Korean Food News

Dallas food explorer tries out 3 hot Korean restaurants in Carrollton

Big spread at Gen Korean BBQ

Editor's Note: In prior stories, CultureMap contributor Lila Levy has chased down the top bagels in Dallas, sampled lavender lattes, and tackled hot dogs. Now she tries out a new cuisine: Korean food.

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The Dallas area is well known for being home to the largest Korean American population in Texas, and one of the top five in the U.S. One fringe benefit of the bustling Korean population is the fact that DFW has dozens of Korean restaurants — particularly in Carrollton, where you can find entire shopping malls dedicated to Korean-focused goods.

I don't pretend to be anything but a Korean food newbie, but I was drawn to the various meats, vegetables, and spices commonly used in this cuisine, and decided it was better late than never to start getting a taste.

My approach was far from scientific. I looked for Korean restaurants with positive reviews online — not always the last word but helpful if you're starting out and don't know where to try first. I visited at lunch, not dinner, when prices are a little cheaper.

Here are three of my favorite new Korean finds:

Gen Korean BBQ House, 2540 Old Denton Rd. #134, Carrollton
Gen Korean BBQ is a chain founded in California with more than 32 locations across California, Arizona, Nevada, Hawaii, New York, and Texas, where they have four outposts including this original in Carrollton, plus Frisco and another opening in Dallas in the fall.

They offer an interactive experience where you're brought raw meat, sometimes marinated, which you cook on a table-top grill. I went with two friends so that we could share and sample a wide variety of meats including beef bulgogi, garlic chicken, honey chicken, honey soy beef belly, Hawaiian steak, shrimp, and spicy chicken. There was also a fun array of side dishes, called banchan.

We also tried their Japchae, a noodle dish combining stir-fried glass noodles and vegetables with a sweet-and-savory interplay. No wonder it's one of Korea's best-loved dishes.

Grilling with friends is part of the fun and the appeal of places like this. But none of us are chefs. We weren't sure if we were cooking the various meats for a long enough period of time.

The food was fresh and service was diligent: The waitstaff came and cleared out the used grilling containers and replaced them quickly, so that any new meats we were grilling did not mix with the residue of what we had already grilled.

Chanmaru, 4070 SH 121 #220, Carrollton
Locally-owned Korean tofu house in northwest Carrollton specializes in soft tofu soup, with an astonishing 15 options ranging from seafood to beef tripe to clam to mushroom to a quirky ham & cheese.

We started with Kimchi Jun, an amazing pancake made with a little flour and loads of kim chi (Korean fermented cabbage), which we ordered as an appetizer. Savory, spicy, delicious, and huge, it was almost a meal unto its own.

"Entrees" were Mushroom Soontofu soup with ramen, and Dolsot Bibimbap, a steaming-hot bowl of rice topped with carrots, mushrooms, bokchoy, beef, and a fried egg. Red chili paste (gochujang) gave the dish an extra flavorful kick that was addictive. In English, "dolsot" means "stone pot."

It was accompanied by a generous selection of Banchan, including Korean bean sprouts, spicy cucumber salad, raw Kimchi, cold green beans, eggplant, and mushrooms.

BCD fried tofu bites Crispy fried garlic tofu bites.BCD Tofu House

BCD Tofu House, 1050 E. Trinity Mills Rd., Carrollton
Founded in California's Koreatown district, BCD is a small chain specializing in soft tofu soup, with about a dozen locations in California and on the East Coast. This is the only one in Texas, which they opened in late 2018.

At a Saturday lunch, we started with fried popcorn dumplings — bite-size dumplings filled with a flavorful mix of beef, pork, and vegetables, deep-fried until crunchy and crisp.

I couldn't resist the Hot Stone Bibimbap, their version of the rice dish with beef, bok choy, onion, carrot, mushrooms, and zucchini. We also ordered BBQ short ribs, served on a bed of white onions, sporting appetizing grill marks, and accompanied by steamed white rice along with Kimchi, sprouts, onions, broccoli, cucumber salad, and even a whole, small fried fish.

Strangely, we did not order soft tofu soup, despite the fact that it's the specialty, and the tofu does not stop there: They also have an appetizer of fried crispy garlic tofu bites, and a Japchae featuring glass noodles and vegetables topped with battered and fried tofu cut into julienne-style strips. They call themselves "The House That Tofu Built."

Taco News

California restaurant Casa Comal debuts in Irving with standout tacos

Casa Comal

Shrimp taco at Casa Comal in Irving

A restaurant from the West Coast with a fresh approach to Mexican food has made its Dallas-area debut: Casa Comal Cocina, a Mexican restaurant founded in Santa Barbara in 2021, has opened at Cypress Waters in Irving, at 8701 Cypress Waters Blvd. #150, in the former Chilli Thai space, with a menu that is decidedly not run-of-the-mill.

Casa Comal, whose roots lie in Mexico City, specializes in tacos, with a wide variety that encompasses everything from traditional Mexico City-style offerings like carnitas and al pastor, to upscale tacos like lemon pepper chicken with arugula.

There's a taco filled with pork rinds, green sauce, and rice; quesa-birria, the trendy taco with shredded beef and crisped jack cheese; and taco Sonora with carne asada and a cheese-stuffed Anaheim pepper.

Seafood tacos include shrimp and tempura-fried fish; and there are vegetarian options such as zucchini with corn, or hibiscus flower with mushrooms — two ingredients commonly used in vegetarian tacos.

Everything's served on corn tortillas which they make in-house. With a few exceptions such as the shrimp tacos for $7.75, most of the tacos are $5.75.

In addition to tacos, there are nachos, quesadillas, empanadas, sopas, gorditas, and a torta sandwich filled with meat, refried beans, lettuce, and tomato. Appetizers include queso fundido, tostadas, and flautas filled with shredded chicken and beans.

One of their signatures is the "wet burrito" — sort of a cross between a burrito and an enchilada, featuring a burrito covered with choice or red sauce or verde green.

They also serve a full bar with about 16 cocktails including margaritas, a paloma, and their Mezcal de Pacifico, made with mezcal, coconut water, and lime, says co-owner Bachir Ramadam, who grew up in the Santa Barbara area. He has opened the Irving location with his wife, Elisa, and their partner, Alejandro Vera.

"We combine traditional preparations with local ingredients for dishes that are authentic to both their Mexican origins while incorporating local flavors," he says. "A lot of the recipes come from my family. My father is from Mexico, and this is the food I grew up with."

"But we always try to present the plates with a different touch," he says. "A lot of taquerias do tacos with the filling, salsa, and lime, and that's it. We try to do something a little more complex."

While Irving, Texas is a long way from Santa Barbara, Bachir says they have friends and family here, and are learning the ropes of Tex-Mex, which is more meaty and saucy than what you find on the West Coast.

"California has good Mexican food, but I've tried some Tex-Mex — we went to a couple restaurants, and I like it," he says. Good answer!

tacos openings