Bowl'd in Albany

Hadn't been to Bowl'd in a while, but seemed like the perfect thing during the extreme heat today (9/1/2017) in the Bay Area.

My Cold Spicy Pork Belly Bibimbop before I added chile sauce to it and mixed it all up. I just love Korean food. We were there during the slow time around 4. Kitchen crew was seen probably chopping up kim chee or other great banchan dishes, which they no doubt make from scratch here, which is way more profitable and better. 

Robin's Cold Chicken Bibimbop.

Jap Chae. No wonder we were so full!

Look at all that glorious banchan. I so revere banchan that I've resolved never to try to make it myself, because really I should only let the experts make it. One day, I'd love to go some place like Seoul to discover countless other types of banchan I don't know about, using vegetables from land & sea I don't know about. 

OK, so I've been back to Bowl'd at least 4 other times since the first visit, documented below. This time we got some new stuff.

Robin ordered these freaking great seaweed wrapped rice balls.

And a huge Ahi Poke Salad. She wanted the mayo to taste different, but the bit that I tried I thought was quite delicious.

Are you kidding me? You're offering me a bit of your seaweed rice ball? Hell, yeah!

OK, so here's my food. First the deeply soulful Radish Soup.

Usually I get the cold Bibimbop, and I tried the hot once, but I decided to get the "Sizzling Works" again. Wow! I prefer this now--I got it with the Spicy Pork & Mixed Grains. The Grains got a nice char on them rendering the rice mix all crunch--nice texture! Mixed it up with some generous squirts of the chile sauce.

Banchan rocks!

My favorite Banchan: chile-soaked daikon!!! YES!

All done.

This is the best Korean cuisine I've ever had. 

But, first, a little story about my history with Korean food. Which began in Austin, Texas, way back in the 80s, when Reagan was still in the White House. Some friends took me to eat sushi for the first time which was simultaneously my first experience with Korean cuisine, at a restaurant called Korea House, near the Village Cinema, which back then was in North Austin, now Central Austin.

I was absolutely floored by both cuisines. Later, I ate at two much better sushi restaurants, both closed down now (Azuma on 183, and Kyoto in downtown Austin). The joke circulating back then was that the freshest grade fish went to Kyoto on the first day, Azuma on the second day, and Korea House on the third day.

But those jokes didn't stop me from returning to Korea House, or trying other Korean restaurants. I've been to many, and I've never been to one that wasn't great, but Bowl'd is on a whole 'nuther level. 

Every single vegetable, grain and protein you see above was superb. As soon as Jeff finished taking photos, I started tasting everything individually. I've never had Kim Chee that was anywhere close to the Kim Chee served at Bowl'd. That's also the best Tofu dish I've ever had (though I've had a few that were close)--essentially just Tofu marinated in chili sauce, identical to the Daikon in chili, except the textures are so different. Speaking of textures, one little bowl sported white jelly portions soaked in sesame oil, a flavor that stood out, yet complemented the array.

My friend Jeff and I got the same thing--a Bibimbop Bowl with grilled pork and mixed grains--only he got the hot bowl, and I got the cold. I started tasting all the individual ingredients in the bowl, and then realized I forgot to mix everything up, and add the chili and soy sauce like you're supposed to! Frankly, I would enjoy this dish either way, everything was just top notch. I'm getting hungry writing about it, even though it's too early to be thinking about lunch.

One of the best aspects of Bowl'd is the fact you have the option of the mixed grains: barley, sweet brown rice, wild sweet rice, wild red rice and wild black rice. For someone like me, keen on whole grains, this is just perfect. As a matter of fact, there's many reasons why Korean cuisine is the perfect cuisine for my diet, aside from Bowl'd being the best version I've had. There's so many vegetables perfectly prepared, including plenty of leafy greens (in addition to the Kim Chee, there's also several kinds of seaweed), and several foods that are fermented and pickled, both good for your health. I bet the other protein options are as delicious as the pork, too. And yet, this is a cuisine that is varied, brilliant, and celebratory: this is not the culinary equivalent of a puritan hairshirt.

A warning: I know most of my friends are chili fiends like Jeff and I are. But be careful with the chili sauce--I put way too much on mine, which was fine, but it would have been wiser to add a little bit at a time, until I got it to the level I wanted.


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