Korean dish ‘Mulhwe Noodles’ from San Francisco restaurant Bansang and ‘Golden Prawn Toast with Shrimp’ from Los Angeles restaurant Yangban have been recognized by the New York Times (NYT) as one of the 23 Best American Dishes of 2023.
The “Mulhwe Noodles” is a dish comprised of thick slices of seasonal raw fish with strands of capellini, pickles of shaved radish and cucumber resting beneath spicy fermented sauce. NYT commented, “It has an appropriately high ratio of heavily seasoned crust to meat, a slightly sweet gravy to balance, and, unlike many versions of the dish, you can actually taste the flavor of the steak”.
Bansang is a Korean restaurant that opened last year in San Francisco’s Japantown neighborhood. It is run by chefs Ethan Min who graduated Woosong University and worked at well-known Korean and American restaurants, and Jin Lim, who graduated from the same university and developed fusion cooking techniques in the United States.
In addition to Mulhwe Noodles, the restaurant’s main dishes include gochujang(Korean red chili paste) black cod, galbi(Korean dish of beef short ribs) ribeye and more.
Yangban is a Korean American restaurant in Los Angeles run by husand-and-wife chefts Katianna and John Hong. Katianna was adopted to the United States at three months old and raised by a Jewish German father and Irish mother. John is a second-generation immigrant. Both have been head chefs at three Michelin-starred restaurants.
NYT said “‘golden’ could refer to a few things here: the double dips in butter the local sourdough toast takes, the rich aioli-like sauce or the cured egg yolks grated over the top to finish”, adding “Or even the feeling you’ll have when you taste how it all wraps beautifully around the sweet deep-sea prawns that Yangban gets from just one family on Kauai. Going back to just shrimp toast will be a challenge.”
This article was originally published on Dec. 14, 2023.
