mary eats

All week Kevin had a hankering for kimbap, and lucky him, his weekly soccer game had us headed up north of Seattle to Lynnwood. Our destination, Sorabol, received nice- and I mean that in all the obnoxious of the word nice- reviews on local message boards, but nothing prepared us for the gem we stumbled upon.

Kevin ordered mul naeng myun, I, ddok mondu guk.. Kevin asks for kimbap, but is denied. We both know that kimbap is a lunch thing, as we have tried near every time we eat out to order it, and every time we are met with the same reply. “Sooorrrry.”

But this time is our lucky night out, as we began to dig in to our banchan, the head ajuma emerges from the kitchen, pink rubber glove clad (gloves are the rule in Washington state), carrying a plate of sogogi kimbap. (Fate would not be on Kevin’s side for his soccer game).

The banchan was our tip off. Bright, crisp tender florets of broccoli were lightly dressed in vinegar, potato shoestrings danced in a light cream dressing, jelly fish ribbons swollen with soy and sesame oil. This wasn’t your average banchan, served from prepackaged bags. Nope. This was food beaming with passion. These small side dishes demonstrated the chef’s creativity and technique, and we gobbled up near every piece.

Pulling house brined pickle spears from his soup, Kevin was near speechless. Gingerly balancing one between his chopsticks he passed one across the table and offered it to me. “Isn’t that amazing.” He asked, grinning. And it was. His mul naeng myun was hands down the best I’ve had, anywhere.

My ddokmandu guk, was a little bland, as is the nature of the soup (seeing how chili, deonjang, or any other fermented kick is absent from this recipe), but splitting into a dumpling, a host of finely diced fresh vegetables cascaded out. Aside from Gyro- an Insadong restaurant specializing in North Korean dumplings in Insadong, Seoul, I’ve never had dumplings that truly tasted of a handed down recipe.

I love Korean food for many reasons, but first and foremost are the assertive flavors, but Thursday night I was blown away at the subtle nuances this family used to woo me. It is absolutely the same is going to pick up your date and falling for her little sister; same family, just something different. I’m sure there were tons of restaurants in Seoul that could have had me at hello; I just appear to have missed them. Now I’m going steady with Sorabol.