We give in to primal instincts, gathering around a fire to eat

Bulgogi, thin slices of beef sirloin, grilling on our table at So Moon Nan Jip in Palisades Park, one of the few Korean barbecue restaurants still using charcoal, below.

We ordered one portion of beef and another of shrimp to grill over the charcoal and eat wrapped in lettuce. The grate was changed after the meat eaters in my family finished the beef.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

You can smell the charcoal in the air when you enter the dining room of So Moon Nan Jip in Palisades Park.

Before I stopped eating meat and poultry, we loved going to this popular Korean barbecue restaurant, where you can grill beef, pork, chicken or shrimp on a tabletop grill and eat them wrapped in lettuce.

An array of side dishes, including a fluffy egg souffle, and rice turn this fun meal into a true belly buster.

Late Sunday afternoon, we returned to So Moon Nan Jip, knowing we could order beef for the meat eaters in the family and shrimp for me.

The servers make up one of hardest working restaurant staffs in Palisades Park, and they help you grill the barbecue as well as bring you more kimchi and other side dishes when they run out (you have to ask).

We were in an out of there in under an hour.

A spicy preparation of octopus was one of the half-dozen side dishes that came with our barbecue meal. To grill on the table, the restaurant requires you to order two portions, ranging from $25.99 for chicken breast to $33.99 for ribeye steak.

Vegetable pancakes.

Wilted greens.

Charcoal smoke and mirrors

As I expected, prices have gone up since I wrote a newspaper review of So Moon Nan Jip in 2005, describing it as one of the restaurants in North Jersey where four people could eat for $50, including tip and tax:

"If you eat barbecue the way Koreans do, the fun quotient is high. Just take the red-leaf lettuce and wrap meat dipped in bean paste, shredded scallions, raw garlic, rice and other items into a small ball and pop the whole thing into your mouth. The layers of hot and cold, and the contrasting textures and flavors are hard to beat."

One thing that hasn't changed are waitresses who will try to get you to order more than the minimum two portions of barbecue.

And the number of free side dishes has been cut; we didn't get soup or the whole fried, 6-inch whiting we were served in 2005, when portions of barbecue were under $20 each.

On Sunday, we ordered bulgogi ($31.99) and butterflied raw shrimp ($27.99), and at the insistence of our ravenous teenager, a plate of translucent yam-flour noodles called japchae ($17.99) and another of mixed beef and pork fried dumplings ($14.99).

I had a bottle of OB Beer ($5).

The quality of the beef barbecue is unclear; it is sliced thinly and marinated. But as to quantity, I'm guessing the portion doesn't weigh a half-pound.

A side dish of American-style potato salad.

Cabbage kimchi.

One of the best Korean egg souffles I've ever had.

Raw butterflied shrimp.

Better value elsewhere

In the years we didn't patronize So Moon Nan Jip, we found much better value in a filling Korean dinner at So Gong Dong, a couple of blocks away on the second floor of 118 Broad Ave.

There, you can order a steaming soft-tofu stew with a fresh egg, side dishes and a big stone bowl of white rice for $10, including the tax.

The popular tofu house also serves dumplings, a seafood pancake and barbecue, among other dishes.

At So Moon Nan Jip, a tangle of seasoned scallions and radish to wrap in lettuce with the barbecue. We didn't get the raw garlic served to Korean customers.

So Moon Nan Jip has 7 Grains, a combination of brown rices and beans, if you prefer that to white rice.

A pricey platter of fried dumplings.

No reservations are taken on weekends at So Moon Nan Jip, above and below.

So Moon Nan Jip, 238 Broad Ave., Palisades Park; 201-944-3998. Valet parking in rear lot, but you must tip $1.

Kimchi service makes this Fort Lee Korean restaurant a standout

At Gammeeok in Fort Lee, servers bring a tall bowl of cabbage and radish kimchi to your table, cut it, plate it and pour on extra sauce, which is both spicy and sweet, above and below.

The kimchi service -- unique to Gammeeok -- isn't the only reason to go there. The restaurant turns out terrific versions of such Korean classics as bibimbap and seafood pancakes.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The good news is that the kimchi at Gammeeok in Fort Lee is as good as ever -- an appealing combination of sweet, spicy and crunchy.

We had dinner there on Saturday night after an absence of more than a year, and Gammeeok is still our favorite place for bibimbap, a non-spicy dish that is true Korean comfort food.

I ordered another non-spicy dish, Seafood Joen, a  pancake with tender squid and shrimp that is fluffier than other versions I've tried ($14.95).

My teenage son ordered two entrees that could have fed three to four people, and finished everything, including a small bowl of white rice.

He loved the stone-bowl bibimbap ($13.95), as well as the grilled beef short ribs or Galbi ($22.95). 

The kimchi served here is so good it is available to go.

OB, a Korean beer, is $4.50.

Korean short ribs (galbi or kalbi) will delight meat-eaters ($22.95).

The seafood pancake is thick and fluffy, and includes tender squid, small whole shrimp and scallions, and comes with a dipping sauce ($14.95).

Stone-bowl bibimbap comes with a mildly spicy red-pepper paste (gochujang) that you spoon on top before your stir up ground meat, vegetables and rice ($13.95). We asked the kitchen to cook the egg, and you can have a bibimbap without meat.

A vinegary tangle of shredded radish is one of the complimentary side dishes.

Every table gets large, crunchy leaves of Nappa cabbage and fresh hot peppers, rear.

Valet parking is available at dinner, but you also can park on the street. No need to feed the meters after 6 p.m.

Details

Gammeeok, 485 Main St., Fort Lee; 201-242-1333. Open for lunch and dinner. No American Express  Cards. 

I used a coupon I found in The Record giving $10 off a $30 order, $15 off a $50 order and $20 off an $80 meal.

Web site: Good food, good service

The next night, I had three Korean specialties at home, all purchased from H Mart, 25 Lafayette Ave., Englewood: Jinga-brand translucent, yam-flour noodles called japchae, with vegetables and tofu, front (19 ounces for $5.99); stewed wild-caught Alaskan pollock, left rear (16 ounces for $16.99); and stewed tofu, right rear (11 ounces for $3.99).