Jump to content

Annandale Seafood - 7123 Columbia Pike in Koreatown in Annandale - Closed


Recommended Posts

At the request of DonRocks, I am starting this thread about my experience at Annandale Seafood. (I adapted this from a review I wrote about a year ago after visiting)

After watching Anthony Bourdain's episode on the outer bouroughs of New York about a year ago, I was intrigued by the Korean seafood joint he went to. I wanted to find something similar in the DC area. I did extensive research and found good reviews for a place called Ga Bo Ja (there is a short thread here on this place).

I convinced my wife and parents to head out for a try. When the GPS got us to the non-descript strip center, Ga Ba Ja was literally enpty with the staff sitting around, but another place in the strip center was pretty full. We went with the full place. This place has a sign out front that is in Korean and says Annandale Seafood. I read somewhere that the Korean translates to "Eel City Flounder District". The menu was a mix of english and Korean with a few platters which were only in Korean. The waitress through broken English steered us towards the $99 sashimi platter.

Before the platter came out, we were served a bunch of banchan including, a steamed egg dish, some king mushroom, mussels, rice with row, grilled shrimp, a whole grilled mackerel, and what I think was a whole tilapia (this is only a partial list!). Once we were finished with the banchan, the main star of the night came out--the gigantic sashimi platter. The platter that came out had tuna, salmon, escolar (the one disappointment, was frozen) some other fish, surf clams, what was a whole flounder that minutes before was swimming in a tank, and what I think was raw eel that was also minutes before swimming in a tank. All of the fish (with the exception of the escloar, because it was not fully defrosted) was very tasty. The four of us could not finish it all. Once we were done, they proceeded to bring out a huge bubbling cauldron of fish bone stew (bones from the flounder) and more banchan (kimchi and some soy bean sprouts).

Annandale Seafood Menu.pdf

Link to comment
Share on other sites

mussels, rice with row, grilled shrimp, a whole grilled mackerel, and what I think was a whole tilapia (this is only a partial list!). Once we were done, they proceeded to bring out a huge bubbling cauldron of fish bone stew (bones from the flounder) and more banchan (kimchi and some soy bean sprouts).

(You probably meant "ROE" :D). The whole tilapia, the rice and roe, mussels, grilled shrimp, and grilled mackeral isn't panchan, it's part of the platter. The panchan was the steamed egg and the mushrooms (even though I can't recall ever having mushrooms as panchan). They steered you towards the sushi for two reasons. The first reason is that you're a mee-guk and they didn't feel you would be comfortable eating unfamiliar han-guk food and the second is that sushi is a low cost, high profit thing to serve. Eel is never raw, it's always cooked.

Glad you enjoyed the food. The one question you should always ask is what region the people who own the restaurant are from. For seafood, Busan is the place to be. The biggest (and best) seafood in Korea and a block long building on the waterfront that contains nothing but sushi restaurants. (Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo is probably the best place in the world for sushi but almost any fish restaurant in Busan is a very close second)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

(You probably meant "ROE" :D). The whole tilapia, the rice and roe, mussels, grilled shrimp, and grilled mackeral isn't panchan, it's part of the platter. The panchan was the steamed egg and the mushrooms (even though I can't recall ever having mushrooms as panchan). They steered you towards the sushi for two reasons. The first reason is that you're a mee-guk and they didn't feel you would be comfortable eating unfamiliar han-guk food and the second is that sushi is a low cost, high profit thing to serve. Eel is never raw, it's always cooked.

Glad you enjoyed the food. The one question you should always ask is what region the people who own the restaurant are from. For seafood, Busan is the place to be. The biggest (and best) seafood in Korea and a block long building on the waterfront that contains nothing but sushi restaurants. (Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo is probably the best place in the world for sushi but almost any fish restaurant in Busan is a very close second)

Thanks for the info!

It was a sashimi platter, not a sushi platter. More food than we could finish! Now I need to figure out what that last fish on the platter if it wasn't eel.

In your opinion what is the best place like this in the area?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for the info!

It was a sashimi platter, not a sushi platter. More food than we could finish! Now I need to figure out what that last fish on the platter if it wasn't eel.

In your opinion what is the best place like this in the area?

While not a fish restaurant, for really good sushi/sashimi, try Tanpopo in the same little shopping center where A&J is located. While Tanpopo (which is Korean) is a ramen restaurant, the chef is a Japanese sushi chef and the fish he uses is always fresh and high quality. For the best Korean fried fish, try To Sok Jip (across the street from Honey Pig). This is a small restaurant that serves true Korean homestyle food. For pure fish, Annandale Seafood is about as good as you're going to get. Ga Bo Ja is (even minus the crowds) about on par. Korean restaurants (like their American counterparts) specialize in one or two types of dishes or styles of food. We haven't been to Ga Bo Ja for some time, perhaps it's time for another excursion to Annandale for fish (even though I have to admit I've been spoiled by the seafood in Busan)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

While not a fish restaurant, for really good sushi/sashimi, try Tanpopo in the same little shopping center where A&J is located. While Tanpopo (which is Korean) is a ramen restaurant, the chef is a Japanese sushi chef and the fish he uses is always fresh and high quality. For the best Korean fried fish, try To Sok Jip (across the street from Honey Pig). This is a small restaurant that serves true Korean homestyle food. For pure fish, Annandale Seafood is about as good as you're going to get. Ga Bo Ja is (even minus the crowds) about on par. Korean restaurants (like their American counterparts) specialize in one or two types of dishes or styles of food. We haven't been to Ga Bo Ja for some time, perhaps it's time for another excursion to Annandale for fish (even though I have to admit I've been spoiled by the seafood in Busan)

Thanks for the reply. Have you ever been to Bethany Seafood in Ellicott City? I wonder how Annandale rates in comparison.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for the reply. Have you ever been to Bethany Seafood in Ellicott City? I wonder how Annandale rates in comparison.

We rarely go beyond Annandale and Fairfax (Super H). Most of the time MDW (my darling wife) cooks and it's hard to beat home cooked Korean food (you can ask Don about the Annandale excursions we've subjected him to).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...