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Yett Gol, Georgia Ave. and Randolph Rd.


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Grover and I have a contest to see who can make more first posts on Korean restaurants.... Not!

I was looking at a Korean Restaurant Buletin Board the other day and it had a listing for a Korean restaurant in Wheaton

in the shopping center with the Staples at Randolph & Georgia. Described as totally authentic with noi English spoken. I was positive that the poster was smoking crack... having lived within a mile of same center and visited it hundreds of times, how could there be Korean restaurant under my nose like that? No Way! Fuggadehabouddit. Today I checked. Awww shit yet another Korean place for me to try.

Damned lucky for me I did. Mom does the cooking, Dad stands around looking important and the daughters wait tables. They were so pleased I not only knew what Kim Chee was but they flipped when I told them I had some Katchuggi in my refrigerator at home!

I had a superb bowl of Seoul Long Tang. On the lunch special it is $7.45 with extra meat. The wait asked me if I wanted tripe in it and she was again pleased when I said yes. Dad asked what I wanted to drink and I asked for tea. Daughter asked me if I wanted hot water or tea. I pointed out the brown stuff in water glasses on other tables (the barley tea as I think it to be) and she said hot water. Three good impressions on her before I even started to eat.

The huge bowl of soup was delivered with 4 panchan: kimchee (crunchy and sprightly), katchuggi (nicely hot and a little sour), bean sprouts and watercress. All were straightforward and good. Daughter stood and watched as I added salt to the Seoul Long Tang which came already chock full of green onion. By now she figured I must have lived in Korea or something. I slurped away and barely finished the bowl. Total was $9.

Not a surprise on the menu, but I will be back for what looks to be good homey cooking.

Yett Gol

301-949-9060

12337-C Georgia Avenue

Wheaton

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How do you rank the sollongtang? Is it a must run up there now from Alexandria, or a next time I'm in Wheaton?

It's not Gan Mee Oak but its better than any other I have had in DC. I have not been to the place in Springfield Gamalsot I believe, that Grover and Escoffier rave about. I don't think this is worth a long drive but if you are heading north it is worth a detour. The best part of the meal was the love it was served with!

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It's not Gan Mee Oak but its better than any other I have had in DC. I have not been to the place in Springfield Gamalsot I believe, that Grover and Escoffier rave about. I don't think this is worth a long drive but if you are heading north it is worth a detour. The best part of the meal was the love it was served with!

Springfield Gamasot rules. In my opinion, right up there with Ga-mee-oak in NYC, except for one detail: the gak-tu-gee (radish kimchi cut into cubes) at Gamasot is a bit less consistent from batch-to-batch than I'd like. Sometimes too "fresh," which leaves the flavors underdeveloped unfermented.

That said, it's really a small-ish detail indeed.

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Second take on Yett Gol...

Yaki Mandoo

Good dumpling but not great to me... a little dry overall. Kay loved them.

Soon Du Bu

Spectcular tofu stew with bits of pork and lots of squid. This really rocked, better than at Lighthouse Tofu in Rockville... cleaner and more delicate and yet with a good earthy bite. Superb!

Dol Sot Bibim Bap

Really good version, again clean and lighter than most version I have had. Served with raw egg and a squeeze bottle of hot bean paste. Nicely smoky flavor from the hot pot.

Sochu

Damm that's good!

Banchan

Kimchee, katchugi, sweet & sour raddish, bean sprouts, watercress all tasty and the pickles just at the beginning to ferment side of things... crunchy, sprightly and with a touch of fizz but not to the point of overwaealming the flavors. Really good!

Total damage... $47 for two fat and stuffed people!

We will be back and the only other couple in the joint had a kim chee panjan (pancake) and it looked incredible. The owner was so cute... checking in on uus time and time again giving us hints of things to try next time... obviously proud of his cooking. With good reason!

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Dean - any idea if they do takeout?? Sounds like it'd be a perfect place to grab lunch on the days when I work from home.

Don't know.

Another point in their favor is that the food seems to be less salty than many other Korean restaurants yet it doesn't taste so when eating it. But the next day I have less of a feeling of having had too much salt.

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I am not on their payroll....

Kay and I went the other night. Had the seafood pancake and it was the best I have had. The seafood was not overcooked or rubbery int he least but the egg batter part was stratified into a very eggy, almost custardy layer with a lighter and puffy layer ont he other side that took on a bit of browning. Wonderful! We split a bowl of Seuol Long Tang and it was better than our fisrt bowl, really really superb. We also tried a Korean Rice Wine called Chung Ha I think, which seemed like sake aged in a resiny wood. Not bad but I think I'll get hot sake the next time.

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I was looking at a Korean Restaurant Buletin Board the other day and it had a listing for a Korean restaurant in Wheaton

in the shopping center with the Staples at Randolph & Georgia. Described as totally authentic with no English spoken.

Is a modicum of English actually spoken? Despite regular journeys to Han Ah Reum my Korean is limited to "thank you" and "octopus".

Korean food right by the Glenmont station... suddenly the thought of my commute isn't so hideous anymore.

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Is a modicum of English actually spoken? Despite regular journeys to Han Ah Reum my Korean is limited to "thank you" and "octopus".

Korean food right by the Glenmont station... suddenly the thought of my commute isn't so hideous anymore.

English is freely spoken and much of it is even understood. But this is a case of folk who communicate with their hearts. We ahve had no trouble with any aspect of dining there!

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I had lunch here with my +1 and a friend on Friday. Like Dean, I must have driven past that center hundreds of times while doing my phd at UMCP, but never knew it was in there. Its a shame I didn't, because I really liked what I ate there Friday. I love Dol Sot Bi Bim Bap, and many places make a mediocre version(and many a pretty poor one). Often the stone pot just isn't served hot enough, so not enough char gets imparted to the rice and vegetables while it cooks at your table. This makes the dish a soggy mess, as can the vegetables themselves when some off ones are used or when used in wrong proportions to the rice, egg and (most often) each other. Yett Goel's version was light, tasty and hot enough to cook properly while nibbling on their panchan. Their egg was correctly served, in that it was almost raw and not cooked or fried into rubber like many places tend to do, doing a nice job of binding flavors between the rice and vegetables when mixed in the sizzling stone pot with plenty of chili paste. I'm one of those that scrapes a good preparation clean to the bowl so as to not miss the crunchy rice mixed in with the softer textures of the dish.

Their panchan were the same four dishes mentioned by Dean ( Kimchee, Kakdugi, Bean Sprouts, and Watercress) all very good. The Kimchee added a nice tang to the BiBimBap, as did the Kakdugi.

I was served a small bowl of Seoul Long Tang with the BiBimpBap, which was wonderful with some sea salt sprinkled in.

My +1 had the Kimchee Jigae, loaded with Kimchee and with a few large slices of tofu and some pork mixed in. A light, tasty stew with the right level of spice. I also think its better than Lighthouse Tofu in Rockville, which is also very good. Our other friend had the spicy beef stew, which he enjoyed despite not being used to the spice level. I like that they didn't automatically tone it down to Disney levels upon seeing non-Koreans ordering.

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This past Saturday, I had the kimchi jigae and my husband had the dol sot bibimbap. We also ordered the haemul pajun and the jap chae which was a hit with my son. The food was uniformly excellent and the panchan were good except for the kimchi being a little too fresh (but that's my personal taste). My soup had a really good depth of flavor and tasted almost as good as my mother's! As Angelo noted above, the bibimbap pot was very hot and crisped the rice very well.

The only blip was that the service seemed really slow for us. The other patrons were getting their food much more quickly.

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