Korea House

My co-worker is a bit of a foodie and also an avid enthusiast of Asian culture. At the very least, I wanted him to share some of his experiences at the local eateries, but he ended up naming a few good ones in the process. Ma Cherie had a surprise prepared for me in the evening somewhere in Ossington/College area and the weather was splendid, so we picked our bikes and went up Euclid to explore Korea Town.

APPEARANCE
clear like water, unassuming 
A myriad of small and seemingly family owned places are scattered around the few city blocks forming Korea Town. Our place was across the street from PAC Mart – a big supermarket with some interesting choices to explore one day. Korea House does look relatively upscale comparing to surrounding eateries. All seems to be in the right place: high quality food photos, clean logo and non-shabby outside trim. We might have walked in here on our own if in the area by chance.

NOSE
some mushroom smell
Its 18:30, the place is somewhat empty, but there is humming and tension in the air. Small staff is running around like in anticipation of a large client intake. Maybe they are just preparing for us… At any rate, we got a neat cabin in, what seemed to be, a stylized Korean village set up - exposed roof rafters, korean writing-saturated wallpapers (which ma cheri approved of) with promotions and photos glued here and there around us.

SWIRL
alcohol coming though, slowly releasing the smell
Few minutes in we had our water to calm down the thirst. We started to research the menu shortly. The offering was more pleasantly executed than in the absolute majority of smaller places we visited lately. The list was not overly long and supplied by pictures corresponding with dishes. Some entries could use a bit more description. Our waitress (and I suspect the owner) was brutally efficient. There was a picture of today’s special (Don Katsu) on the wall. Looked like meat and rice which we promptly asked for. In addition, we inquired about the seafood pancake (Hae Mul Pa Jeon), but settled with a vegetable option instead. The waitress vanished and we were left alone.
The food started arranging within minutes…It did not look like what we ordered and was served to an empty table nearby which we shared the cabin with. The plates with steaming goodness filled the space, but there were no one to eat it. We patiently waited for our meal for another 10 minutes toying with a petty crime idea. The kimchi on a neighboring was calling for attention. But we waited and soon enough our meal arrived. My co-worker did warn me that there will be free side-dishes to supplement the main course, but all our stuff arrived at once and these small dishes came last.

PALATE
light to drink, simple, but refreshing taste
Our vegetable pancake looked more like a large omelet loaded with pan fried bell peppers, onions and zucchinis. If we were not at a Korean place, I would have confused it with a traditional western omelet sans ham. Our waitress cut it with scissors into pizza slice sized pieces. It came with a soy-sauce based side. The beef with rice looked exactly like presented on the picture and was served with a barbeque sauce. The beef had a nice crispy coat of corn/bread. We had three small plates given as side dishes: kimchi, marinated zucchini and sprouts. I would highly recommend the fluffy, egg pancake (don’t even know why its called like that…definitely an omelet). The beef on the other hand…I wish the waitress/owner was not as busy and spent a bit of time recommending something more exiting. The dish was exactly what was expected. We did not end up finishing the abundant white rice which accompanied the meat. Side dishes were delicious! From what I understood, they just get refilled on the house if depleted, but we had a show to catch so there was no chance to test it.


FINISH
tingling and biting notes on the tongue
A lovely place in the middle of Korea Town! We did not try their traditional alcoholic beverage unfortunately and had no time to experiment with dishes further. It is authentic enough to have a taste of Korean culture, but not overly intense nor expensive to push foreigners away.

Overall, a commercial Soju widely accessible and quite decent.

Czehoski

http://www.czehoski.com/

Oh it was one of those days, where the smell of summer takes over the city - fresh, warm and sunny. Needless to say what happens with the patios. Cheri and I took a stroll along lively Queen Street after work.

APPEARANCE 

trendy label with a sense of age, rose-orange hue
From the outside, the clean bold Czehoski typeface on the aged sign with paint deteriorating from it, is a memorable juxtaposition. The wooden-glass front spoke of another decade.

SWIRL

light tears, with typical aroma of strawberriesWe walked into a narrow lot, wooden booths on one side, bar on the other. Overall cool and dark, but with trendy lights and open pipes on the ceiling. I was not to anxious to spend our evening here. The waiter took us up a steep fight of stairs leading to a bright loft-like room. Tall ceilings, white walls, photo-realistic vibrant paintings, a random canoe and some greens. That's a totally different feel. Another wooden set of stairs led to some small open concept space, which I was curious to find out is a private dining area.

NOSE 

more define aroma of raspberry and red currants, perhaps some sweet jelly beans tooWe were told their patio is currently full, so we decided to start out inside and move out as space opens up. We sat on their wooden tables, next to a mom and a son having a meal. We took a quick glance at their small dark drink menus, which turned out to have all the dishes too. We were both glad to see their chef's name mentioned at the end - Nolan Witkowski.
Our casual waiter with his thick-frames glasses and trendy hat, in jeans and yet a formal vest was ready to tell us how cool and hip everything is (in case we didn't feel it yet). Inquiring about their Babcia's Pierogies, he simply had to say that they are his "all time favorite". This was probably the last time I asked for his advise. We were happy to hear Wednesday evenings was their half-off bottles of wine night. We just had to take advantage of that. Before we had the time to decide on anything, we followed our waiter's wobbly walk through a narrow corridor leading to their outside patio. Yes, they got me - very hip indeed. It wasn't just the joyful crowd of people, but the mix and match of different art and materials, which managed to come together into one sweet spot to hang out in. It was made up of aged wood under our feet and used as benches, blackboad-chalk art in front of us, a steep roof side radiating heat behind us, followed by a stone-arranged wall. The uniform, black patio furniture was just perfect to keep the area stylish and not over-the-top.

PALATE 

semi-dry, light fizz tickling the palate, hint of licorice coming through
Our eyes finally reached their wine cart. We didn't fret too much in picking their Californian Cab Sauv (Beringer '11). It was a great choice - fruit forward, lightly oaked, just the right temperature. Our Popcorn appetizer arrived right on time. We received a large bowl of popcorn with dried bunches of thyme sticking out, some rosemary, grated parmesan, soft grilled garlic cloves and yes, that nutty brown butter feel. Cheri didn't realize he was eating thyme, a spice he thought he dislikes, but loved every bit of this dish. We ended up talking about what a genius appetizer popcorn makes (cheap and easy to make), too bad it is not often a choice.. so much possibility.
Next our Queen West Garden Burger and Babcia's Pierogies made their way. I have never had pierogies surved at the right temperature. They always end up burning me.. the usual had to be repeated. I got a bit upset and ended up cutting all of them in half to cool down to a temperature when their flavor can speak up (it took a few other attempts before that happened). They were hand rolled and stuffed with sweet potato. To my surprise, didn't feel the described smoked gouda nor roasted garlic. There was little braised red cabbage under them and a unique creme fraiche on the side, with hints of orange zest.
The Queen West Garden Burger had a black beans patty with hints of cumin and havarti melted on top. We asked for a side of salad - zesty with plenty of muster seed, even though vegetarian, it was a hearty dish.

FINISH

the added sugar leaves the palate with a thirsty, refreshing aftertaste
Overall the casual, relaxed ambiance really made us appreciate this Queen West groove, and of course the unique meals served by quite the character had a big role to play. We can't wait to bring a couple of friends there soon.

Overall, one of those trendy Rosé blends people get hooked on in early summer.