Red Holic, Casual Korean Cafe on Little River Turnpike and John Marr Drive in Annandale

[thistle]

I sent the kids off today w/ the groupon for Red Holic, which was for fried chicken, dumplings, & sodas. Lizzy went w/ her brother to his lax game, after I promised food (since she doesn't eat meat, I thought she could get some kimbap or tempura). Tom said the chicken & dumplings were good, Lizzy said she got noodles, veggie dumplings, & 'something that looked like gnocchi' in a red, spicy sauce- she wasn't impressed, but I think I primed her for shrimp tempura, which wasn't available. I'll try & use the Joong Mi groupon myself soon....

[TheMatt]

'something that looked like gnocchi' in a red, spicy sauce- she wasn't impressed

Ahh...good 'ol tteokbokki. I try it every now and then and I just can't get into it. Maybe I've never had an "authentic" version, but from descriptions I've read, I think I have.

[DonRocks]

Ahh...good 'ol tteokbokki. I try it every now and then and I just can't get into it. Maybe I've never had an "authentic" version, but from descriptions I've read, I think I have.

Is this some type of kinky Japanese porn?

[cheezepowder]

I sent the kids off today w/ the groupon for Red Holic, which was for fried chicken, dumplings, & sodas. Lizzy went w/ her brother to his lax game, after I promised food (since she doesn't eat meat, I thought she could get some kimbap or tempura). Tom said the chicken & dumplings were good, Lizzy said she got noodles, veggie dumplings, & 'something that looked like gnocchi' in a red, spicy sauce- she wasn't impressed, but I think I primed her for shrimp tempura, which wasn't available. I'll try & use the Joong Mi groupon myself soon....

Tell us more about Red Holic. I havent heard of it. I gather they have Korean food - chicken, dumplings, noodles. What else do they have? Other entrees?

[thistle]

Well, I didn't go w/ them, but Lizzy said that I would like it (w/ my one friend who loves any Asian food). Here's a link for the menu.

The boys liked the fried chicken & dumplings, & yes, that was toppoki (sic)-it was very red & spicy, & I think, an acquired taste (I shudder to think of what seafood Alfredo toppoki could taste like). Lizzy said she asked if they could do shrimp tempura, but they said no. It looks like they also have ramen & kimbap, & no alcohol license yet.

[cheezepowder]

Thanks for the info and link to the menu. Looks interesting. I'm putting it on my list of places to try (yeah, the seafood alfredo toppoki isn't one of the top items I want to try. Nor the kimbab with American cheese or ramen with cheese . But i'm interested in some of the items under Meals and the other kimbabs and toppokis.)

[DonRocks]

Here's a link for the menu.

This is one of the more bizarre menus I've ever seen. It would help me if I knew what the word "Holic" meant. Anyone?

I hope there's a good cook here - that's what it will all boil down to. If there is, it could be interesting; if there isn't; it could be disastrous.

They provide "finger gloves" (little pieces of finger-molded plastic wrap) to eat your chicken with.

If you go to their Facebook page, this place looks really, seriously, Korean. Almost like it's designed with kids in mind, but I'm not quite sure. The Intrepid Traveler in me is very curious to pay Red Holic a visit. I just can't quite get a grasp on what topokki (or tteokbokki, or however you want to spell it) is, despite the Wikipedia entry for it TheMatt cited above. This is like a Twilight Zone episode - maybe I should have some coffee; nah, I'm going back to sleep.

[Escoffier]

Topoki started with rich households substituting dduk (rice cake cylinders) for noodles in japchae. The rice cakes were cut lengthwise twice to make long and thin pieces of rice cake. These were then stir fried in vegetable oil with scallions, carrots, julienned beef, shiitake mushrooms. Sesame oil and soy sauce were added and it was served. Because the poor could afford the dduk but not all of the other ingredients, one variation was with only vegetables. A second version (which is the one Red Holic is serving) was made with gochu (red pepper paste), scallions, carrots, onion, shiitake mushrooms. Essentially japchae with the dduk substituting for noodles.

