Korean cooking is, to my mind, the comfort food of Asian cuisines. It doesn’t have the brittle elegance of Japanese, the mind-boggling variety of Chinese, the delicate flavorings of Vietnamese, or the artistic subtleness of Thai cooking. Yet it is elegant, varied, delicate and artistic—just not so pronouncedly as these others.

Sour, pungent tastes predominate in many Korean dishes: fish soups, pickled root vegetables, soybean paste broths, and, of course, kimchee, the preserved cabbage condiment that is ever present on the Korean table.

New Korea is the second Korean restaurant I’ve tried in Marina, home to more than 3,000 Korean-Americans. As with the smaller Shin-Ra restaurant down the street, New Korea caters more to the city’s ex-pat population than to the general public. Menu items are cursorily translated into English, Korean-only signs are posted on the walls (leading one to wonder what secret dishes only the initiated may order), and some of the wait staff (who are often the owners doing double-duty) have but passing familiarity with the local lingo.

All that makes for an intriguing voyage down culinary canals, a worthwhile trip to make for those in search of new and different tastes.

I piled Cricket and Brock in the car, and dragged along Cricket’s main squeeze Freda, since he’d spent five weeks on a Korean island—in a fishing-village replete with seafood dishes. We figured he’d clue us in as to how closely New Korea’s offerings duplicated what he ate on that sun-drenched atoll.

The menu was somewhat difficult to navigate, at least for those of us not conversant with Korean cuisine. Most of the dishes were either soups or meals cooked table-side in a bowl of steaming broth, then eaten family-style with each diner dipping his or her chopsticks into the concoction.

For variety, we selected one of the “table-cook” entrees—Hamul Jungol, described as “spice hot seafoods soup with udon noodles” ($29.95, serves four easily)—along with the mainstay Daji Bulgogi Jungsik (sliced barbecue pork, $10.95) and a stir-fry dish called Chop Chae (stir fry sayfun noodles with beef and vegetables, $9.95). An order of Mandoo Tigim, or pan-fried dumpling appetizers ($6.95 for 12), rounded it out.

To begin, our waitress brought out sake, a couple bottles of OB Korean beer, and 11 small bowls of condiments to accompany our meal. Trying out those multi-colored tiny plates of prepared vegetable and fish dishes is my favorite part of the Korean restaurant experience. Eagerly we passed around the bowls: pickled root vegetable in a peppery tomato paste, bean sprouts with a curiously canned taste, potato slices in a delicious sweet tomato sauce, cold slightly crunchy black beans, squares of white jelly (that got passed around a few times before there were any takers).

“Hmmmm,” Freda muttered, as he surveyed the spread. “Some of these are always served—the bean sprouts, the kimchee, the seaweed. The black beans I’ve seen sometimes. It depends on how many people are eating; if you’re alone, they’ll just bring out a couple different bowls.”

Then the food began to arrive, as it was ready, rather than in any particular order.

The dumplings were similar to Japanese Gyoza in that they were pork-filled and deep-fried, but the filling was sweet rather than salty, more like a soft sausage. Tasty. The Chop Chae, which our waitress had gamely tried to convince us “was like chop suey,” bore little resemblance to any chop suey I’ve ordered Stateside, and that was all to its benefit. The flat, clear noodles were sautéed and served with sliced white and green onions, carrots, and bits of shredded beef, flavored with a delicate, sweet sauce. It was an unexpected hit with all of us, the kind of immediately familiar dish that lingers in the mouth afterwards.

Many Americans know Korean food for its barbecue, which is why we had to try the barbecued sliced pork, which arrived (as expected) in a hot cast-iron skillet. The meat was superbly tender, lathered with spicy, almost-sweet-yet-still-hot barbecue sauce, and fried up with strips of green and white onion flecked with pieces of red chili pepper. This is a dish that even a meat-and-potatoes kid can love, an easy entryway into the more esoteric Korean offerings.

Speaking of which, the steaming hot bowl of cook-as-you-go seafood and noodle soup was not for all tastes. As soon as it arrived, with its thick chunks of bone-in, scales-on fish floating around, Brock “remembered” that he doesn’t like seafood. Yeah, right.

The rest of us dug in, and enjoyed the succulent bits of crab, although the shrimp was sadly overcooked and the broth was not the thick, rich fish stock we’d expected; it seemed to have been added late in the process, and was a little watery. I’d definitely try one of the “table-cook” soups again, but might forego the seafood option. Ix-nay also to the one featuring Spam and another based on tripe.

The Gamjatang Jungol sounds most tempting; it’s described as “spice hot soup with pork bone, potatoes and cabbages” ($24.95, for two, but as I said, it easily serves more).

The bill for four came to $82, and there was plenty to take home. And yes, it all tasted better the next day. (Why
is that?)

New Korea Restaurant

300 Carmel Ave., Marina

384-7171

Open Tues-Sun 10am-11pm.