성북동 Seong Buk Dong

🇰🇷 SOUTH KOREA
📍 3303 W. 6th Street, Koreatown, Central Los Angeles
🅿️ Small parking lot (shared with busy Dan Sung Sa), valet at night.
🥤 No Alcohol

It is not breaking news to proclaim that Los Angeles has so much. Even if you have wandered the many market alleys and food streets of Korea's cities, found something unique that you have never eaten before, and come back home with fond memories, many times you can find renditions here. Much of the depth of Koreatown is hidden from those that cannot read Korean language, but if you do some simple cutting and pasting you can often find the treasures you seek.

One treasure from enough trips through those food streets will eventually be the section with stacked aluminum bowls, pre-filled with cuts of fish (or other meats), kimchi, daikon, and topped with green vegetables, all ready to be simmered down and served. These are one of many varieties of jorim (조림), a type of reduced stew that transfers a bowl full of broth flavor into the cuts of meat that remain after reduction.

Braised cutlassfish in Namdaemun's Hairtail Alley.

Those seemingly old and bruised bowls are on many of the tables at long-running 6th Street restaurant Seong Buk Dong. Younger groups of Koreans will be ordering plates of galbi jjim to eat with their black ttukbaegi of beef soondobu, but many of the older Korean customers at the restaurant will have jorim in front of them along with a wide range of banchan. While the jorim in question here swaps out hairtail for mackerel, the experience of the dish is very close to what you can find in Namdaemun Market's Hairtail Alley (above), where the cutlassfish is king.

The name of the restaurant refers to one of Seoul's northern "suburbs" up in the foothills, the village (dong) of seongbuk where the proprietor and chef spent a good portion of her life before moving to Los Angeles. But she was originally from the south of the country, and cooks the food with the flavors you might find in Gyeongsangnam-do, something that has not been altered in the restaurant's decades of life in Koreatown.

If you have a big enough group, an order of that galbi jjim the kids at the next table are enjoying is fine enough and will not disappoint, but this is not what the chef does best. Look towards the tops of each column for what could be defined as the quintessential dishes at the restaurant, and near the end in the fish section you will find the godeungeo jorim ($29.99, below, 고등어조림) at the top. This is the dish that brings back Hairtail Alley despite using a different fish, or favorites like Honam Sikdang in Seoul, which offer nothing but godeungeo jorim, long-simmered or braised mackerel with kimchi and white radish.

 

This kimchi is even more well-ripened than usual, it is important to be pungent for the foods of this southern region. Before being used for the dish, it spends at least full six months being prepared. Even the spicy soy sauce used in the mackerel's marinade is fermented, leading to a flavor bomb that goes hard in a sour direction but also has sweet notes from the radish and soy sauce.

The aluminum bowl seems beaten up from hundreds if not thousands of meals, and its contents do not have a wow-factor when they arrive, but in the deep bowl are large hunks of mackerel still on the bone. The jorim is still steaming and takes a long time to cool enough to eat, but its aroma will taunt you until the first bite. Pull out the pieces and eat them with rice and some of the spicy soy dipping sauce that arrives on the table as well that pairs with the jorim.

If you are craving those beef short ribs of the galbi jjim, an even better way to enjoy them are right at the top of the menu with the Seongbukdong gukbap ($17.99, below, 성북동국밥). This is a beef soup that has cubes of the still-fatty meat submerged in a bowl that arrives bubbling like a cauldron with white rice served on the side. There are tendons of the beef down there as well with vegetables like daikon and taro stem.

While many dishes are meant to be shared, this warming bowl is probably the best order for anyone arriving at the restaurant on their own. It is hearty and offers glimpses of the bold flavors of the south that can be found in the mackerel, but can easily be finished without needing a takeout container. In fact, it is delicious enough that it would be hard not to finish.

The special section at the very end of the restaurant's tight menu is worth looking towards for more shared plates when eating with friends. The haemul pajeon ($27.99, below, 해물파전) at the top of that list is a green onion pancake made with squid, clams, and oysters. The onions and cuts of seafood work as a lattice that is chopped into manageable sections by staff and brought to the table.

The savory pancake is the type of food that Koreans love to enjoy when it is raining outside, so it was the perfect comfort for much of the recent weather in Los Angeles. The technique of Seong Buk Dong's haemul pajeon is excellent, and the dish is just the right appetizer for about anything else you come to eat here.

Sticking to those top of the section items will lead to a very good experience here, but admittedly they also do very serviceable renditions of classics you can find at most restaurants in Koreatown, whether that be bibimbap, jjigae, or bulgogi. The sogogi sundubu ($17.99, below, 소고기 순두부) seems to be one of the more popular classics you will hear ordered by other patrons, and it is especially satisfying when ordered at its spiciest level.

The cuts of beef found in this version are again good ones, and the thick tofu stew is made with care as always. Add some pieces of kimchi from the banchan if you crave a little more southern flavor, or eat it as is with the rice. Even the tofu, which sometimes can seem like an afterthought in a restaurant not specializing in the dish, is delicious.

The small shopping plaza that Seong Buk Dong lives in is constantly crowded with folks waiting for their turn to enter Dan Sung Sa at night. Comparatively, this restaurant always seems a bit empty and undesirable and many might think it unworthy of a visit based on this and the fact that they do not have alcohol. But come during the afternoon and everyone parking here is coming into Seong Buk Dong to enjoy these southern-style flavors. Service can be a bit slow during these busier lunch hours, but arrive with a bit of patience and eating here will be a memorable experience.

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