[Escoffier]

Okay, here's an open invitation. Red Holic opens today at 11:00am. We're going to go there at 11:00. If you want to join us (and you don't know who we are), look for a mee-guk and a han-guk (oh, that's not an unusual combination). We'll tell whoever is at the front (if nobody is greeting, we'll let our server know) that if someone asks for the "don rockwell group) to lead you to us. Not only can you sample the food, you'll also find out how and why it came to be, what the Seoul version really tastes like (if different) and lots of Korean food tips. Matt, can we expect you there?

[cheezepowder]

I'll join you and grover. (Don, feel free to delete this post later)

---

Sure. I also just tweeted Escoffier's post to alert people, so hopefully more will show up also. Matt and I are hunkered down with colds, or we'd both join you also.

Edited January 13, 2013 by DonRocks

[KMango]

Okay, here's an open invitation. Red Holic opens today at 11:00am. We're going to go there at 11:00. If you want to join us (and you don't know who we are), look for a mee-guk and a han-guk (oh, that's not an unusual combination). We'll tell whoever is at the front (if nobody is greeting, we'll let our server know) that if someone asks for the "don rockwell group) to lead you to us. Not only can you sample the food, you'll also find out how and why it came to be, what the Seoul version really tastes like (if different) and lots of Korean food tips. Matt, can we expect you there?

I love, love, love* spontaneous invites like this!

Alas, we're headed to College Park for a swim meet today, or we'd be there with bells on the end of our chopsticks. Looking forward to trying Red Holic, and seeing you both, another time.

(*asterisk denotes)

(pre-coffee)

(vocab fail)

[thistle]

I wish I could join you guys, too, but we have more games today. Tom liked the dumplings the best, but said the chicken & kimbap was good, & Lizzy said she liked the toppoki, but the sauce was too spicy, she would have liked it plain, w/ soy sauce (she's a strange child).

[Escoffier]

I wish I could join you guys, too, but we have more games today. Tom liked the dumplings the best, but said the chicken & kimbap was good, & Lizzy said she liked the toppoki, but the sauce was too spicy, she would have liked it plain, w/ soy sauce (she's a strange child).

We got the spicy version, but there is a non-spicy version. I'm not sure what the name is in English but you might have her ask for Royal Toppoki (that's the non-spicy version that royalty used to get and that is with soy sauce).

[cheezepowder]

I had a very nice lunch with Escoffier and Grover and enjoyed finally meeting them. (As I mentioned to them, they also motivated me to get up and go to Red Holic today.) We had:

Fried chicken - there are three kinds on the menu. The difference seems to be whether the chicken comes in sauce and if so, what kind. Ours was fried chicken that wasn't coated in sauce but came with a sweet and sour dipping sauce on the side. I thought the fried chicken was good - hot, crispy (but don't expect the preparation to be much different from regular American fried chicken.) On the side were white radish cubes, yellow radish slices, and cole slaw type salad. (I'm assuming these came with the chicken, but I'm not sure.) Yes, we got the plastic wrap finger gloves!

D.I.Y. Toppoki (or tteokbokki, as I'm more used to seeing it spelled) - comes with rice cakes, ramen, dumplings, fish cakes, cabbage, enoki mushrooms, and a hard boiled egg in a spicy sauce. The dish came with a portable burner (the do it yourself aspect). The sauce gets thicker (and better) as it cooks down. I thought the sauce was spicy but not that spicy and could have been spicier (but I'm a spicy-lover). The rice cakes were nicely chewy, not undercooked.

Toppoki rice - not sure why they called it Toppoki rice. It's spicy sauteed pork with onions in one half of the bowl and rice in the other half. The pork was soft, and the sauce was spicy sweet. I liked it.

Besides the radishes mentioned above, no other banchan or kimchi.

Escoffier cracked the mystery of what "Holic" means. Hint: the walls are painted red and there's red all over the place. So....Red Holic.

[DonRocks]

Escoffier cracked the mystery of what "Holic" means. Hint: the walls are painted red and there's red all over the place. So....Red Holic.

No way.

[Escoffier]

No way.

Didn't see any alcohol so it couldn't be Alco Holic .

[hoosiereph]

By coincidence, we also tried Red Holic this weekend, with a takeout order.

