to save something for next time.

Jin Ju

Aside from Korean BBQ, I've really only eaten Korean food once. It was at a restaurant that I could recognize and return to without knowing the name (which is written in Korean on their rather large sign). Jin Ju is nowhere near that type of environment. It's not quiet. It's not predominately Korean and I could figure out, or was told exactly what was what.

It's a Korean restaurant for Americans... easy enough. But oddly it's pretty unique in that respect. From myriad plates of Kim Chee and other "items" to the phonetically challenging dish names Korean food is pretty unusual and has not really been geared to Americans in any major way.

So while we have adopted Thai food as the Asian fare de rigueur and Vietnamese pho is more unusual, Korean is pretty much off the map. But maybe Jin Ju will help to change that.