San Soo Gab San Korean Barbecue: Great, Experience; Just Avoid 'The Thing'

I've never done official Korean barbecue, which could have been a bad thing if I were intimidated by dozens of dishes filled with totally unfamiliar foods and tastes, or if I panicked at the sight of a mini barbecue pit sitting inches away from my plate. But if you go to San Soo Gab San in Lincoln Square, everything happens so quickly -- busy Korean women with barely any English plop about two dozen plates on your table within minutes of ordering, and the fire pit is shoved in the center of the table before your eyes can digest the contents of those bowls -- there's no time to panic. You just dive in and taste.

We ordered the Korean marinated pork and beef brisket to grill; all those dishes are automatic for the table. Meats are fatty and tasty as long as you don't think too hard about the women standing near the kitchen cutting up the meat strips with scissors and not wearing hair nets. I liked the pork rib the best. 

This is a great place if you try new things. Just be prepared. If trying a new type of fish is your idea of living dangerously, this is not the place for you. You'll leave the restaurant not knowing much of what you ate. And some of it will taste bad -- not because it's not prepared properly, but because it will be assaultingly different. There's an odd potato salad sample that creeps in, but you'll find some flat-out wierd shit, including this thing:

We don't know what it is, but it's texture is akin to biting in to a rubber eraser with a density closer to Silly Putty. I don't know what the brown sauce is either, but it took everything in my power to not spit it out at the table -- perhaps one of the most difficult gulps of my life. I eat almost anything, but this crossed the line.

That said, it's a dynamic experience: the restaurant is casual and busy, and cooking your own food offers a charm. It's great for groups, even though you're squished into a table whether there's two or six of you.

I didn't start this blog by describing my disgusting experience because I didn't want it to set the tone for the whole restaurant. This is a great place. Just go easy on the rubber eraser plant thing.