For months, I’ve been trading restaurant tips via e-mail with Emily, Food GPS adherent and close friend of Leslie, my office-mate. Leslie, Emily, her friend Nan and I finally met for Korean comfort food at Jeon Ju, in the heart of Koreatown.

Los Angeles’ Koreatown contains the largest Korean population outside North and South Korea. Koreatown’s unofficial borders are Western Avenue on the west, Beverly Boulevard on the north, Hoover Street on the east, and Olympic Boulevard on the south. Within this relatively small, densely packed area, there are literally hundreds of Korean restaurants to choose from, ranging from 24-hour diner Hodori to Yongsusan, an upscale Korean restaurant that strictly serves tasting menus in private rooms with servers dedicated exclusively to you. Jeon Ju falls somewhere in between the two.

Jeon Ju occupies the bottom corner of a double-decker mini-mall. Columns of Korean text appear on white walls, alongside a pair of decorative Korean masks. The back wall is mirrored. A third wall is lined with white and brown screens. The furniture: simple red and blonde.

Our friendly waitress, Jennifer, brought out six cold dishes known as panchan. They traditionally precede Korean meals, they change nightly, and they’re complimentary. I’ve never had better. We were treated to kimchi (chili-soaked preserved cabbage), sesame marinated spinach, steamed broccoli with chili sauce, squares of steamed egg, chili-marinated cubes of radish, and [Chang Tah]: cuts of flour, bean curd and scallion pancake, only available on Saturday. We were also each given cold napa cabbage and daikon soup, a bowl of hot seaweed soup, and a metal dish of perfect steamed white rice.

We started with Tuk Man Don ($7.41), a big bowl of murky white soup featuring rice discs, delicate pork filled dumplings, and scrambled egg whites. It was a subtle, tasty dish, topped with thin strips of dried seaweed and a sprinkling of sesame seeds.

BBQ Beef Bul Ko Ki ($11.12) featured a big sizzling plate of caramelized onions and sesame oil-soaked shredded beef, which got crusty on the metal plate. Delicious.

Eun-Dae Goo Jo Rim ($15.75) featured big cross sections of “hard broiled codfish,” scallions and radish soaked in a rich red miso and chili paste. The fish featured a fatty layer of skin (which easily peeled away) and plenty of tiny bones (which didn’t). The flesh was flaky and it was certainly tender. The radish soaked up so much of the spice, it was intense, but tasty.

Mid-way through the meal, Jennifer brought an added bonus, a grilled fillet of chili-soaked [Tah Dock] root, designed to be eaten with rice, since it’s so spicy. The chewy, meaty root was sensational, crusty from the grill, with a fire kick.

Our fourth dish was Jeon Ju Dor Sot ($9.26), Jeon-Ju Style Stone Pot Rice. The rice came in a sizzling stone pot embedded in a wood box and featured chestnuts, ginkgo nuts, red dates, green beans, diced carrots, peas and corn. A dish of scallion-filled soy sauce was available for spooning onto the sizzling, crusty rice. It was okay, but I’m convinced most of the ingredients came from a can.

Next time, I’ll return to a dish I previously ordered and enjoyed: Kalbi Dor Sot Bibim Bap ($8.34). It was a sizzling stone pot filled with white rice, topped with little chunks of tender, boned short ribs, little strips of seaweed, mushrooms, onions, spinach, sprouts, a mystery yellow root veggie, cabbage, and one soft-boiled egg. Mixed with chili paste, it made for a terrific meal. The oil at the bottom of the stone pot crusted the rice. I’ve never had better bibimbap.

Interesting menu items that’ll have to wait include an octuplet of casseroles, including fish egg, crab, and bean curd dregs; Chun Bok Jook, rice gruel with abalone; Sam Gyup Sal Kim-Chi Bok-Um, pan-fried pork with kimchi; Oh Jing Uh Bok-Um, spicy pan-fried squid; and Gae Jang Back Ban, raw crab with rice.

The evening was a success. It was fun to share dinner with a group of fellow food-lovers. At least half our conversation concerned the L.A. and O.C. dining scene. Perhaps most importantly, everybody liked the food. Jeon Ju serves some truly tasty Korean comfort food.

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This entry is filed under California, Eastside, Korean, Los Angeles, Southern California.