Critics’ choice: Three ways to eat Korean

BellyQ Chicago

Chef Bill Kim just keeps getting better, said Michael Nagrant in the Chicago Sun-Times. His first two Chicago restaurants—Urban Belly and Belly Shack—evolved smartly after shaky starts and now serve some of the best food in the city. At this “fantastic” third venture, he’s put past design errors behind him while creating a “delightfully original” menu that combines his gourmet sensibility with his Korean heritage. BellyQ occupies “a warehouse of a space,” but that space is well divided by banquettes, “a sleek stone bar,” and sliding translucent panels. Purists might prefer more traditional takes on Korean cuisine, but I’m happier digging into Kim’s double-smoked bacon and kimchi pancake. Unlike its leaden, seafood-stuffed cousins, Kim’s pancake is light and custardy, “piled high with tangy bitter greens, bright pungent pickled cabbage, and thick, juicy, smoky lardons.” His succulent Thai-style fried boneless chicken is “showered” with lemongrass and “a confetti of stinging chilies.” Sure, BellyQ isn’t flawless yet, but Kim is “pursuing his own voice,” and finding it. 1400 W. Randolph St., (312) 563-1010

Gaonnuri New York City

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This new midtown restaurant was designed with its name, “center of the world,” in mind, said Adam Platt in New York magazine. Located 39 stories above Manhattan’s Koreatown district, it’s a sleek skybox-style space whose large windows offer “a King Kong view” of the nearby Empire State Building. The owners’ ambition is to provide a world-class showplace for traditional Korean fare, and the food mostly lives up to the stage. Within minutes of sitting, we were lapping up yuk ge jang, a spicy beef soup, and delighting in the “sesame-laced” beef tartare. Five versions of bibimbap arrived, “appropriately sizzling,” along with sweet japchae noodles and heaps of kimchi. When ordering the barbecue, “stick to the old red-meat classics,” like the tender marinated short ribs. Then sit back and enjoy the scene: “young couples snapping pictures of their food with brightly colored cameras,” business parties “toasting each other with bottles of sweet-potato soju,” and, outside those gleaming windows, the distant lights of Jersey City. 1250 Broadway, (212) 971-9045

Kang Ho-dong Baekjeong Los Angeles

L.A.’s Koreatown finally has an answer of its own to the Hard Rock Café, said Jonathan Gold in the Los Angeles Times. An outpost of a Seoul-based chain run by South Korean TV star Kang Ho-dong, this rowdy restaurant is a fantasy version of an old-fashioned, beef-serving Korean bar, but “the food, while basic, is of surprisingly high quality.” You should order one of the set-course beef dinners—the $45 version serves three. Then watch your waiter snap a gas grill in the middle of your table and start cooking “well-marbled” prime rib-eye or, if you order samgyeopsal, pork belly that’s “leagues better” than anything you’ll find at the all-you-can-eat barbecue joints nearby. While “Gangnam Style” blares on the sound system for the sixth time, call for another Hite beer or soju, and keep spooning food into your mouth. The place’s energy is infectious, but “you are going to be feeling this in the morning.” Chapman Market, 3465 W. 6th St., (213) 384-9678