Rant and Rave:
Food
by Martell

Rave—Park's Barbecue, 955 S. Vermont Ave.—I guess I'm supposed to know where all the good Korean food places are, being that my wife's Korean and all, but I can barely tell one dish from another, let alone keep all the restaurants straight.  But I am from Nebraska, which means I'm damn near an expert when it comes to quality grilled beef.  And Park's Barbecue here in Los Angeles has it in spades.

The top three meat dishes have to be the ribeye, the short ribs (aka galbi) and the kobe beef—but the ribeye is the best.  They bring out the whole steak, cook it up on your grill, then cut it up with a pair of heavy-duty shears.  You end up with something similar to steak fajitas...except it's ribeye, it's medium-rare, and there are no tortillas or green peppers to get in your way.

Compared to Chosun Galbi—
the "top" Korean barbecue place here in LA—the food is just as good, but will cost you about 30% less.  A while back, we went with a group of twelve, had ribeye and kobe beef all around (as well as a boatload of beers and all the panchan we could eat ), and were still out the door for $20 apiece.

And even though it's located in the heart of Koreatown, don't be scared to give it a try if you don't speak Korean.  The staff at Park's is very friendly and happy to have non-Asian customers, and almost all of them speak English, so you don't have to look up the Korean word for "ribeye" before you go.  Like many other ethnic restaurants that have opened here lately, they've managed to appeal to a wide customer base while still keeping true to their culinary roots.  Lucky us.