Reviewed: Dok Suni’s, New York
Dok Suni’s
119 First Ave., New York, NY 10003
nr. 7th St.
212-477-9506
Mon: 4:30pm-11pm
Tue-Fri: 4:30pm-12am
Sat-Sun: 11:30am-11pm
I’ve been dabbling in preparing Korean and other Asian cuisine since the new year. Bulgogi with various meats, green curry, Korean spiced short ribs, and a plethora of fried rice variations. I’ve been “making my chops” as a first step towards my ultimate goal of delicious Asian-Latino fusion. So, being that I was in a city with a Chinatown and a Koreatown, I figured that this was a unique opportunity to sample some Far East delights. A few phone calls later, and a friend of a friend recommendation came through for Dok Suni’s, a classic Korean restaurant that has not fallen victim to the Korean BBQ revolution that has taken over the city. That was my only requirement…no grill in the middle of the table. If I want to cook my own food, I’ll cook at home.
Scallion Pancake
Dok Suni’s has a surprisingly modern interior, and at first glance could be mistaken for one of those Pan-Asian joints with faux bamboo, a French wine list, and an egg roll combo platter. But Dok Suni’s is decidedly Korean, and has all the Korean dishes you find from your favorite carry-out shack. This, however, is not some hole in the wall with vats of the most popular dishes waiting to be being doled out by the ladleful when ordered. Everything is fresh, from the sizzling meat that was a delicious medium to medium-rare, to the vegetables that still had their signature crunch.
We ordered three apps, a fried dumpling with vegetable stuffing, kim-chee kim-bohp, and a scallion pancake. Each came with similar dipping sauces, and each was a perfect starter. The fried dumplings were probably the best prepared of the three, very fresh and crispy.
Dumplings
The kim-chee kim-bohp was a beef, egg, and kim-chee combo rolled in rice and seaweed, served sushi roll style. It was a good roll. The marinated beef was very flavorful, and was complimented well by house made kim-chee. The scallion pancake was crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, and delicious though a bit on the salty side for my taste. Maybe I overdipped in the soy based sauce?
For entrees, we had a classic pork bulgogi (deji-bulgogi), spicy broiled squid, and a beef and vegetable dish whose name escapes me (not bulgogi).
The pork was cooked well, and had that classic Korean pepper paste flavor you know and love. It was served with lettuce for wrapping and chopped raw garlic and jalapeno as garnish. Nothing I would write home about, but definitely on par with my past bulgogi experience, and probably a bit better than my home take on the dish.
The broiled squid was loaded with fresh vegetables, and perhaps not enough squid. The spicy sauce however, had that slow creeping, flavorful heat that you hope for. There was a lot going on in this dish, quite more than I could decipher, and it went well with the provided bowls of white sticky rice. I would definitely put this on the must list despite it being short on the seafood.
Blimp View of Entrees
The beef dish (I’m searching desperately for the name) also was full of fresh vegetables, but had plenty of tender strips of marinated beef. It had a heavy sweet wasabi flavor, which I loved, but was off-putting for my partner in crime. I can see that if you weren’t a big wasabi fan how this dish would not be for you. I happen to be a big fan, and would list this dish (still nameless..doh!) as my favorite of the evening.
Dok Suni’s is the type of place that if it was down the street from me in Ann Arbor, I would probably stop in for carryout once a week. It’s affordable (very much so for the area), fast, well prepared, and damn tasty. As a visitor, I would probably return to Dok Suni, likely to try the ribs…but only after exploring the great number of offerings throughout K-Town. In the quest for the best Korean in New York, I likely didn’t bump into it on my first attempt, but regardless, you can’t go to Dok Suni’s and be disappointed with the atmosphere, the service, or the food.
This entry was posted on Friday, April 24th, 2009 at 10:10 pm and is filed under Food, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
