5700 Rosemead Blvd. #100 Temple City, CA 91780 Phone: 626.285.9678. United States locations elsewhere in Los Angeles, New York, and New Jersey.
Worth visiting in a 7 mile radius.
Kang Ho Dong Baekjeong, also known as Baekjeong, is named after the owner, a Korean comedian and wrestler who owns an international chain of Korean BBQ restaurants. The location in Temple City, a suburb of Los Angeles, is plastered with cardboard cutouts of Kang Ho Dong and has walls filled with colorful cartoon pictures of him visiting all the places where he owns a restaurant. It might seem a little gimmicky at first, but when I tasted the meat, I knew I’d made the right choice coming here.
Baekjeong is extremely popular. You should expect a wait, and they do not take reservations. On a Monday night, we waited about 20 minutes for our table. The whole operation is loud and bustling, with K-pop blasting from the speakers and young waiters with gelled hair shouting out things to one another such as, “More banchan (side dishes) at 33!”
We arrived at our table and were greeted by the entire wait staff in Korean, “어서오세요! 백정 입니다!” which means “Welcome! This is Baekjeong!” As with most Korean restaurants, the table was already laid out with banchan, which included: kimchi, kimchijeon (kimchi pancake), purple radish, sweet potatoes, spicy sprout salad, lettuce salad, and steamed egg. I didn’t eat much banchan, but members of my family who had more banchan said it was excellent. This was a good sign because you can usually tell how good a Korean restaurant is from the quality of its banchan.
Along the grill in the center of our table there was also a non-Korean item, cheese corn, which made us a little wary. I must admit, I wasn’t brave enough to try the cheese corn. However, my meal was fine without it.
The short rib, grilled at our table, was not overly marinated, as some Korean BBQ meats are. The beef was nicely marbled, tender but not too fatty. The spicy pork belly, prepared in the kitchen, was a little too sweet for my liking. It also wasn’t very spicy, but it tasted good with the kimchi.
Baekjeong makes a good family meal, since you order for the table. Its meals are packed with good meat and manage to turn Korean BBQ into a fun, new experience.
Bluebell Reviews 