Trying casual Korean food in Palisades Park

Spicy Fried Shrimp at Bunsik Nara, a Korean restaurant in Palisades Park that moved to a larger space on Broad Avenue, below.

Outside, the captions for food photos are in Korean, but inside, you'll find bilingual menus and servers.

Editor's note: Today, I report on a meal at Bunsik Nara in Palisades Park, the closing of one of my favorite Korean restaurants and a visit to the Super H Mart in Ridgefield.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
Editor

I am still trying to figure out how I can accommodate my long love affair with Korean food -- which is based largely on rice -- while keeping faithful to a diet that limits my intake of carbohydrates.

On Saturday, I visited Bunsik Nara, a restaurant in Palisades Park whose name translates loosely as "land of casual food."

At the next table, a man in his 20s said Bunsik Nara is known for serving "street food." 

The extensive menu includes sections for Italian and Chinese food; dishes made with cheese, and lots of traditional Korean items, including seaweed-and-rice rolls, soups, stews and barbecue.

One dish pictured on the menu is a mound of fried rice covered in cooked egg and decorated with a latticework of ketchup or gochujang, a spicy red-pepper paste Koreans use like ketchup.

A deconstructed seaweed-and-rice roll with spicy squid and radish kimchi, and three free side dishes at Bunsik Nara.

I ordered a seaweed-and-rice roll called Choong Moo that came with spicy squid and radish kimchi on the side, and it was one of the few without ham ($8.99).

I also ordered Spicy Fried Squid, a dozen crustaceans that had been dipped in tempura batter and bathed in a sweet-and-spicy sauce ($19.99).

On my receipt, they are called Kkanpoong Shrimp.

Free side dishes were cabbage kimchi, yellow Korean pickles and a crunchy iceberg lettuce salad with mayonnaise.

I liked the roll and the shrimp, but they could serve two or three, and I took home plenty of leftovers.

The restaurant's interior is brightly lit. Most of the customers are young, in their 20s and 30s, as are the servers. The soundtrack is Korean rock. 

Bunsik Nara, 254 Broad Ave., Palisades Park; 201-944-2544. Open 7 days. Meters must be fed until 9 p.m. Free parking on side streets.

The sign on the door of Woochon, one of my favorite Korean restaurants. The restaurant, in a former bank building, had a sushi bar and a tank of live fish. I especially liked the grilled mackerel, and the array of colorful side dishes.

Around the corner in a Korean bar, a separate business that was accessible from the restaurant, the Guatemalan cook said Woochon has been closed for about two months, but he didn't know why.

Woochon closes

Before I stopped at Bunsik Nara, I took a photograph of a sign telling customers that Woochon at 280 Broad Ave., one of my favorites in Palisades Park, is closed "until further notice."

Here is an account of a wonderful lunch there in June 2012:

This lunch made us forget about dinner

Behind the displays of colorful, tasty prepared food at the Super H Mart in Ridgefield, employees fill big plastic bags with spicy cabbage kimchi that is made in the store.

Super H Mart

The Super H Mart is the Korean chain's biggest supermarket in Bergen County, and you'll find more of everything there -- from free Korean food samples to bigger crowds to fewer empty parking spaces -- even on a day like today, when it is pouring.

I drove over after a brief visit to H&Y Marketplace in Ridgefield, a smaller Korean supermarket that was relatively empty.

A large tray of stewed tofu from Pinocchio Catering in Flushing, Queens, was $5.49 at H Mart.

At H Mart, I picked up a 5-pound box of Bagu Clementines from Spain for $6.99, a tray of 12 fuyu from Sharon in Israel for $8.99 and stewed tofu for $5.49. A head of red-leaf lettuce was 99 cents.

At the free fruit station, the woman said a fuyu should be eaten when it turns orange, and she peeled the fruit before cutting it up for sampling.

On the bottom of the box, the instructions say fuyu should be "eaten like an apple," which sounds like the skin is edible.

Super H Mart, 321 Broad Ave., Ridgefield; 201-943-9600.

Sharon calls the fuyu "nature's candy."

Beef comes out of the basement at Woochon

Short-rib soup at Woochon Restaurant in Palisades Park.

Moist, rich mackerel comes with a small bowl of bean-paste or soft-tofu soup.

I love Woochon in Palisades Park for the quality and variety of the free side dishes that come with every Korean meal, and for the beautifully grilled mackerel on the menu. 

