A day and night in Koreatown: Jonathan Gold, BBQ & Soju.

Just in time for the Jersey Shore of Koreatown (yeah, I'm not good enough to just make this stuff up--the SituASIAN has officially been born), my friend and I took to the streets of my neighborhood this past Saturday looking to see what actually happens in K-Town on a weekend. And from day to night...for better and for worse...we found out.

A stop at McDonald's for a soda and a 'snack wrap' for my buddy, led to the realization that not all Mickey D's are created equally. In Koreatown, for instance, the franchise decorates with what can only be described as a hybrid between tiki tacky and religious offering.

At the Koreatown BBQ Cookoff, where esteemed judges Jonathan Gold, Chef Ludo (famous now for his Ludobites), and Sandra Oh (who is qualified to judge a Korean cookoff only for being Korean so far as I can tell) were on hand, I let my friend handle the meat sampling while I checked out the crucial vegatarian fare (soju, desserts and more soju)...

In a quest not to leave a 1.5 mile radius of my apartment, the evening took us to R Bar (home of my upcoming birthday party) and HMS Bounty (home of the previous year's birthday party).

Lessons learned in Koreatown:

1. Dessert is the only Korean food I care to partake in. I knew this...but I enjoyed confirming it with ice cream and Choco Pie.

2. Korean men will hit on me. This is both confusing and ego-boosting. I will not question it...for now.

3. I like to stay close to home on my birthday.