The Bold and the Barbecued
Korean cuisine's tempting appeal

By Tom Sietsema
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, Sept. 25, 2005

Sushi has become a staple of school lunchboxes, and the stews of Ethiopia are popular enough to sustain dozens of purveyors in Washington alone. But Korean food has yet to grab the D.C. area's attention the way other once-exotic cuisines have done, which is curious, considering the mass American appeal for barbecued meat and bold flavors. That hasn't stopped Korean restaurants from opening left and right, mostly in "Koreatown" -- aka Annandale -- but also elsewhere in the area.

The eyes have it at Kuma, a year-old restaurant whose pale wood floors, brown wood tables and assorted greenery make it an attractive place to hoist chopsticks. The ears pay a price for all those hard surfaces, however, as well as a musical loop that seems stuck on a thumping techno beat. And while I appreciate attention and efficiency in my servers, it would be nice to have a nanosecond to look over the menu before having to make any decisions. "Whatwouldyouliketodrink?" the otherwise congenial waiters tend to ask right away -- once, before I even sat down.

Pretend you don't see the sushi bar in the rear, and feel free to skip over the first few pages of the menu, which leads off with a bunch of Japanese dishes, running from teriyaki to tempura. The sushi is pallid, and the tempura is leathery, a waste of decent vegetables. Just as too many Salvadoran restaurants think the only way to bring in American diners is by serving Mexican food as part of the deal, a number of Korean restaurants feel compelled to offer sushi and other Japanese dishes. In my experience, such marriages of convenience are often a mistake.

To get to the best of Kuma -- that's "bear" in Japanese -- you have to concentrate on the page of Korean specials. My favorite is the rice-based bibim bap, which diners hear before they see. Served in a deep clay bowl, the rice crackles against the heat of the vessel as noisily as fajitas do. The mound of grains is prettily arranged with crisp bean sprouts, threads of beef, batons of carrot and a sunny, runny egg, all of which are blended together at the table for a delectable and comforting one-dish meal. Kalbi is Korea's answer to barbecue, shavings of tender short ribs seasoned here with soy sauce, sesame oil, garlic, brown sugar and a bit of mashed pear, and served over a thin layer of cabbage. I'd like it more if it weren't so sweet. Of the soups, I'm partial to beef broth flavored with scallions and floating fat dumplings with soft beef-and-vegetable centers. As for noodle entrees, jap chae is a sure bet. Thin and glassy vermicelli hooks up with shreds of beef, onion, carrot and more.

Kuma is easy to look at, easy on the budget and something of a rarity in the District. Within city limits, there aren't more than a few sources for Korean food. What in Annandale would be lost among a field of fierce competition is in Washington a modest find.