I know what you are thinking, your in america...why isn’t a good old fashioned american bbq in here? Well, if I want classic bbq I will go to Lucilles, or my grandmother’s house for an amazing pool party and lunch. What is different, is trying bbq from around the world...found in your own backyard.
Now, I was never really taught to cook, mostly to bake and I self taught myself how to cook from that experience. But I have always loved the “cook it yourself” places. Ever since I was young, but those were always “special occasion” places. Most people think that food from the “Asian” part of the world is the same, and the truth is, it is not. Food that comes to america gets “americanized” but if you go to a place where the first language spoken is not english, you will get a real taste of that culture.
For example, Korea and Japan are near each other in the world but their history is different, their climates are different, and what grows naturally there is different. It is for that reason, you will have similar but not the same experiences of authentic food culture experiences.
Korean: Saemaeul (Buena Park, CA)
This is the second Korean BBQ place I have gone to, so I am used to the service that comes with lots of refilled sides. But this place actually lets you cook the food in front of you, which for korean was new for me. Meat quality is excellent, the beef was better than the pork, but that’s more personal preference. It was very authentic, and for someone with too “american” of a pallete, that was a little rough. But the non american palletes loved everything. Price was a little expensive, but one should never eat cheap bbq.
Japanese: Gyu Kaku (Brea, CA)
I have eaten here for many a years. I loved the cook it yourself feature. They used to have a buffet, or all you can eat option, where I would get endless rice and edamame and their salad was sooo good. The meat quality is quite good, and the dressings of the meat are one of my favorite things about eating here. It is on the higher end of pricing, but cheaper than Korean. Since COVID, I do wonder about some of the policy changes but when I can get it, I am a happy camper.
Cooking styles were similar, sides were similar but with different approaches, and both meats were good. I like the sides better with Japanese, but the endless approach of Korean was helpful in eating that much meat. If you are going for the meat as the priority, you will like Korean better. There is a joke that Koreans appropriate other cultures ideas and make it their own, but really what culture doesn’t? Like pizza is not american, but we made it so. Who started bbq in this style? Who does it better? It will be a tasty journey to find out.
