The new "Seoulful" menu at Gyenari

When Gyenari first opened in downtown Culver City, I was unsure how a lone Korean BBQ restaurant would fare in this area with Koreatown and its plethora of authentic and inexpensive eateries just a short drive up La Cienega. And yet Gyenari seems to be doing just well; every time I walk by, the bar is packed and bustling despite the fact that so much competition exists just steps from the front doors.

Gyenari recently paired with Los Angeles-based chef Debbie Lee--who was a finalist on last season's The Next Food Network Star--to create a new "Seoulful" menu consisting of chef Lee's Korean-Southern fusion dishes and cocktails. Korean-influenced sliders, a kalbi torta, and a Korean Malt drink are just some of the many items on the updated menu. Last Thursday was the premier of "Seoulful dishes" and so I coaxed a few coworkers to make the post-work trip here to give it a try. We arrived around 6pm and the bar area was in full swing with plenty of young bar-goers intermixed with professional-types enjoying drinks and food. The scene here is chill yet happening; A DJ off the side of the bar spins hip-hop and house tunes (heard a really sweet track from Kaskade).

We start with our libation requests and I order the St. Gyenari, a cocktail with St. Germain elderflower, sake, and a soda splash. Unfortunately, the soda splash was more like a soda tsunami as it simply drowned the delicate taste from the elderflower liquor, resulting in a rather tasteless and weak cocktail. My coworker ordered the Raspberry Acai, which she seemed to like since she ordered another after downing her first in short order.

St. Gyenari. Any weaker and this could be legally served from a middle-school vending machine.

Raspberry Acai. It certainly looks pretty.

We initiate round one of the food orders and get each of the sliders--pork, crab, short-rib--and a plate of spicy garlic chicken wings.

Pork sliders

Sliders, left to right: crab, short-rib, and pork.

The crab sliders were excellent with plenty of crab meat, a soft bun, and an Asian pear slaw topping. A bit spicy and cooked very nicely, these are definitely a do-over in my playbook. The short-rib and bulgogi slider, unfortunately, had tough, overcooked meat and came up short on flavor. The beef either needs to be sliced thinner or cooked rarer. I had just a small bite of the pork sliders and it was very good and cooked well. Another coworker seemed to really like these. One issue I had with all the sliders is that each is quite large for a typical slider. I would rather see Gyenari downsize these and cut the price so we can order more for sharing.



The wings were spicy, garlicky, and very messy and you already know that I'm a spiraling train wreck when it comes to handling food like this. Some four or five napkins later and my impression of the wings was positive; they were cooked just right with plenty of juicy meat, and in the end the overall taste lived up to expectations.

Round 2 starts with something that wasn't on the printed menu but that I knew was available as part of the Seoulful specials, the shrimp po'boy. How did I know? Because I was meant to know these things.



I had high expectations, but chef Lee, you let me down with this unattractive debacle. The tempura-fried shrimp, slaw, and chili tomatoes did not meld at all and this sandwich just spilled over like a building implosion gone awry. And folks that really is bread you see in the picture, not a quartz tile, although I could have used a tile cutter to halve this thing. Big disappointment, but Gyenari is about redeem itself with my next drink.

I order a second cocktail, the Korean Malt with soju, Scotch, cola, and a lemon which is squeezed over the top. This was fantastic and very stiff; notice the color--it's mostly liquor! This blogger is seriously getting his drink on and a few of these would do me in for the night.



Next we have the K-Town Torta with kalbi short rib served on Ciabatta bread. Again the bread was simply too tough and made it very challenging to eat the sandwich with the meat not spilling over to the plate. There is little meshing of flavors; you taste bread, then slaw, then meat. Not so with the Kogi torta which is a mouthful of flavor and texture with each bite.



I'm not sure what this next dish was but I think it's the Beef Lotus Patties. Basically we have beef patties covered with fried egg. Another disappointment as these were totally overcooked and lackluster in flavor.


Final dish of the night is bulgogi Ssam: green-leaf lettuce with glass noodles, bulgogi beef, and dipping sauces. This was more representative of a typical Korean dish you'd find in Koreatown. Though not as good as, say Chosun Galbee, the bulgogi was very tender and tasty. Fresh, crisp greens and nicely cooked noodles made this dish a hit with our group.


Although I didn't get to try every item on the new Seoulful menu, I did get a good taste of the new offerings and have uncovered some definite hits and misses. Overall I feel this is a good move for Gyenari as they've generated some buzz with the Debbie Lee partnering. I'll definitely come back for the pork and crab sliders, the Ssam, and Korean Malts (yes multiple--where are my drinking partners?).

By the way, my coworkers know that I'm a foodie and I really appreciated their patience while I took the pictures. Thank you!

Gyenari
9540 Culver Boulevard
Culver City, CA 90232