Restaurant Review: Atoboy

Details: Located at 43 East 28th St., New York, NY 10016. Official site is http://atoboynyc.com/#atoboynyc

Atoboy is a new restaurant that’s opened this year. It is part of a new wave of “New Korean” food. Similar to the “New Nordic,” the practical meaning of this phrase is Korean food, but elevated to the traditional standards of Western/French fine dining. Jungsik is the poster child of New Korean, being one of only a handful of two Michelin starred restaurants in New York City and the only one focusing on Korean food. It’s no wonder why everything I’ve ever read about Atoboy boasts about how the head chef is the former Chef de Cuisine of Jungsik.

There is only way one to order at this restaurant. For $36.00 (at the time that I went, not including tax and tip), you order three dishes, one dish from one of three sections. The menu is on their website so I won’t go into it, but the first two sections seem to be appetizers with the last section consisting of meat dishes. The idea seems to be of doing bon chan (Korean appetizers), but to make each appetizer into its own, full on dish.

I came with three friends so we decided to share and try to try as many dishes as we could. We ordered the eggplant (dungeness crab, tomato, and lemon), the tofu (soybean, king oyster mushroom, mustard), the cobia (Korean pear, Perilla, Sesame seed), the Littleneck clam (avocado, rice cracker, Gochugaru), the asparagus (spicy cod roe, shallot, egg yolk,), egg (sea urchin, watercress, quinoa), corn (taleggio, bacon, Doenjang), squid, (pork, shrimp, salsa verde), chicken (spicy peanut butter, garlic), pork jowl (barley, ssamjang, romaine), NY strip (arugula, poblano, wild sesame oil), and the brisket (fois gras, ginger garlic). We also had the seasonal rice (had seaweed mixed in) for an extra two dollars.

The eggplant, tofu, cobia, asparagus were forgettable and not really all that great. The Littleneck clam was great and came with the tasty green, foamy sauce.  The egg was actually a steamed egg with sea urchin mixed in, which was amazing. I’m a sucker for steamed egg. The corn was essentially a corn n’ cheese, like a mac n’ cheese with corn instead of macaroni. It was good. The squid was okay. They wrapped the squid around a pork filling. The chicken was a fried chicken, and it was fine. I’m glad we were sharing because I don’t know if I could’ve eaten a whole plate of that chicken. The pork jowl was good. The NY strip was extremely tender and I enjoyed it very much. The brisket was all right, but the foie gras sauce it was drenched in was kind of overwhelming. The seasonal rice was okay, but probably was about the same as the regular rice. Not going to think about it too much since it was just two dollars more.

Overall, I think it was a great meal, especially considering the price. If you want a taste of Jungsik without paying their prices, Atoboy is a nice introduction I think.

The interior was all right, lots of concrete. There is this trend among new restaurants to have very little indication that it is a restaurant on the outside while having an impressively large inside. I kind of like it. Makes you feel like you’re walking into something exclusive, for people in the know.

The service was very attentive, maybe too attentive. I think the staff was given explicit instructions to never let the water in your glass to be less than half full because they were constantly refilling our water. I guess that’s fine.

Score: 7/10 I’d definitely recommend it. There aren’t too many places for Korean food mixed with a little Western fine dining so if you want to get a taste of that, this place is definitely it. The price is also really impressive considering the quality of the food and helps keep the restaurant casual despite the head chef’s high end background.

Restaurant Review: Mapo Galmaegi

 

Located at 136-71 Roosevelt Ave., Flushing, NY 11354.

Mapo Galmaegi is a relatively new Korean barbecue place in the heart of Flushing. It’s surprising to see since the area is mostly Chinese, but I am very glad it opened and is a welcome addition to the area.

The interior is pretty classy and comfortable.

You can order a la carte or you can get all you can eat. I prefer the all you can eat option which will cost somewhere around forty dollars if you include tax and tip. Here, you can get your standard bulgogi and galbi varieties. They also have pork belly, brisket, and sirloin steak. The quality of the meat is really great in my opinion and definitely better than Picnic Garden. What is noteworthy is that you only get one sirloin steak if you choose to the all you can eat option. The other meat choices you can order as many times as you want.

Service is fantastic and closer to what you’d expect at a higher end, Korean barbecue place that’s not all you can eat. The waiters are very attentive and will direct you to when you are supposed to eat a piece of meat.

Additionally, I like the appetizers or bon chan they have here. They have your standard Korean appetizers, but they also do that egg moat thing. The egg moat thing is a mixture of egg and other ingredients (I think some kind of stock is mixed in as well) which is poured into a groove surrounding the circular grill. As you grill your meats, the juices from the meat will fall into the egg moat surrounding the grill, adding some more flavor. The result is a grilled (or steamed?) egg that captures the flavor of the marinated meats. It’s really good.

Score: 8.2 My new favorite Korean barbecue place. It is easily better than Picnic Garden. It’s a better environment and less hectic, plus it’s still all you can eat so you will never leave this place hungry or wanting more. Definitely recommend this place to anyone who likes Korean barbecue and wants all they can eat.