Dae Bok Restaurant

 

9

77

Jason L.

Los Angeles, CA

I really love the fish soup!  Also the spicy cod dish.  So good.  But yeah this place is only fish or seafood.  Nothing else and now their portions got a lot smaller and the pricer higher hence why I go here once a year.  They mix rice for you at the end and that is yummy too.  I use the wasabi sauce to eat with the rice the stir fry for you and that tastes great with a little bit of the soup.

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Elite '08

769

804

SAM Y.

Los Angeles, CA

my sister loves this place. i myself don't. but that is more of a personal bias, as i can only eat so much fish. this place is strictly fish, no beef, pork, nada. all fish. fish steamed, stew, etc. but no sushi or sashimi either or any raw fish. not even like shell fish or octopus and squid. its a very traditional looking place. all wooden.

if you wanna try something different, something not korean bbq, and you love fish, this might be the spot. actually it's not bad when you are hung over. order one of the jjims or tangs. don't order a ddong jjim though!

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5

21

Lori H.

Los Angeles, CA

Fish, fish and more fish... and a ton of sprouts.  YES!

Keep it coming!  

Steam it and throw it on some bean sprouts, saute it with spicy red pepper sauce, more sprouts and some "taste of the sea" things (more on that in a moment), and then... why not make a soup with more fish, sprouts, greens and as soon as you're done with that - here comes the rice. I could eat the rice dish everyday for the rest of my life!

It's always a hoot when I go to this place - it's like they've never seen a white girl before and are very skeptical about my ability to eat spicy food, but I prove I can eat and drink like any Korean. I may not be that helpful with exactly what we ate, but fortunately, you can just order for two and let the food happen. And if you can polish off everything that hits the table - call me, let's eat.

Taste of the sea:   In the spicy dish, there's these little quarter sized things in there that you pop in your mouth, bite down on and let the sea water squirt out only to spit it back out.  Why would you do this?  I don't know, cuz it fun... WHAT!? But the steamed fish in the spicy red pepper sauce (blow fish, monk fish, and/or anglerfish - I don't know/care- they're all good) is fantastic - as was the steamed fish over the bed of steamed sprouts and the boiled fish in the spicy soup and the harvest rice with the mounds of greens (dandelion?), dried seaweed and sesame oil added to the leftover soup to be sure that your hollow leg is completely full. I have no idea what fish was what, only that it was great and I'll be coming back for more.

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0

10

christine p.

Westwood, CA

Though fantastic in any season, this place is best on a rainy day. Ideally you want to smell the wet concrete as you leave your car and walk through the door.

Warning, once you step inside you're hit by a garlic tempest that follows you around for days.

A bottle of soju or the yummy blackberry wine called bokboonja is essential for a special meal like this one.

Start  the eating extravaganza with Ago Chim, a butt kicking first course that consists of large fillets of monk fish smothered in a fiery Red Sea of chili pepper sauce, garlic, bean sprouts and yes, the eponymous daebok. Fortunately, the obnoxious puffer fish can easily be tossed aside.

Next, try a sizzling plate of grilled eel in a teriyaki sauce or the Korean version, which is superior if intense flavors are what you're after. The Korean style eel takes on a consistency similar to squid and is much spicier and more garlicky than the original, which is kinda like eating unagi.

The fish soup called jiri should come next. Daebok is big on bean sprouts and this soup is teeming with them and some tofu to boot.

You can get the soup with chili paste, maeoontang, which is more flavorful than it's milder sister, but after the previous mouth smoldering menace, I like the contrast of a soothing, if bland, fish broth. Besides, if you're still jonesing for something with a bite, the fish can be dipped in a soy sauce, green onion and hot mustard concoction.

Perhaps the best part of this dining experience is when the spunky spiked haired waitress comes over to your table and divvies up the remaining soup, dumps some cooked rice in the hot pot, adds onions, spices and sesame oil, creating a mildly delicious dish fried rice dish. Just add a little of the mustard-soy sauce mlange to taste and you're good to go.

Finally, attempt to cleanse your palate with a cold cup of shikae (sweet rice drink) brought at the meal's end.

