The food craving monster reared its ugly head today. After an afternoon of sitting on my butt watching the incredible Wimbledon final (greatest match ever?), I went grocery shopping at Trader Joe’s in White Plains. Afterwards, I was driving on Central Ave. checking out the people eating outside at Nico’s Greek Taverna… when Kalbi House caught my eye. Cue the Pavlovian response. Maybe it was that kimchi pancake I had last week at the Fancy Food Show— all I knew was, I wanted Korean, and I wanted it NOW.
This is going to look like a lot of take-out, but keep in mind that A) I was hungry, and B) I didn’t know the main dish came with two sides. This picture doesn’t do it justice, but the gyoza soup was a great way to start.
Clear broth flavored with ham, and three huge gyoza. So basic and satisfying, even on a muggy, summer day. Here’s my main dish, Kimchi Jae Yook Boceum.
Break out the tissues, this was one spicy dish! But what I really liked about it was the contrast of textures: tender pork, crunchy kimchi, soft tofu, and the surprise on the bottom, chewy rice sticks. Bonus points to Kalbi House for throwing in these two side dishes.
That’s a lot of extra kimchi! Underneath it were cucumbers and some crunchy yellow vegetable that for the life of me, I couldn’t identify. Here was one of the best parts of the meal.
Baby bok choy, thin slices of pan-fried firm tofu (dubu-jorim?) and fried cubes of potato, mixed with a light, sweet sauce. After all the spiciness, eating this was a welcome relief. It was cooling and refreshing and really helped cut the heat from the pork and kimchi.
From what I’ve read, the two best Korean restaurants in Westchester are Kalbi House and Kang Suh in Yonkers. What do you think? I haven’t been to Kang Suh, but Kalbi House definitely did the trick. The food craving was satisfied— at least for another day…
Kalbi House
291 Central Ave.
White Plains, NY 10606
914-328-0251
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Tags: kalbi house, kang suh, korean, white plains