Chow Down Atlanta

Just a quickie post — went to the newly-opened-for-two-days, BBQ Chicken aka Chicken & Beer, which is right next door to Honey Pig. It’s such a fun space with a fun mural, a quirky glow-in-the-dark bar, colorful walls, cozy booths, with Korean and American pop songs blasting in the background. By the way, did you know, the name of the restaurant is BBQ Chicken (not barbecue but B-B-Q which stands for Best of the Best Quality). Chicken & Beer is what they serve. Catchy, huh?

A Korean chain, they use 100% olive oil. I was only able to try the Olive Original Chicken and the Olive Sweet Spice Chicken. Oh my gosh, the Olive Original Chicken is soooooooo good. Possibly the best regular Korean fried chicken in town. The skin is super crispy with a slight herby taste and a hint of olive oil. It is so tender and juicy. It. Is. Delicious!!!

The Olive Sweet Spice Chicken is also good. The sauce they use is so garlicky with just a tiny hint of heat (would have liked it to be more spicy). It is not cloyingly sweet and the consistency of the sauce is just right (not too sticky and gooey).

But wait. You wanna know what would really blow your mind? The waffle fries. Imported from Korea, the pieces are small but they are so crispy with no hint of sogginess or oiliness. The Cajunish-cheese dusting they’re sprinkled with makes them oh so wonderful. Mind blowing. I kid you not.

Prices for 2-pc combos (with a side, salad and drink) start at $6.95, half-order chickens start at $9.45, and whole chickens start at $17.95. The menu is quite big with salad, wings, and burgers.

Do it! NOW.

BBQ Chicken (Chicken & Beer)
3473 Old Norcross Rd.,
Duluth, GA 30096
678-417-6464

Technorati Tags: chicken, KFC, Korean fried chicken, Duluth, Atlanta

Pedestrian, run-of-the-mill Korean fried chicken. Small pieces. Okay batter. Get the plain ones. The spicy kind isn’t spicy at all and I really can’t get past the thick, gooey, cloyingly sweet sauce the chicken pieces are covered with.

The wings have potential, however. Crispy. Spicy. Juicy. Tiny.

Did you know what’s good, though? The chicken livers. The cornstarch batter is thin and crispy. The livers are fresh and tasty. Yum.

There’s no rice at this place. Yet. But plans are underway. Maybe next week, I was told by the motherly owner/chef/mom. So you’ll have to eat your chicken with fries. Frozen crinkly ones that are crispy fried. Surprisingly good.

For a limited time: chicken + pizza = $27.99. I’d rather spend my money next door.

Kko Kko Chicken and Pizza
3230 Steve Reynolds Blvd
Ste 108
Duluth, GA 30096
(678) 502-7226

Technorati Tags: Korean fried chicken, Duluth

I come from a family who love hot pots. While Shabu-shabu and sukiyaki have always been the favorites, my mom particularly likes Chinese hot pots. However, I’m beginning to really love Korean hot pots. The newest addition to the Korean dining scene is Shabu King inside Park Village in Duluth where Super H Mart calls home. This is the third (or fourth) incarnation of this spot — as a Korean fried chicken joint, as Man Doo, and now as a Korean shabu place.

Since the chef hasn’t changed, no visit to this place is complete without their old specialty: man doo. These huge Korean dumplings are filled with lots of ground pork, minced tofu and green Asian cabbage. The wonton wrappers are soft and moist and the fillings are perfectly seasoned. The sweetish-salty dipping sauce adds depth of flavor. Yummy. (Side note: did you know that BHFM was among the first in Atlanta to mass produce man doo? About 10 years ago, they had a Korean food section where cooked food, pre-marinated meets, assorted banchan, and man doo were made. Two Korean ladies and one man made man doo all day long, every single day. They had two kinds, steamed to order, and the best man doo in town. My mom used to bring home three dozen or so pieces every week she went there. I miss those!)

The hot pot takes center stage here now. For $29.99, two people can share a shabu meal that is simply quite the best in town. A pot of fresh vegetables and mushrooms in kimchi broth is simmered on the table top stove. With it comes a plate of beautiful ribbons of paper-thin meat and a bowl of thick noodles. The kimchi broth is spot on.  It is spicy good.  The veggies are so fresh, and the noodles are chewy.  Truly delicious.

