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Oegadgib, Korean BBQ in Annandale with a Good Assortment of Banchan


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TS offered it up as one of his top bargain eats this week. The name is certainly distinctive...and curiously hard for me to spell. Someone has even video-diaried it in this YouTube clip. So, anybody been?

If I recall, his Top 52 had the spelling something like "whack a cheep"....I intend to try it. The Korean places in Annandale are not far from my home in Springfield, and I have long grown tired of Sorak Garden and the rest. This place sounds fresh and tempting. Anyone want to propose a group reconnaissance?

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Sounds like a $20 Tuesday to me!
I'm game - is December too far away since there are a few other $20 days on the calendar already? Looks like Dec. 4 is the first night of Hanukkah - how about Dec. 11th? And of course, it doesn't have to be on a Tuesday.

The review does say something like "compact dining room" - we may need to limit numbers so as not to overwhelm the place.

(DanielK - I'll volunteer to be the coordinator.)

Grover?? Want to help guide us through the menu? :blink:

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I'm game - is December too far away since there are a few other $20 days on the calendar already? Looks like Dec. 4 is the first night of Hanukkah - how about Dec. 11th? And of course, it doesn't have to be on a Tuesday.

The review does say something like "compact dining room" - we may need to limit numbers so as not to overwhelm the place.

(DanielK - I'll volunteer to be the coordinator.)

Grover?? Want to help guide us through the menu? :blink:

I'm up for/down with this too! Count me in.

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A couple friends and I checked this place over on Friday night. Short review: cool atmosphere, good value but we left unimpressed by the food.

The three of us did the "All You Can Eat The Meat" special for $15.99, as I'd read this Yelp thread that indicated it might be an "everybody or nobody" policy on the All You Can Eat BBQ. We never figured out if that was actually the case as our waitress was very attentive, but spoke no English - and best err on the side of caution.

The BBQ special included 2 types of beef (thin sliced, and tips) + some extremely fatty pork. The beef was ok but didn't wow anybody at the table. The pork on the other hand just seemed to render down to some crispy fat & a sliver of meat. It all was decent enough when dipped into one of the sauces (a sriracha-type sauce, a sweeter fish-based sauce and the third seemed to be sesame oil with a heap of salt) but overall, the meats all seemed to lack seasoning. The kimchi was great though - more fermented than some of the other Annandale spots. There was a decent variety of panchan (the usual standards) but a couple less than some of the other places I've tried in the neighborhood.

The staff were attentive and friendly, but despite the bargain price, I don't think I'll be returning.

Cheers,

Owen

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We, 7 people gathered at Oegadjib tonight.

The menu I ordered was:

- Dong-dong Joo (unfiltered rice wine) & Seafood pancake (pah-jun)

- Spicy stew (short rib and octopus)

- Ssam-bob tasting menu (greens for wrapping[shiso leaves, lettuce, bokchoy, kelp, etc], Korean miso stew, grilled fish and spicy pork barbecue)

- Bossam (brined napa cabbage, fresh oyster and Kimchi stuffing)

- Tofu Kimchi (steamed tofu and stir-fried Kimchi with pork belly)

Unfortunately I ordered too much so it wasn't a $20 Tuesday dinner, it was a bit more. I apologize to the people who came.

I think that everybody got their money's worth.

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Unfortunately I ordered too much so it wasn't a $20 Tuesday dinner, it was a bit more. I apologize to the people who came.

I think that everybody got their money's worth.

There is absolutely nothing to apologize for. The meal was wonderful, and well worth the final bill. We'll definitely be going back.
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We're so lucky to have Grover to guide us through these meals! I would never know to order some of the things that she steers us to - and they're always interesting. One of the things I've enjoyed over the course of the various Korean $20 meals is trying different restaurants' variation on pah-jun (seafood pancake). They all have it and each one is slightly different. Oedgadgib's is thinner and has a lot of green onion. While it was very good, I think I prefer the crispier versions at Vit Goel or Han Sung Oak.

My favorite dish was the Ssam-bob - especially the spicy pork barbecue. It was particularly good wrapped in the kelp leaves or shiso. One ingredient left off the list above for Bossam was thinly sliced, cold pork belly - quite a combo with the oyster, kimchee and pork all wrapped up in the Napa cabbage leaf - with a carefully selected sauce from the choice of three.

The unfiltered rice wine was a new taste for me - served in an open-mouth jug with a dipping ladle - it's cloudy with a slightly yellow tint and has a very clean and almost cider-like flavor (as someone aptly observed). I think it's kind of cool that it's served as a combo with the pah-jun :(

No worries about what was ordered - we just got to try more things!

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Big thanks to Grover for navigating us through a veritable feast of delicious food. We were literally struggling to find places to perch various dishes and small plates, and that was with two unclaimed seats at our tables.

While the pah-jun might have been easier to manipulate cooked to a greater firmness, I really enjoyed this version...more heat might have harmed the tenderness of the squid and scallop pieces. The spicy stew required some patience as it received its final cooking at the table, but the finished spareribs were savory and delicious. Honestly, I think I prefer this version over Chinese spareribs by quite a bit. Surprisingly, the octopus didn't turn tough, perhaps because they were using relatively small octopus. The bossam and ssam-bob were bright and fun, especially with the shiso leaves as wrappers. It brings an herbal not-quite-minty quality that I can only liken to sawtooth herb, and similarly cuts the richness of the meat.

