Saturday evening found me back at California Kitchen in Gyeongnidan, right next to Itaewon. Charles's wife HJ joined us for dinner; it was good to catch up with her. This was to be Part 2 of my trip through Cali Kitchen's menu. Charles had suggested tacos; last time, I saw the place had both chicken and carnitas tacos, and since I knew that most places that serve tacos usually serve small ones, I ordered both types. I felt a bit guilty about this since Charles had said that the night would be his treat, but I still looked forward to the culinary adventure.
Below are the chicken tacos:
And here are the carnitas (grilled, seasoned pork) tacos:
I belatedly remembered to take a shot of the restaurant's front—something I had forgotten to do as an "establishing shot" the last time:
HJ also had an order of chicken tacos, and Charles had the "burger of the month," which turned out to be a bacon-guacamole cheeseburger with Swiss cheese. It looked big, drippy, and messy when it came out, and Charles said he enjoyed it. I said I liked the carnitas tacos much better than the chicken tacos even though the latter weren't bad at all. HJ agreed that the carnitas tacos were better, but she hadn't ordered them because, the previous day, she'd gotten a huge order of pig trotters from the Han River Night Market (I think), and she was planning on finishing the eating of that order on Sunday. Not wanting three days of pork in a row, HJ ordered the chicken tacos. Made sense to me.
I'm not sure how much I liked the tacos' dipping sauce; it seemed to be going in several directions at once—a little mild tomato/pepperiness here, a little smokiness there, but there was nothing to bring it into focus like saltiness, tartness, or spiciness. So the dipping sauce was my least favorite part of the meal (I would've preferred the sauce that came with my burrito last time), but the carnitas more than made up for that. I'll be having those tacos again the next time I find myself in this part of town. While I enjoyed my burger and burrito during my first trip, the carnitas tacos were memorable. Probably the best item on the menu thus far. Unfortunately, the tacos were pretty small; I could probably eat about twenty of them before feeling even a little full. That notwithstanding, they were truly delicious.
I passed along to Charles my meat-grinding kit for my KitchenAid stand mixer; Charles has a KitchenAid as well, so I'm assuming the grinder will be compatible with his appliance. If not, well, at least he didn't have to pay for the grinder (or maybe he did by treating me to dinner!). I hope he doesn't experience the same machinist-grease disaster I'd experienced before I realized that you need to cube up your meat before you grind it. Anyway, Charles says he has some plans to make some burgers and sausage, and I affirmed that, once you start grinding your own meat, the feeling of being able to control what goes into your burgers and/or sausage is quite nice. Ever since I started grinding my own beef and lamb (I haven't tried chicken yet), I've found it hard to go back to store-bought ground meat.
So Saturday evening's dinner was nice. I don't have much of a chance to get together with my expat friends. With my Korean friends, it's different: while I haven't seen my Korean buddy JW in a couple months, he's usually easily available for a walk on random weekends. My point is that I appreciate any chance I can get to hang with my fellow furriners. Such chances don't come along that often because we all have such different lives and different schedules.
Still, I'll be visiting Charles's place on Sunday (technically, today) to drop off an apple-pineapple pie. This time around, I added some vanilla to the pie filling because that was, I think, one of the other flavor notes from Charles's inspiring beer—Mago Sour Ale, the beer that had originally inspired my inclusion of pineapple in an apple pie. I was worried, after adding the vanilla, that the whole thing would taste horrible, but the flavor seems to be okay. I hope Charles and his Missus enjoy the pie. Preferably with some ice cream.
When will I next see my friends again (after Sunday, I mean)? No idea. And that's why things like Saturday night's dinner are such a treat.
A good time was indeed had by all. And, though it is unfortunate that today didn't work out, we'll figure something out eventually. We've still got to do scones as well, as you may remember. We might have to wait until after Jeju for you and "conference month" (a conference every freaking weekend) for me, though. Depends on what the rest of September turns out like.
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