“Gil Mok,” as it’s known in Korean, has been on a K-town side street for over 26 years, in a strip mall that most people have never seen, myself included. Thankfully, Mattatouille has been eating here since he was a kid, so he knew to come here. The décor is simple: lime green walls, marble tabletops with built-in grills and brown booths. There’s a second Corner Place in Cerritos that is apparently fancier. Still, the crowd at this location was fairly fashionable, and the unadulterated barbecued beef was simple but high quality, clearly some of the best in town.

Panchan (clockwise from top left) included tender zucchini slices, traditional kimchi, chile-slathered carrots tossed with chewy strips of what may have been jellyfish, and Jang-Ah-Chi – jalapeno slices pickled in soy sauce.

The rest of the panchan consisted of crisp pickled daikon, bean sprouts, and candied black beans that tasted like they were marinated in corn syrup. We also received bowls of bracing pickled cabbage soup and chilled radish slices.

The menu offers only 19 dishes. The only question was which cuts of beef to order. Matt knew to order Hye Mit Gui ($18.95), pink Beef Tongue cut thin and lean.

Chilmok Gui ($21.95) is The Corner Place’s House Special, similar to galbi (short ribs), delivered with sliced mushrooms. The meat was fairly lean, with a much richer color than the tongue.

The beef formed a nice char on our tabletop grill.

Almost every table in the restaurant hosted at least one bowl of Dong Chimi Gook Soo ($4.75) - Cold Noodle in Soup. “Gook Soo” means noodles in Korean. The thin white noodles were similar to vermicelli, floating with scallions, julienned cucumber, sliced tomato and jalapeno. The recipe is a closely guarded secret. Matt said an old woman arrives at The Corner Place early in the morning to make the broth. Adherents speculate about what goes into the soup. The only ingredient that’s pretty much confirmed is 7 Up. The other certainty is that the broth was habit-forming, which is especially impressive given the lack of meat.

The Corner Place doesn’t automatically include rice, since it just fills your stomach. The idea is to pair a piece of beef with a tuft of shaved scallion salad, dressed with sesame oil and chile flakes. Then slurp some soup for a cool palate cleanser and repeat.

Plenty of local diners now consider Park’s the gold standard for Korean barbecue in Los Angeles. That nearby rival may offer Prime cuts of beef and twice as many panchan, but The Corner Place is still very good, and more reasonably priced.

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