And DO get the unfiltered rice wine; it's simple, rustic and authentic, and the perfect foil to the heat of the ubiquitous red pepper in the kimchi and other spicy items.

This really was one of the toughest restaurants to find, and your best bet is to exactly follow Escoffier's directions given here. Even when you arrive at the particular building, none of the various prominent signs on the side actually say Oegadgib, but it's there on the glass entrance doors.

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With an unexpected evening off, we went to Oegadgib on Little River Turnpike in Annandale. We ordered the all you can bbq on stone and an order of fried dumplings. The order of fried dumplings was like sending out for extra ice on the night the Titanic struck the iceberg. They were great dumplings but when you are about to eat 2-3 pounds of meat, who needs more. These dumplings were nicely pan fried, crispy brown on the bottom and soft and tender on the top. The filling was soft but peppery. It tasted as if it had a little rice or other grain product in the meat.

Next came the BBQ, a normal butane burner placed on a wooden shim so it tilted. A round stone was put on top. The stone had grooves on it to direct the oils to a small bowl placed on the table, hence the tilt. The meat was cooked and served by two different, very sweet Korean ladies whose command of English was seemingly limited to Beef, Pork. Some People and Very Good. Yes it all was. They managed to pantomime how to dip what into which sauce and also into talking us into seconds on the pork belly. Every time the pork belly was served up they said "Pork- very good!" It was. Crispy on the outer edge and luscious on the inside.

The side dished were better than our memory from the last time. The Kim Chee was fizzy and crunchy and funky. The bean sprouts had a nice kick of black pepper and other hot spices without having any noticeable chili in it. There was a radish sliced thin and fermented that somehow we were told to use to wrap the meat in. There was a dense noodle for wrapping as well as a large plate of lettuce and scallions in chili for nibbling or adding to the meat.

We drank Dong Dong Ju, a sour fermented product faintly reminiscent of Nigori sake except still a bit fizzy and lighter and less sweet. I think its called Dong Dong Ju because that is all you are able to say after finishing off a pot of it. Kay was the designated driver and I figured it would be impolite to leave any behind. There are just some things one has to do in pursuit of decorum!

$57 for 2, enough food for 3 or 4. I am still in a beefy porky coma this morning. Very good!!!

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Last night we went for some Dong Dong Ju. There was food involved as well I am sure. Actually some very good soups: Thuk Man Du Guk (I hope that is the spelling} with excellent man do and broth, but the rice cakes were only soso. The broth starts out very plain and almost without flavor, but as you sip it the white peppercorn aroma and bite comes out and then the broth expands in flavor. Really soothing. I had the sausage soup which had Kim Chee, ramen noodles, little sausages that looked like mini wieners or Vienna Sausages and another sausage that looked like mystery meat. This was really good with a kick-y broth, lots of greens and perfectly greasy enough to slow the absorption of the Dong Dong Ju.

For those of you not in the know, DDJ is rice left fermenting, sitting till it stops fizzing. Ie., it is Korean Moonshine. As Sister Sarah says to Sky Masterson in "Guys and Dolls"... "It's verrrrrryyyyyy goooooood! I think I'll have another!"

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We had the AYCE Shabu Shabu. On the LA scale, it is not as good as the expensive Shabu house in Little Tokyo Village (well it WAS there pre 1999) and better than the cheaper versions served elsewhere. Huge platter of veggies pile at least 6" high and a large cast iron pot of broth. The veggies include 3 kinds of greens, onions, cabbage and maybe a bok choi or a close relative, enoki mushrooms and regular mushrooms. The meat is the same beef they give you for the AYCE BBQ and is the weakest link, but less so in the shabu than in the BBQ. Sesame based dipping sauce and a hot chile paste are served along with what I think are really the best banchan of Annandale (Yechon's variety is better but the taste is less homey and comforting that at OGG). We really mistimes our fullness rate and wound up slowing down massively by the time we tossed the udon noodle in the broth but as always, that is actually the best part of the meal. Next time we will do better.

I still think that the best thing they offer is the ssam bap: a huge basket of greens and dips and sided with your choice of the pork belly, kalbi or spicy pork. Remember the sage advice of an early visit- pork very good. Next would be the soups/stews: chicken with ginseng {Kay's favorite pick me up}, pork & potato or meatball and sausage and kim chee chigaee {I think that all their soups/stews are better than those at Gom Ba Woo and not quite as good as at Gamalsot} and finally their bossam which is more of the "pork very good" pork belly, lots of kinds of red chile past coated veggies and oysters which get wrapped in pickled cabbage or lettuce. I would put the AYCE Shabu Shabu there with the Bossam.

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OeGadJib is back open.  Most tables will be having the all you can eat BBQ which means they will be missing the fantastic soups and stews that are our favorites.  Recently I have had excellent Mul Naengmyeon and Kay loves her stuffed young chicken soup.  Thay also make a fun Budae jigee which is almost impossible to finish.  Dong Dong Ju remains the stuff to drink.  When it's on, the Haemul Pajeon {seafood pancake} is among the best we have had.  

OeGadJib has the best assortment of banchan with the possible exception of So.  

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