The restaurant offers sushi, tofu and barbecue -- beef grilled on your table top.

On our visit last weekend, there was something new in the dining room, a refrigerated case filled with what was described as premium Angus beef. 

The refrigerated case of beef, left, was brought up from the basement and placed near tanks of live fish, saving employees repeated trips down and up stairs.

I don't go to Woochon or any other Korean restaurant for beef, which I no longer eat, and my wife wanted soft-tofu stew.

But Woochon is one of the few Korean restaurants in Palisades Park that offers grilled fish, and its mackerel is one of my favorite dishes.

Free side dishes include cabbage kimchi, gelatin and salad with a creamy dressing.

Other side dishes were radish kimchi, potatoes and greens.

Seaweed with gochujang or red-pepper paste, right front, and bean sprouts.

Instead of the usual fillet, my grilled mackerel was a whole fish about a foot long, served without the head, and it came with a small bowl of bean-paste soup and brown rice ($16).

Lemon wedges and pickled ginger also were provided. 

Korean 7 grains combines brown rices and beans.

Soft-tofu soup.

My wife's spicy soft-tofu soup ($10) and my mother-in-law's non-spicy short-rib soup ($13) each came with a metal bowl of steamed white rice.

After we finished the first 8 side dishes, called panchan, the server gladly brought more, including cucumber kimchi.




Woochon, 280 Broad Ave., Palisades Park; 201-242-9999. Open 7 days for lunch and dinner until midnight.

The Korean-style pork cutlet that ate Palisades Park

The Jumbo Pork Chop at Woochon Restaurant in Palisades Park.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

I met two friends for lunch today at Woochon Restaurant in Palisades Park, and one of them had never tried Korean food before.

Looking over the lunch menu and knowing what a dedicated meat eater he is, I suggested he have the Jumbo Pork Chop ($12.99).

He was delighted with it, but the closeup photo above doesn't do its size justice: 

The breaded pork cutlet -- not exactly a "chop" -- was at least 12 inches long and 6 inches wide, and its shape resembled the state of New Jersey.

In fact, my friend said, it reminded him of weiner schnitzel, a thin slice of veal that is breaded and fried.

The Korean cutlet was served on an enormous plate with white rice, french fries and salad. He took half of the cutlet home for his wife to taste.

My other friend, who served with the U.S. Army during the Korean War and speaks Korean, had a traditional short-rib stew with cabbage ($10.99).

I had my favorite dish, soft-tofu stew with seafood ($9.99), and both of us asked for brown rice instead of white.

Soft-tofu stew with seafood.

Five of the complimentary side dishes served with the meal.

More side dishes, including cabbage kimchi, front.

  

After lunch, I went for a walk along Broad Avenue, stopping at two catering stores to check out the prepared side dishes, soups, stews and fish, and the refrigerated bottles of kimchi.

This caterer offers a dizzying variety of Korean side dishes.

A sign says this new dumpling restaurant will open on Dec. 19.

Woochon Restaurant, 280 Broad Ave., Palisades Park; 201-242-9999. Free parking on side streets.

Update: Woochon Restaurant is closed permanently.

Couldn't this place be a little more generous?

Spicy Kalbi Tang at Pine Hill Restaurant in Paramus.

The Korean restaurant serves grilled mackerel pike among the free side dishes.

Pine Hill Restaurant is the only Korean restaurant I know in Paramus -- which is the mall capital of North Jersey -- and it's far from the dozens of places that jockey for customers along Broad Avenue in Palisades Park.

Pine Hill also sets itself apart by serving at least 10 of the free side dishes that make a Korean meal so special.

But when four of us had dinner there on Saturday night, I began to wonder if serving more side dishes than most other Korean restaurants is enough.

Pine Hill has seen better days. Though clean, the interior was carried over from another restaurant, and hasn't ever been updated. 

The dinner menu lists a lot of sushi rolls and raw fish, but not that many entrees for non-meat eaters such as myself. 

No grilled fresh fish is available outside the mackerel pike in one of the side dishes.

Translucent Korean noodles are made from yam flour, not wheat.

After a waitress took our order, a tray was brought over and the small side dishes were arrayed on the table -- vegetables, fish and meat.

Pine Hill has some of the best cabbage kimchi around, both spicy and crunchy. The two mackerel pike were delicious.

Greens included fresh spinach. But the salad was iceberg, not the spring mix I've seen elsewhere. And slices of ham came with another cabbage side dish.

