Tag: Bulgogi

AlbuquerqueKoreanNew MexicoRating: Excellent

K Style Kitchen – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

If you’re susceptible to the power of suggestion–especially as it pertains to ear worms (recurring tunes that involuntarily pop up and stick in your mind)–you’re probably going to hate me (or you can skip this paragraph and continue to love me).  That’s because if you do read this paragraph you’re going to be humming to yourself one of the most annoying songs of all time–Gangnam Style.  Arguably, Gangnam Style is not as annoying as La Macarena or My Humps (which Rolling Stone declared “the most annoying song ever”). The more you try to suppress Gangnam Style, the more your impetus to hum it increases, a mental process known as ironic process theory.  By the way, those most at risk for “stuck song syndrome” are females, youth, patients with OCD and anyone reading this paragraph. Unless you can speak Korean you’re going to have to hum Gangnam Style and not sing it.  The only lyrics in English are “Eh, sexy lady.”  Korean rap singer Psy who took Gangnam Style all the way to number one describes the song as “a tribute to the ladies of the wealthy district.”  He’s talking about the affluent Gangnam district in Seoul Korea which Psy describes…

AlbuquerqueAsianChineseJapaneseKoreanNew MexicoRating: ExcellentSushi

East Asian Kitchen – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

Perhaps more than anyone I’ve ever met, my Singaporean friend Ming Lee (God rest his beautiful soul) regarded people by the content of their character, not by physical characteristics.  So, it surprised me to hear him joke “we all look alike.”  It was an unsolicited admission that even he couldn’t always discern the cultural genesis of Asian people he met.  He also joked “at least I can always tell where an Asian restaurant’s food comes from.”  Ming was a bona fide gastronome who introduced me to the cuisine of Singapore and Malaysia.  Like me, he disliked restaurants in which overt homogenization of Asian food was apparent.  Sure, different culinary cultures across Southeast Asia have borrowed from one another over the millenia, but most adapt to cultural tastes rather than copy exactly. Ming was wary of Asian restaurants that purported to serve the cuisine of more than one Southeast Asian nation.  To him, the concepts of global cuisine and multicultural restaurants “dumbed down” what is best about each culinary culture.  We disagreed on the concept of fusion cuisine, the blending of elements from different cultures, creating new dishes that offer several cultures on a plate.  I like the concept when executed…

AlbuquerqueAsianKoreanNew Mexico

I Grill Korean BBQ & Hotpot

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

You hear it very time a seismic event or devastating conflagration strikes California.  Doomsayers seem to come out from under the rocks to proclaim it “divine castigation.”  That’s also their argument when the Golden State’s elections don’t go as they would like.  These very same people don’t seem to like much about California.  Such negativity makes me wonder if these fatalists have ever spent much time in this fabled  land of opportunity and adventure.  There’s got to be a reason California is the most populous state in the union.  Surely the forty-million residents would be leaving in droves if it was that bad. Although the Air Force took me to most of the contiguous states in the country, it was Intel which first sent me to California.  Back when Intel was flush with cash, I was dispatched to Santa Clara for weeks at a time.  These business trips were not only highly productive, they  introduced me to the uniquely wonderful “California cuisine” and its emphasis on fresh, local and seasonal ingredients.  As a movement, California cuisine’s embrace of diverse culinary cultures and innovative approaches reflected the state’s own diversity and commitment to high-quality, sustainable and healthy foods. Asian restaurants are…

AlbuquerqueChineseFusionKoreanNew MexicoRating: Excellent

Hanmi Korean-Chinese Fusion – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

Popular culture is defined as “commonly known information that briefly holds the public interest. It is typically discussed in various mass media, including TV and the Internet, and becomes a topic of everyday conversation (what used to be called a “water cooler conversation” before that term fell from popularity).  Apparently you’re out of touch with pop culture when you believe Game of Thrones is a video game and that Taylor Swift is a sprinter, the female equivalent of Usain Bolt. Approaching forty years of youth, I’d probably be completely out of touch with pop culture were it not for our interns at UNM Information Technology.  They do their best to educate this old fogey on what’s lit, cool, on fleek or whatever their generation’s version of groovy may be.  My lack of pop culture knowledge puts me in the same company as their parents and grandparents, all of whom are clueless as to what’s important.  While they might be less patient with their parents, they find my ignorance humorous.  For example, when I walked in on a conversation they were having and overheard the term K-Pop, I asked if it was a Korean dish similar to bibimbap.  I still haven’t…

AlbuquerqueDog FriendlyKoreanNew MexicoPizzaRating: Good

Urban 360 Pizza, Grill and Tap House – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno8:09 AM

Babu: Our specials are tacos, moussaka and franks and beans. Jerry: Well, what do you recommend my good fellow? Babu:Oh, the turkey. ~”The Cafe, Seinfeld, Season 3, Episode 7 While perusing the menu at Urban 360 Pizza, Grill and Tap House, my ever-witty friend Ryan “Break the Chain” Scott commented that the menu reminded him of The Dream, the very eclectic restaurant owned and operated by Pakistan emigrant Babu Bhatt in an uproariously funny episode of Seinfeld. As Jerry Seinfeld observed about The Dream’s menu, “he’s serving Mexican, Italian, Chinese. He’s all over the place.” Urban 360’s menu is similarly diverse, a melange of Asian, American and European dishes splayed temptingly onto three pages. That the menu is so “all over the place” makes great sense in that the term “360” itself represents a complete circle as in the shape of planet Earth itself. Okay, the Earth is actually an oblong spheroid, but that’s close to round. Unlike The Dream, Urban 360’s menu has a rhyme and reason, a cohesion. Moreover, Urban 360 succeeds a similarly named and similarly eclectic restaurant, the aptly named Eclectic Urban Pizzeria and Tap House, a magnificent shooting star which fizzled away much too quickly,…