When I asked a Korean chef about why contemporary ideas have taken so long to filter into Korean cuisine, he had a ready answer. “Most Koreans believe their food is already perfect,” he explained as though that was the most obvious thing in the world. “We grow up believing that it is the best and healthiest, so why change it?”
Korean cuisine has become hugely popular in hybridized form, with bulgogi packed into burritos and kimchi in mainstream restaurants, but the Korean barbecue restaurant experience has remained generally unchanged. That chef had a point – how could you improve an experience as enjoyable as a wide array of salads served with your choice of marinated meats and seafood, cooked just as you like them on at grill at your table?
A new restaurant in Torrance has been making waves beyond the community of people who usually seek out Korean food. Gen has dressed up this cuisine with contemporary ideas, and even indulged in the heresy of adding items like Cajun chicken and teriyaki beef to the traditional proteins.
When you walk into the Torrance branch, it’s like teleporting to Las Vegas. The lounge-style lighting, vast space, and sleek, abstract forms are all there – it would just take a few slot machines in a corner to complete the mood. The gas grills at every horizontal surface proves that you are in the right place, and you are shown to either a table or a long counter with spaces two people can share. A hint – the counter often has space when there’s an hour wait for tables, so ask if there’s a line.
Almost as soon as you sit down, the banchan – little plates of salad and pickles -arrive. At traditional Korean restaurants there are as many as a dozen, but here there are six: potato salad, seaweed, radish, turnip, and nappa cabbage kimchi. Potato salad at Asian restaurants is often sweet and this pushed the envelope – if you have ever considered having potato salad for dessert, this is it. The seaweed salad was unusually good, natural flavors out in front with what tasted like a dash of sesame and spice. The sweet pickled turnip was the usual, and spicy radish and nappa cabbage kimchis were both on the mild side but still flavorful. I noticed that everything had a low garlic index; if you order thoughtfully here you can avoid the principal problem of Korean restaurants, which is offending anybody you talk to who didn’t join you.
The meats are all-you-can-eat, and served in heroic quantities – I asked for half-portions on both visits and still didn’t get to try as many things as I would have liked. There are nineteen different meats for the grill and nine cooked dishes at lunch, many more at dinner – try as you might, you won’t be sampling them all in one sitting.
I’ve ordered traditional items – marinated pork chop, chicken bulgogi, and beef short ribs – and also Cajun chicken, wine-marinated pork belly, and marinated pork cheeks. The traditional sauces all were on the delicate and sweet side compared to the robust traditional version. The pork chop was marinated in a sauce that contained a fair amount of fruit juice, an ingredient that is so delicious when it caramelizes on the grill, but not as much red or black pepper and onion.
While the Korean meats were all good but unspectacular, some of the innovative items were very interesting. Pork cheek is a flavorful meat, but needs to cook longer than you think – leave it fat side down on the grill for about twice as long as the meaty side for the best result. The Cajun chicken was an interesting departure, particularly when combined with the array of dipping sauces. At most Korean restaurants there are three: sesame oil with salt, spicy soybean paste usually called gochujang or ssamjang, and a soy-garlic. Here there are six, the aforementioned plus green tea salt, Sriracha, and Chinese hot pepper. If you can’t find a type of barbecue you like when given twenty choices and this array of sauces, maybe you just don’t like meat.
The best item I had didn’t need any additional flavorings – the wine-marinated pork belly was delicious, and the next time I grill at home I’m going to steal this idea. It may take a couple of tries because there was more in there than just wine, but I’m persistent.
I decided to accompany the meats with a bowl of japchae, a traditional noodle dish that was the only major disappointment. Bell pepper isn’t usually a major factor in this dish of noodles with vegetables, and I literally couldn’t taste anything else so I abandoned it after a few bites.
The service was cheerful and attentive but not always helpful to those who aren’t familiar with this cuisine. Rice sheets and thin slices of daikon were given out at each place, both for wrapping your meat as finger food, but no mention was made of how to use them. I noticed some people at a neighboring table who ate a few while looking puzzled, then moved them aside. Details like this matter when introducing a cuisine to a new audience, which obviously seems to be the intention here. That determination seems to extend to the music. Kpop may be a big thing outside these walls, but the stream of lively modern pop and rock, while pleasant, didn’t reinforce the mood.
Dessert is offered in the form of macaroon ice cream sandwiches, something I will try sometime when I’m not so sated with meat that I can’t imagine eating anything else. I have a feeling that may never happen, though, since there are so many meats to try that I’m likely to stay at the grill until I can eat no more. The price here is uncommonly reasonable, a mere $15 for lunch and $20 for dinner, so one can make many trips without doing serious damage to the budget. Purists may turn up their noses (and that seems to be mainly what purists do with their time), but those who want a very accessible experience of one of the world’s great cuisines will want to stop in.
Gen is at 24301 Crenshaw Boulevard, corner of Lomita. Open daily 11 am to 11 pm, parking lot, wheelchair access OK. Beer, wine, and soju cocktails served, few vegetarian options. Menu at genkoreanbbq.com, phone 424-328-0388.