One of the complimentary side dishes or panchan.

A good Korean restaurant staff doesn't wait for the customer to ask for more panchan, but at Pine Hill our empty side dishes weren't replaced until I called over the waitress, who was chatting with other servers near the register.

I asked specifically for more kimchi and greens, but was disappointed we didn't get another set of the fatty mackerel pike.

For my entree, I ordered translucent noodles with vegetables called japchae, but asked the kitchen to hold the meat ($11.95).

A side dish of vegetable tempura.

The others had Stone-Bowl Bibimbap ($13.95), a rice, vegetable and ground-beef dish topped with a fried egg. A squeeze bottle of gochuhang, red-pepper paste, allows the diner to vary the spiciness.

The bibimbap came with a small bowl of soup, and an egg souffle in a stone bowl was brought for the table.

My teenage son asked for Spicy Kalbi Tang (also $13.95), a stew with beef short ribs, as hot as the kitchen could make it. It came with a small bowl of steamed white rice.

The food was good, and we had a filling dinner for about $16 each, including tip and tax.

But the relatively new Woochon Restaurant in Palisades Park serves as many side dishes, and they are of higher quality, so we might be going there the next time we want Korean food. 


Pine Hill Restaurant, 123 Paramus Road, 
Paramus; 201-843-0170. Open for lunch and dinner.

Woochon Restaurant, 280 Broad Ave., Palisades Park; 201-242-9999. Open for lunch and dinner.

 

Celebrate with H Mart coupons, rebates

The Spanish Mackerel Dinner at Woochon Restaurant in Palisades  Park.

Editor's note: Today, I report on a shopping trip with H Mart coupons, and another great dinner at Woochon Restaurant, a recent addition to the Korean dining scene in Palisades Park.

To help shoppers celebrate H Mart's 30th year in America, the Korean supermarket chain sent out a new coupon booklet to holders of its store card.

"The savings are almost as good as 30 years ago," the booklet cover boasts, but that's a wild exaggeration.

On Wednesday, I stopped at the Englewood H Mart and picked up three coupon items, plus fresh fish, baby bok choy and Korean sweet potatoes for dinner.

Three bags of Nong Shim Shrimp Crackers were $1 -- a savings of $1.97. Two 1-pound bags of Arizona Farm Cactus Honey Powder, a sugar substitute, were $4 -- a savings of $3.98.

And an 8-pack of Premium Roasted Seaweed snack was $1.99 -- a savings of $2.

Last year, H Mart issued a Smart Card, which entitles shoppers to in-store sales and a 1% rebate or reward.

But you don't get anything back until you spend $1,000 at its Bergen County stores. 

On Wednesday, I picked up a $10 rewards certificate at the Englewood store. However, it's not redeemable for cash.

I plan to use a coupon for Choripdong 7 Grains -- a combination of brown rice, beans and other grains. A 10-pound bag is $9.99 with the coupon, good from Sept. 8-23.

But after seeing the many artificial ingredients and colors in Hansung Seafood Nuggets, I decided against buying any.

Even the non-sale items were a good value.

At home, we had a wonderful dinner of pan-fried whole whiting; baby bok choy with sesame oil, soy sauce and garlic powder; and boiled and mashed Korean sweet potato with garlic powder and olive and sesame oils.

We pan-fried fresh whole whiting. They were $3.99 a pound.

Baby bok choy were 78 cents a pound. We plated the fish and bok choy with mashed Korean white sweet potatoes, which were $1.99 a pound.

A meal to share

Korean food lends itself to sharing, as I discovered at Woochon Restaurant in Palisades Park.

For dinner one night, I ordered grilled Spanish Mackerel ($16.99), then watched a procession of dishes arrive at my table.

First, 10 side dishes of tofu, vegetables and noodles were arrayed before me.

Some of the side dishes served at Woochon Restaurant.

You can order live fluke for an expensive, over-the-top sashimi dinner.

 As I worked my way through the side dishes, the fish arrived, along with a stone bowl of bean-curd soup and another dish holding the brown rice I asked for instead of white rice.

On the way out, I looked at one of the restaurant's fish tanks, and saw live fluke from Long Island hugging the bottom.

They were destined to come up for air, and be served as sashimi. 

After that big Spanish Mackerel dinner, I needed to come up for air, too.

Woochon Restaurant, 280 Broad Ave., Palisades Park; 201-242-9999.