Dolsot Bi Bim Bap, please!

On a sunny Saturday afternoon, we made our way to lunch visiting Fujiyama, what was formerly known as the Korean Village, located in Toledo, Ohio on North Reynolds. (1208 N Reynolds Rd
Toledo, OH 43615, (419) 537-0700) Fujiyama is a sushi restaurant serving very clean-tasting, yummy sushi along with a good array of traditional fare from the kitchen.

Basking in the sun in our table by the window, (you should know I am wearing my sunglasses inside just so we can take it in—I look ridiculous, but I don’t care), we wait as our personable waitress makes her way to our table to ask us one more time if we’re okay. We are more than okay. We have just devoured an appetizer of asparagus beef roll in teriyaki sauce and lots of sushi in our mouths.

Wait for it . . . here she comes again, and this time she is not empty handed. She brings with her a sizzling hot pot that turns heads. The arrival of my pot creates a clamor of murmuring at the table next to us. “What is that?” Another waitress answers, “That is the Bi Bim Bap Hot Pot.”

Dolsot bi bim bap is comfort food straight from mom’s kitchen; well, that is . . . straight from the kitchen if your mom happens to be Korean. But, you get my point . . . this is the Korean equivalent of mashed potatoes or even chicken soup in lots of ways. This dish is also considered a fast food staple in Korea, i.e. Seoul Food. Get it! Geography? Never mind.

Anyway, it is generally prepared with beef (though chicken and seafood can and often added into the mix) and a medley of vegetables, e.g. cucumber, zucchini, daikon, bean sprouts, spinach—sometimes lettuce. Traditionally bi bim bap also includes all these things, plus tofu and tasty roots called doraji and gosari. It all arrives at your table with a fried, sunny side up egg on top of the veggies and beef in a hot pot, cast iron or stone, that has been heated. The pot does not begin to cool until you have put the last bit in your mouth as your nose runs from the heat.

How to eat it? Bi Bim Bap means to stir with rice which is provided along with a traditional hot, sweet pepper sauce (that I am ashamed to say reminds me of ketchup), gochujang. The first time I tried the hot pot I had my own coach who instructed me to, “Stir, Stir, Stir . . . add rice and sauce. . . STIR, STIR, STIR . . . You aren’t stirring fast enough. . . . Stir . . . Aren’t you going to put all your rice in?” It was a little traumatic; I joke. Anyway, the stirring is essential. As I mentioned, there is a bright yellow, sunny side-up egg on top of the bi bim bap; the stirring breaks the yoke and cooks it as you stir, stir, and stir. The flavors are incredible. Vinegar, sweet, tomato, and sesame oil from the sauce. The texture is so good . . .fluffy rice, crumbly ground beef, and crispy vegetables that have sizzled to crispy perfection while you have stirred, stirred, and stirred, which by the way is essential . . . as the name of the dish implies, i.e. to mix. Really good stuff.

For the home cook please visit, http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2003/Jan/15/il/il12ataste.html to make the recipe found on that page. You won’t need any special equipment, but if you want to do it up right and get a stone pot, the can be found own line at http://www.kgrocer.com/

Otherwise, you can adventure to Seoul Garden, in Ann Arbor, MI., http://www.aaseoulgarden.com/ , or the Fujiyama in Columbus, Ohio (Fujiyama 5755 Cleveland Columbus, 614-891-2224 )

I also plan to update this blog in a few weeks after hopefully visiting Ko’s Korean Restaurant ( 1020 Sylvania Ave., Toledo, Ohio (419) 474-7616), and after giving the hot pot a try at the farm house.

This entry is dedicated to Sharon. Sorry, I doubted you during those summer months as your eyes watered, and I looked beseechingly at you and then out the window at the summer heat. You wisdom is infinite. See you at the next Feminist Fujiyama Friday!