There is a proper way to eat Korean hot pot:

•  let the pot boil
• add small amounts of meat
• serve meat, veggies, and broth onto your own bowl
• dip meat into dipping sauce with wasabi mixed in to it before eating
• repeat until all meat is gone
• lastly, add the noodles, let boil
• when most of your hot pot is gone, leftovers will be transferred to a serving bowl

Now comes the best part — a bowl of rice, minced beef, and chopped greens, topped with a raw egg will be cooked in the same pot. Let me tell you that this is the best bibimbap (minus the chili paste) I have ever tasted. The egg and the kimchi-laced pot adds so much flavor. It is the best “fried rice” ever!

Aside from two kinds of hot pots (regular and ribeye), they also still have their famous Korean fried chicken which sets you back $16 and although they are small pieces, they give you quite a lot. It is the best Korean fried chicken in town, by the way. The spicy garlic fried chicken is a little less expensive and as good but I prefer the plain fried chicken.

Insider tip:
Sodas are $1 with one free refill — beware, they come from 2-liter bottles which tasted like they were opened one too may days ago.

The scoop:
Shabu King
2550 Pleasant Hill Rd.
Duluth, GA 30096
(770) 476-8599

Technorati Tags: man doo, Korean, shabu, hot pot, Duluth, GA, Gwinnett, Korean fried chicken

I’ve been waiting for this to happen and finally we now have Korean fried chicken in Atlanta. Love Letter Pizza and Chicken is located next door to the Super H Mart in Johns Creek. Now don’t wonder about the restaurant’s name. Korean restaurants usually have humorous American names. Lost in translation, I surmise. The inside looks typical of a pizza joint with booths on both sides of the wall, two tables for parties of 8, and a couple of bar-height tables for 2. There’s a walk-up counter for to-go orders, but basically, eat-in patrons get ushered through to one of the booths or tables and are provided with table service.

True to its name, Love Letter Pizza and Chicken serves Cheogajip (Korean-style fried chicken) and pizza and nothing else. Cheogajip is marinated chicken pieces lightly-battered then deep-fried. It comes in three flavors: fried (plain), sweet and mild, and sweet and hot. You can order any two combination of flavors you like. The chicken also comes in three varieties: chicken pieces, wings, and popcorn style. What’s neat about this place is the plastic gloves they provide so that you don’t get your fingers all orangy and saucy from eating the chicken with your hands. Of course, nobody said you should use the gloves. I actually found them more cumbersome so I used what’s best for chicken: my bare hands.

The chicken were cooked to perfection: crispy on the outside but still tender on the inside. The chicken were marinated enough to have flavor but not too much to overpower the sauce. Although the plain ones came, well, plain, they had enough taste to render them tasty. The sweet and hot flavors were not too sweet yet packed enough punch to add a little heat. By the way, don’t expect huge American pieces here. The chicken are cut up similar to sizes you’d use in stew, making them more manageable to eat.

There are 7 kinds of pizza with Bulgoki Pizza as the must-try. You can request to have your pizza with a different kind on each half. On this visit, we tried half cheese and half Bulgoki. Now let me remind you that this is not your typical Italian pizza. Asian pizza borders on the sweetish side so don’t expect a tangy pizza sauce. That said, the Bulgoki pizza is delicious. Think of it as a Supreme pizza topped with pieces of Korean beef. There’s also Sweet Potato Pizza on the menu which is also sweet-tasting as expected of Korean (or any Asian) pizza.

All orders come with a fresh cabbage-kernel corn salad with mayo and ketchup for dressing. It looked weird at first glance but mix them up good and you have your salad with classic thousand island dressing. A bowl of crunchy, pickled, cubed, fresh daikon (radish) also accompanies all orders. The daikon is a good accompaniment to the chicken.

Insider tip:
Chicken prices range from $13.99 – $15.88 while 10-inch pizza prices are from $9.99 – $12.99.
Local beer priced at $2.99 / Imported at $3.99
Lunch specials start at $2.99 (the best deal at $7.99 — 7 pieces fried wings, 1 slice pizza, salad, and drink but only available during lunch M-F 11am-3pm)

The scoop:
Love Letter Pizza and Chicken
10820 Abbotts Bridge Rd, Ste 350
Johns Creek, GA 30097
770-813-8882

Technorati Tags: Korean fried chicken, Korean pizza, Love Letter Pizza and Chicken, Super H Mart, Johns Creek, Abbotts Bridge, restaurant