DVT

There's a certain restaurant that we've passed on our way home that I've been wanting to try for sometime now.  It's so brightly lit up inside, it's been calling to me like a moth to a flame.  I couldn't tell what kind of Korean food it was going to be, but so far restaurants we've tried have been one of three types:

1. Basic Korean food.  Bulgogi (marinated beef), bibimbab (vegetable/meat/egg mix), gimbap (the cheaper, Korean version of sushi but without the raw fish), mandu (potstickers) with 3-5 side dishes of kimchi (pickled, garlic'd veggies).  Sort of like the fast food of Korea, but without all the greasy, fried food and kids meals.

2. Korean BBQ.  Uncooked pieces of beef or pork and a hotplate to cook them on.  Plus a ton of side vegatables and sauces and pieces of lettuce to wrap it all up in.  Think bun-less burgers; Atkins (but not Matt-kins) approved.

3. Shabu shabu.  Great name, great soup.  Again, uncooked meat and raw vegetables come with a pot of broth that you heat up at the table.  By the end of the meal, the originally bland broth has become so flavorful I ditch the spoon and drink it like the remaining milk from a cereal bowl, supposedly a korean faux pas.

(By now, if you're familiar with Korean food, your mouth is probably watering.  The food is underwhelming at first, but grows on you to the point you start to crave it.  After being here a little over a month, I'd say it's better than any Asian foods I've tried, ahead of Chinese, Japanese and Thai.  We'll put together a post later, with pictures, and better descriptions, but this is a good start.)

So we were going to try it a few nights ago but when we pulled up, I noticed it was one of the restaurants where you have to sit on the floor and I was wearing gym shorts and no underwear, so we went to Yummy Teriyaki instead.  But last night, wearing my finest boxer briefs, we tried the place.  Turns out it's Korean BBQ.  Some call these places "Beef and Leaf" because you wrap up all your food in a piece of lettuce.  After last night, I prefer "Beef and Deep Vein Thrombosis."

New rule: unless I'm a prisoner of war, I'm not eating on the ground anymore.  I spent the whole time trying not to fall backwards while spilling dripping meat on my shorts.  It was awesome.  My body has been forming itself into the shape of a couch for the last 28 years and last night's Indian style extravaganza was a rude awakening at how not-flexible I am.  I don't do yoga or pilates and rarely even stretch after running.  And that's cool with me.  Chairs and tables separate us from house pets, let's not take a step back.

Haley's take:

We were served like royalty at the Beef & Leaf restaurant, not like prisoners of war or dogs!  Each table has their own hot plate to grill the meat, onions, garlic, and mushrooms but Andrew and I were the only table in the whole place who were constantly attended by two waitresses.  I think it was abundantly clear to the waitstaff that we had no ability to feed ourselves.  They took turns bringing us more vegetables and beers, flipping and cutting the meat, adjusting the flame, and doing more or less everything aside from chewing and digesting our food for us.  Andrew was physically unable to reach the hot plate to perform any barbeque-ing and the only meat I'm confident how to serve is deli turkey, so we needed all the help we could get.  For the next few months, I'll be Andrew's criss-cross-applesauce personal trainer because he could use a little more athletic humility in his life.  Then we'll go back to the restaurant able to sit, grill, and eat like the big boys and girls that we are.  And I hope Andrew remembers his big boy underwear.