I can count on one hand the number of Annandale Korean restaurants to which I would not return because the food sucked. Red Holic is one. I've had fried chicken in Korea that was worse. I've had a lot of fried chicken in the United States that was worse. I have never had worse Korean fried chicken in the United States -- not in Los Angeles, not in Atlanta, and not in DC. Red Holic's chicken is vastly inferior to Cheogajip, all of the Bon Chon locations I've been to, and even to the Korean preparation at Ultimate Chicken Bistro.

We tried both the "regular" Holic chicken that cheezepowder describes above and the "spicy and sour" Holic chicken that appears to be their "specialty." The former, as cheezepowder describes, has little to distinguish it from American fried chicken. The oil used was not being refreshed often enough -- good Korean chicken places will, I think, use a fresh batch of oil every time, which is why it takes so long (the speed with which our chicken was ready should have been a warning). Nor was it moist all the way through. The only thing "Korean" about it was the cut of the chicken - the whole chicken is used, cut into square piecs Korean style.

The spicy and sour Holic chicken was neither. Coated in sauce, it resembled nothing so much as an order of General Tso's chicken from a decent, but not great, American-style Chinese restaurant. On the plus side, it was very moist.

Also tried the steamed dumplings and the regular kimbap. Both were bland and unmemorable, as were the sides of pickled radish (seriously, how can you have flavorless pickled radish?) and Korean cole slaw. The dumplings were packed for takeout atop paper doilies, which stuck to the bottom of the dumplings and had to be scraped off. Ugh.

The space is nice, clean, bright -- very much like a quick service place in Myeongdong. This is food aimed at Korean teenagers whose background is eating fast food, not food for the discerning palate.

[Escoffier]

The space is nice, clean, bright -- very much like a quick service place in Myeongdong. This is food aimed at Korean teenagers whose background is eating fast food, not food for the discerning palate.

Having a bad day, were we? . I'll ask Grover (my Han-guk food critic) if she agrees that maybe it was just a bad day for you. The chicken we had, while very similar to American fried chicken, was quite nice and juicy (breast pieces, well, they're breast pieces, you just never know about them). Anyway, we didn't order the spicy and sour so I can't comment on that. I don't think it was inferior to the places you named, however, it was different. I'm looking forward to the left-over chicken from yesterday.

Incidentally, teen-agers in Myeongdong go to McDonalds and Burger King, or eat ddukbokki from the street vendors.

[hoosiereph]

Incidentally, teen-agers in Myeongdong go to McDonalds and Burger King, or eat ddukbokki from the street vendors.

The decor reminded me of one of the chains that specializes in turning Spam into something delicious. I always see plenty of teenagers (or maybe they're college students?) in there. And anyway, doesn't offering numerous ddukbokki options on the menu suggest that teenagers are the target market?

Because y'all went right when they opened at 11, you may have had a fresh batch of oil, which we did not. That would make some difference. It was definitely a bad day -- we spent it craving a good Korean fried chicken, and Red Holic failed us.

By the way, what did you guys think of the "private room" with the big windows and single big rectangular table? We were picturing it as a great room for a boisterous group to enjoy beer and chicken or soondae -- if they ever get their beer license.

[thistle]

Well, it was my teenage kids who went (probably because I gave them the coupon), while they enjoyed it (2 teenage boys after a game, & a picky 13 yr. old), they also said it wasn't worth a special trip across town. They got the spicy & sour chicken, liked the fact it was a whole chicken, & enjoyed the leftovers. They got fried dumplings, said the kimbap was generous, & my youngest appreciated the aesthetics of the place (thought it was cute & noted the free coffee machine was out of order & the waitress was nice, but inept, she kept dropping things on people). They also said the place was full (3pm on Sat.), mostly Korean patrons, & almost everyone had the groupon....

[thistle]

I finally tried this place myself today (yeah, got another groupon) & I thought it was fine for lunch. I wouldn't rush back, only because I am that one person who doesn't really like fried chicken. I thought what we had was good (plain & soy sauce), hot, crispy, not greasy, but I'm just not into fried chicken. Dumplings were ok (greasy), miso soup & salad were fine, bulgogi kimbap was my favorite item, & our server was great-kept our hot tea & water filled. It's a small place, but it filled up over lunchtime.