Koreatown: Late Night KBBQ at Yang San Bak

I’ve wondered about Yang San Bak for a while now. It’s in the same shopping center as Mapo and across the street from the Normandie Club and Cassell’s Hamburgers. I had heard it’s good Korean BBQ but without any English signage out front, I couldn’t look it up. Recently a friend took us in for a late night gorge fest.

We had what he termed the medium platter and worked out to be around $30/person (there were 6 of us). We had the usual to drink – soju but also makgeolli, a Korean rice wine and Korean raspberry wine at the end.

 

We came in about 1:30 a.m. and got to grilling right away. Normally I don’t eat so heavily that late at night (a taco or three will do me) but I hadn’t eaten dinner and this seemed like a good idea.

 

The various banchan (side dishes) were all very lovely. The steamed egg is always my favorite but also the greens were nicely bitter and helped cut the richness of the meats. Then I realized we were missing kimchi and a huge plate of it landed in front of us when we asked for it. The rice paper kept coming and I loved wrapping all the bits of meat up with those noodles.

 

We were up to our eyeballs in meat but nothing beats the simplicity of brisket, pork belly and steak. With a couple of swipes through our rich sesame-oil laden condiment dishes, we were good to go. And don’t forget to grill up whole cloves of garlic.

Yang San Bak was a great choice to go for a late night meal. Perhaps after a round of dancing at Break Room 86 next time!

Yang San Bak

3601 W 6th St., Los Angeles, CA 90020  —  (213) 365-9689

 

© The Minty  2015