Meokja Meokja - Korean BBQ in Downtown Fairfax, at the Intersection of Route 50 and Route 29

[deangold]

9619 Fairfax Blvd
Fairfax, VA 22030
Phone number (571) 459-2875

I saw Tyler Cowen's post regarding Meokja Meokja where he said that it is the best Korean BBQ by on order of magnitude. And while y meal there was very pleasant and I am probably going back, I just want some of what TC was smoking when he made his hyperbolic pronouncement.

The Good

Their service is simply as good as at any Korean BBQ.  I was there by myself and anted to take some lefto overs home to Kay who was stuck working.  The server got a to go box and measured out half of each of 4 meats and put them in the box as soon as they were just cooked right so Kay's protions wouldn't be dry.  Then, she packed fresh rice, kimchee and their wonderful slivered green onions in a spicy sauce and packed it up in a huge stack of food. Kay got a lunch and dinner out of it.  

The Galbi and Samgypsal {thick layered porkbelly} were both good.  They were properly cooked on the cast iron grill and had a nice bit of char.  A lot of tables had their grills switched out ofor the galbi to a wire net style, mine was not but I was their last table.  

The Kim Chee was both very sour and crunchy. I loved it but Kay was less impressed, calling it very good but not the best she has ever had.

Cheesy Corn was 80% cheese and 20% corn and very bubbly when it came out meaning that the last few bites were burnt to the cast iron skillet. The best version of cheesy corn I have had in the DC area.

The Bad

The steamed egg was heavy, flavorless and dull. For the first time ever, I left over half the steamed egg. Really disappointing and since steamed egg is a regular part of a BBQ meal, a real miss.  Here is where the order of magnitude sobriquet starts to fall apart.

The soy mean & tofu soup was watery, bland and not worth more than one sip.

The banchan consisted of potato salad, Kimchee, shredded onions, salad.  They had bean aste bu no samjong sauce.  There was salted sesame oil but the sesame oil itself not very good.  They also offered a ponzu style sauce with onion that was very good. WHile noting wrong, this simply is not a spread on the order of magnitude of Oedgadjib or SO KBBQ.  It wasn't even up to the quality standards of Nak Won.  

The bulgogi was tasty but shreded into tiny bits so the texture was mushy. In fact, this was better as cold left overs than hot, as the softness of the shredded beef was not as niticible.  OK at best.

Thin sliced brisket is usually the highlight of any KBBQ meal and theirs disappointed on several levers. FIrst it was bland as can be. Second it wasn't fatty enough to be succulent. Third, the meat didnt really brown so it has high water content which might account for #1.

The Ugly

Mul Naeng Myun is cold buckwheat noodles in tangy iced beef broth served with a shockingly hot wasabi mustart and white vinegar topped with cucumber, Asian pear and a few slices of thinly sliced long simmered brisket. DOne right, it is the perfect foil for the richness of the meats. When you see a table of Korean folk at a KBBQ they almost always have a bowl.  The bowl at Meokja Meokja was the opposite of all that. The broth should be spiked with fermented radish juice almost toe  the point of sourness but this was the blandest broth I have ever had.  The mustard sauce was flavor- and heatless. Even the vinegar was bland. But the worst offence was the noodles themselves.  They had been cooked and allowed to sit to the point where they were a gloppy mass of boredom.

The Upshot

My first choice for KBBQ remains So in Centerville and Tyler needs to go there to see what really great Korean BBQ is.  Next up is the newly revamped back into BBQ Anangol.  Then comes Breakers, and Nak Won.  I have only has the AYCE at breakers so it might rate higher if I try the ala carte.  But the AYCE brisket and bulgogi at breakers and the bulgogi at Nak Won are a world ahead of Meokja Meokja.  And if you just want albi, both ToSokChon and Oedgadjib are better choices, but they serve LA Galbi.  

I don't want to make it sound like MMeokja is a miss.  It is fun, the service great and it is far more intimate and "hip" than So.  I'd go back. But I would order ala carte instead of the #2 combo, or I might try the prome combo which features a 12 oz rib eye steak that looked good. Their draft makkoli brand is not the usual and it was quite good.  But Tyler Cowen is crazy to say this is the best, its not.  Its good and fun. 

[DonRocks]

54 minutes ago, deangold said:

9619 Fairfax Blvd
Fairfax, VA 22030
Phone number (571) 459-2875

I saw Tyler Cowen's post regarding Meokja Meokja where he said that it is the best Korean BBQ by on order of magnitude. And while y meal there was very pleasant and I am probably going back, I just want some of what TC was smoking when he made his hyperbolic pronouncement.

Dean, great review - I'm still looking for a local Korean BBQ that has a wood or charcoal grill (instead of gas) - you mentioned cast iron, but do you remember the heat source underneath?

An "order of magnitude" literally means "ten-times greater," and I don't see how any Korean BBQ restaurant could be ten-times better than the second-best, at least not around here.

[deangold]

Gas or radiant.  I have heard of a charcoal KBBQ but don't remember of where. 

There are Chinese and Korean bbq's in Flushing with charcoal and I am taking a 4 day weekend in October to explore.  Something I have not done in at least 10 years. 4 day weekend that is, not Flushing.

[DonRocks]

4 hours ago, deangold said:

Gas or radiant.  I have heard of a charcoal KBBQ but don't remember of where. 

Chung Dai Kam was, but it is no longer.