Namu and Authenticity
My Lucky Peach finally made it home. It took only one month from the time I placed the order, and just when school started and me getting buried beneath ten miles of homework. But I’ve taken a peek every now and then at its colorful albeit tiny pictures of ramen (this first issue is all about ramen) and gorged in the fourth article while waiting for the bus. This is the bad thing about food magazines (or anything serial and food related, except cookbooks): it’s so easy to read it’s addictive, I can’t even fall asleep reading it, then I get sleep deprived. So I never buy them. But Lucky Peach is different: it’s recommended by a friend, subsequently ordered by two other friends, all of whom have highly experienced and respectable tastes; what I can do? I haven’t finished the entire thing, but the fourth article is a good one. Good enough to console myself for surrendering to peer pressure. In hindsight, it’s one of the highlights of the lunch we shared at Namu. (Not that the magazine is in any way related to Namu, Rob just showed it to us while we were eating at Namu.)
The other two highlights were some kind of pickled onion and the gochujang (고추장) for the bibimbap. The pickled onion, the best of the four kimchi/pickle varieties, tasted crisp, thorough, and to the point; the gochujang was nutty with a light fruity hint. Namu also had the presentation going for it: from the sparsely spaced tables tucked along the walls to the petite tea cups and blue-and-white serving bowls, the whole place uttered cuteness. The main courses, however, sparked more discussion than compliments among us four, mainly surrounding authenticity.
Of course, Namu is not about “authentic”. It is Chef Dennis Lee’s “cutting edge new California” interpretation with a Korean influence, evident by the appearance of english muffins and tortilla alongside kimchi relish. Depending on your definition of authenticity, authentic Korean food may be hard to come by 8000 miles from Korea, but the authentics can evolve (as they have always been), and I’m all for fusing ingredients to spread the scope of an ethnic cuisine. In fact, I wish Namu had fused more ingredients together. It’s not the english muffin, the tortilla or the chorizo that made me skeptical looking at the menu, it’s the lonely and repetitive incorporation of kimchi in almost every single dish.
There is a whole lot more to Korean food than kimchi, and baechu kimchi at that. Simply adding the fermented cabbage on a hamburger bun or laying it next to the steak doesn’t give the dish any more Korean background than adding sausage making it German. Namu would be more accurately described as “cutting edge new California with kimchi”.
The other unsettling point for me was the available choices. We went as Korean as we could, which was easy because there were only two Korean dishes on the menu, and got kimchi fried rice, dolsot bibimbap and two sizzling okonomiyaki, not because it sounded the most interesting but because Japan is right next to Korea. Now, bibimbap, although loved by many non-Koreans and as representative of Korean menus in America as McDonalds representative of America outside America, seems a bit lackluster as a “restaurant” item. It’s not wild enough to be “California”, and it’s not complicated enough to be “Korean”. Not to mention that our hostess mixed the rice so much for so long that there was barely any time left for the rice crust to form, or perhaps the dolsot wasn’t hot enough. The kimchi fried rice didn’t convince me. The okonomiyaki, made Korean by the kimchi touch, erred on the salty side but was arguably the best piece of the three.
Would we have had more excitement had we tossed the Korean concept and gotten the loco moco or the egg sandwich? But without the Korean concept, what makes the Namu brunch different from the other hundreds one could get in the Inner Richmond? I’m not sure.
Magnificent goods from you, man. I’ve take note your stuff previous to and you are simply extremely excellent. I actually like what you’ve acquired here, really like what you’re stating and the way during which you are saying it. You’re making it enjoyable and you continue to care for to keep it wise. I can not wait to read far more from you. This is actually a great website.
1I have been browsing on-line more than 3 hours nowadays, yet I never discovered any attention-grabbing article like yours. It’s beautiful price sufficient for me. Personally, if all website owners and bloggers made just right content material as you probably did, the internet will probably be a lot more helpful than ever before. “Truth is not determined by majority vote.” by Doug Gwyn.
2Please let me know if you’re looking for a article writer for your weblog. You have some really good posts and I believe I would be a good asset. If you ever want to take some of the load off, I’d really like to write some articles for your blog in exchange for a link back to mine. Please blast me an e-mail if interested. Kudos!
3I would like to thnkx for the efforts you have put in writing this blog. I am hoping the same high-grade blog post from you in the upcoming as well. In fact your creative writing abilities has inspired me to get my own blog now. Really the blogging is spreading its wings quickly. Your write up is a good example of it.
4I was very pleased to find this web-site.I wanted to thanks for your time for this wonderful read!! I definitely enjoying every little bit of it and I have you bookmarked to check out new stuff you blog post.
5Some truly interesting information, well written and generally user pleasant.
6Howdy! Do you know if they make any plugins to protect against hackers? I’m kinda paranoid about losing everything I’ve worked hard on. Any suggestions?
7My brother suggested I might like this web site. He was totally right. This post actually made my day. You cann’t imagine simply how much time I had spent for this information! Thanks!
8Wow, incredible weblog format! How long have you ever been running a blog for? you made running a blog glance easy. The whole glance of your web site is excellent, as smartly as the content material!
9WONDERFUL Post.thanks for share..more wait .. …
10It’s actually a nice and helpful piece of information. I’m glad that you shared this useful information with us. Please stay us informed like this. Thanks for sharing.
11Great tremendous things here. I’m very happy to peer your article. Thanks so much and i am looking ahead to touch you. Will you kindly drop me a mail?
12A formidable share, I simply given this onto a colleague who was doing somewhat evaluation on this. And he actually bought me breakfast because I found it for him.. smile. So let me reword that: Thnx for the treat! But yeah Thnkx for spending the time to debate this, I feel strongly about it and love reading extra on this topic. If doable, as you develop into experience, would you mind updating your weblog with more particulars? It is highly helpful for me. Massive thumb up for this weblog submit!
13Great website! I am loving it!! Will come back again. I am bookmarking your feeds also.
14You have brought up a very wonderful details, appreciate it for the post.
15I must convey my passion for your kindness for those who need assistance with this one idea. Your very own dedication to getting the solution along became really valuable and have in most cases made men and women just like me to achieve their objectives. Your own valuable facts indicates this much a person like me and much more to my fellow workers. Best wishes; from all of us.
16I really appreciate this post. I’ve been looking everywhere for this! Thank goodness I found it on Bing. You have made my day! Thank you again
17Great post. I am facing a couple of these problems.
18I do enjoy the way you have presented this specific matter and it does give us a lot of fodder for thought. However, because of what I have seen, I simply just trust as other commentary pack on that men and women stay on point and in no way start on a tirade associated with the news du jour. Still, thank you for this exceptional point and even though I do not agree with it in totality, I regard your perspective.
19