Jo's Miscellany

After a year in Germany and spending much of that year going to a Korean church with walterka I got completely hooked on Korean food. The ladies in that church made lunch for everyone (a small congregation, but still) every week. Worship together, eat together. Whoever was hosting our small group for Bible study each week had something to eat there too, usually quite a substantial dinner -- always a boon for poor college students.

So last Tuesday, my dear sweet husband called me, and spake thusly:

"Hey, I heard there's a new Korean restaurant here... Wanna go?"

And I thought thusly:

'Sweet goodness, he really REALLY loves me.'

I had been jonesing for some good Korean food for the better part of eighteen months. We had gone to a place in OP that was... okay. But no kim bab. At all. Not having my favorite thing means I won't bother to drive 30 minutes to go there. We went once, and never went back.

Now, this place opens up three blocks FROM MY HOUSE. No kidding.

So we went. And they had kim bab. And that was my dinner.

And I was in heaven.

It's a clean but slightly shabby place, that apparently used to be the best Italian restaurant in this town, 20 years ago. Then it was a place called "Campus Hideaway" or some such. Then it was an anarchist bookstore.

Now, it's my favorite place in the world.

The dishes look like a lower/middle-class grandmas: in good condition, but obviously not new and obviously not expensive, and the patterns don't all match. There are the obligatory red checkered tablecloths, and the cooks and wait staff all wear cute little old-fashioned aprons over whatever else. It has its charming oddities, and some rather basically presented niceties (cold water is on the drinks table in an old perculator coffee pot, and, incidentally, does not taste like coffee in the least).

It is also extremely affordable. I can get my favorite food in the world for under $5, and they bring you complimentary kimchi, as much as you can eat.

(Note: My husband and I got a cereal-bowl with about a 1/4 cup of kimchi in it with our meals. When I polished that off in about 60 seconds, alone, the nice young lady brought out a refilled bowl, this time with about 4 times as much kimchi in it.)

We're going there again tonight. I have committed myself to going at least one a week. This is a restaurant I want to succeed, for a long, long time.

Oh, and for you locals? It's the Campus Hideaway Roll Cafe.