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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.

400 South Baldwin Avenue, Arcadia, CA, 91007 and also in: Orange County, Seattle, Santa Clara, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Australia, and Thailand. Phone (Arcadia): 626.574.7068

Worth visiting in a 60 mile radius.

While in Arcadia, a suburb of Los Angeles, my family had our sights set on another restaurant. Upon realizing it was closed, we drove around and found Din Tai Fung, not realizing it was an internationally acclaimed, world-famous Taiwanese dumpling house. We were hooked on our first visit and have been coming back for years.

Even getting into Din Tai Fung is an experience. We usually get there around half an hour before it opens, and there are still fifteen or so people ahead of us. If you go at high lunch time, you might be waiting for two hours. While you are waiting, you can look through the window and see the workers, dressed in white and wearing masks, making the dumplings in an orderly assembly line.

Now for a few of my favorites. Chicken soup here doesn’t mean a few scant pieces of chicken floating around in broth. Expect enormous pieces of chicken, clad in thick skin, in a warm, delicious broth. The fried rice is superb. Restaurant fried rice tends to be greasy, but not at Din Tai Fung. I recommend getting it with shrimp.

These dishes are enough to make one’s mouth water, but when I come here, I intentionally don’t gorge on them so I can make room for Xiao Long Bao, or literally, “small dragon dumplings.”  These round dumplings with a twist on top and filled with soup have stolen the hearts of many a patron. With each bite of Xiao Long Bao, there is an explosion of broth in your mouth, coupled with the succulent pork. There is only one small problem: you won’t want to eat the dumplings at your local Asian eatery anymore.

Din Tai Fung’s dishes may seem simple, but the quality will dazzle you if you are willing to sacrifice one or two hours for the wait.