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#42 Seol Ak San

Posted on October 22, 2007
Filed Under Barbecue, Korean |

Seol Ak San sits in a small plaza kind of in the middle of nowhere on Beach Blvd in Stanton, just north of Westminster. Wandering Chopsticks recommended it to me way back in February, and only now have I gotten around to it. Joining us tonight is my good friend Bob, his lovely girl An, and An’s friend Nora.

Indeed, God’s love is everywhere, even on the chopstick covers at this Korean Barbecue joint!

The really special thing about this place is that they use a rock slab to cook! Eager to see it in action and feeling the heat coming off the black rock slab, we quickly decide which of God’s numerous (and delicious) creations to eat. Here’s the duck being slapped onto the cooking surface. Duck has a lot more fat than chicken and it’s sweet and delicious. I wish more all-you-can-eat places offered duck.

We also have to have the tongue, of course, the cut here is quite large. The flavor is stronger than other places, not gamey but rich, I was impressed.

Wandering Chopsticks raved about the number of panchan they provide here, and it is spectacular, with at least 3 or 4 items I’ve never seen before. Also, instead of the usual rice paper, they offer a plate of thinly sliced pickled turnip instead. It goes great with meat, just ike rice paper. I appreciate the new experience, but still kind of miss my rice paper…

For example, the spinach with tofu…

Or the marinaded raw crab. (I’ve seen this elsewhere, but it’s not often that I see it. Yay, crabs!)

Eggplants, these were very nice.

We then went for the marinaded ribs, I was ecstatic to see a couple of bone-in pieces. The meat was cut a little too thin in my opinion and we probably could’ve finished a second order… it wasn’t the biggest portion of ribs.

When you order more than two orders of meat, the waitresses will come by and prepare the fried rice for you. Here is the rice being dumped onto the rock slab…

All the leftover panchan gets tossed in as well and the rice is tossed and mixed on the slab…

…then spread out and left to cook until slightly crispy.

I couldn’t resist, we started digging in with our spoons WAY too early.

The helpful waitress also recommend a side dish — fried mackerel with a slightly tangy / spicy sauce and peppered with sesame seeds. It was fantastic, deliciously crunchy and with great flavor from the sauce. I also loved that it was a whole fish presented to me on a big plate, very dramatic.

The price is typical of a non-all-you-can-eat KBBQ place, which is around $16 to $22 per plate. The fried rice is a great bonus and the ridiculous tsunami of panchan is awesome. The service is friendly and helpful, the waitress took her time to explain and suggest things to us, which I really appreciated despite being a bit of a KBBQ veteran, as this is the 7th KBBQ place I reviewed here on 50meals. I’d highly recommend the duck and tongue. And you should definitely give the mackerel a try.

Special thanks to Wandering Chopsticks for her recommendation and Bob and An and Nora for joining me.

Seol Ak San
12140 Beach Bl
Stanton, CA 90680
(714) 799-7977

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