God forbid, should I ever have to face execution, I would die happy if this were my last meal.

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Elite '08

78

72

Baro W.

Los Angeles, CA

"Just in....Another restaurant gets photo-raped by Baro's camera."

damn right....

Who in the world figured out a way to cut up a blowfish so that the rest of the human race would be able to eat it and not die? I don't know....But if that person were here, I'd gladly stick my tongue down his/her throat.  haha. Just kidding......not.

All those pictures are mine, so let's just follow along with those. The signs blah blah....okay the menu, if you look at the picture, that's all you really need to choose from. The side dishes consist of tofu, mook(i don't know how to describe this in english), spinach?, seaweed, potato salad, mee nah ree w/ blowfish skin(this is bombbbb), cold radish soup?, and your dipping sauce for the blowfish which is made up of what tastes like a ponzu sauce, green onions, and korean mustard called "gyuh-jah". (Again, see beautiful pictures).

For the main dishes, actually the only two dishes you really need to choose is the Jiri and the Jjim(see pictures). The jiri comes out served in a hot pot with some blowfish chunks, bean sprouts, korean radishes, and a korean veggie called "mee nah ree". The Jjim comes out served on a plate pipin' hot in a thick spicy sauce with bean sprouts and that mee nah ree. When you're about done with your Jiri, the waitress will come around and mix up some rice with seaweed and more of that mee nah ree right into that jiri soup. The results are most heavenly (see pictures).

Our little family secret: What I like to do(and i got this from my dad) is...I like to let the fried rice sit there for just a couple minutes in the pot so that the bottom kind of crusts. Why? I like scraping it off the bottom of the pot because it creates a sort of noo-roong jee(basically like toasted rice) except it's flavored now!!!!!! So you got the crunchy side(bottom of rice that makes contact with pot) and the soft side(top of rice that doesn't make contact with pot)!!!!!! Hooooollllllyyyyyy Craaaaaaaap!!!

...................I'm a nerd...i know....leave me alone.

What's great about the blowfish is that there are no little bones that you have to pick out. Just eat off the sides of the main spine and that's it. Make sure you dip it in your dipping sauce. OOh!!! that blowfish skin side dish that i mentioned earlier.....the texture is kinda chewy, almost rubbery, but once you try it, you'll be asking for more.

This establishment has come a long way. If i knew of yelp before, i would've been the first to review it at the age of 12 or 13. haha. I remember when the menu was right on that paper where you place your plates on. Now they've got these buttons that call waitresses and their fancy menu books. Whatever, as long as their food tastes the same....And it does my friends. It does.

P.S. Almost forgot! Their soju is 11-12 bucks!! Quite expensive(although I really don't drink except in the comfort of my own room). Also, when you order the Jjim, make sure you ask for "Bok". Bok is blowfish in korean. You should specify because there are two types of Jjim: Bok and Ah-goo. So make sure you let them waitresses know.

Enjoy my fellow yelpers.

-baro

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117

82

modernist c.

Los Angeles, CA

as long as i'm on the subject of "keepring it reer"
heres one more for you, but this time, korean style....

most people are fascinated by blow fish, essentially because it can fucking kill you... urusawa has/had it when in season (spring time-they've been having trouble getting it in because of post 9/11 customs). personally, i find it to be a moderately bland tasting white fish, but i've heard that blowfish liver is good. i have yet to try that.

at dae bok, you can rock some blowfish hotpot action. its your typical korean style stew. a briny stock with garlic, spicy or non. lots of veggies and then when you're done they will fry some stir fried rice action in there.

there is a side of cold  blowfish skin which is a bit rubbery/gelatinous.

the other dish that is good is spicy monkfish bbq. they also have eel and catfish

the meal will run you about 15-20 bux a person. the dishes are generally big enough to share.

if this part of ktown is too sketchy for you, theres another newer one further west on 6th and western in the northwest corner with mr. coffee and the sun dae restaraunt (korean blood sausage - another opportunity to keep it reer!) the dishes are about a buck more at this location

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