Ethnic Lunch Spots on Quivira

Anyone who lives or works in the South KC/Overland Park area knows all too well that it very difficult to find good authentic ethnic eats in the area (no, Jose Pepper's and Pei Wei do not count!). As someone who works in South KC, I am always eager to try new authentic ethnic eateries when someone tells me about them. I have done a blog post on the Caspian Bistro already, and am always looking for good (reasonably priced, if possible) ethnic food in the Southland.

All of that being said, this post is about two awesome ethnic eateries in the Southland: El Fogon (Mexican Deli & Taqueria) and Choga (Korean).

First, we will visit Choga, an authentic Korean restaurant. I have never been to Korea, but the food is just like the food that the grandmother of one of my childhood friends always made for us. It also came highly recommended by a Malaysian coworker of mine, and when we got there we ran into a number of Korean co-workers. All of that being said, I am fairly confident in labeling it authentic without ever stepping foot on the continent of Asia.

The lunch menu at Choga offers smaller portions than their dinner menu, at more lunch friendly prices. I went with the Yang Nyum Kalbi (grilled beef short ribs marinated in Kalbi sauce), as it came highly recommended. The short ribs came off of the bone (as shown in the photo in the lower right) and they were quite tender and very tasty. It may not appear that there is much meat on the tray, but the serving size is actually quite satisfying. I would definitely recommend this to someone going to Choga.

Every lunch comes with: Kimchi, steamed white rice, house salad, Japchae, fresh fruit, and two pan fried beef dumplings. The Kimchi (traditional Korean, fermented cabage) was not quite as spicy as I am used to, but still had very good flavour. It was also slightly different that all sides came on your tray, except the Kimchi, that came on one dish for the whole table (but sharing is the Korean way). The steamed rice was perfectly sticky-icky. The house salad was made with fresh greens and a nicely flavoured vinaigrette. The Japchae (stir fried sweet potato noodles) was new to me and did not taste anything like sweet potato, as I had expected, but was more like a traditional rice noodle that had some added pigment. The fresh fruit that came with my lunch was watermelon, as it was in season at the time. The two pan fried beef dumplings were fantastic.

My coworker had been to Choga for dinner and was telling us about the newly installed in-table grills and vent hoods, the concept of this is somewhat lost on me, I believe it is something you have to experience to fully understand. It sounds like a Korean hybrid of hibachi and fondue, I will have to go sometime for dinner to get a better understanding of it. I will surely post pictures after I do, but as you can see, they are brand spanking new.

Secondly, El Fogon, a self titled "Mexican Deli and Taqueria". El Fogon has authentic Mexican fare, I can attest to the authenticity of El Fogon. They serve street tacos, burritos, tortas, authentic Mexican desserts, and authentic Mexican bebidas (drinks, such as jamaica and horchata). We all know that I have an unhealthy love affair with authentic Mexican street food.

El Fogon is a deli style restaurant, in that you walk in and walk up to the counter to place your order. I loved the Mexican decor, Spanish music playing over the speakers, and soccer on the TV. It seems like it is a family operation and the whole menu looked great! I went with the tacos, they offered 5 different varieties (Carne, Pollo, Chorizo, Barbacoa, and Al Pastor), and at only $1.50 each I figured I could afford to try them all. The tacos were very good, not the best I ever had, but that is not at all an indictment on the tacos and more of a statement of the amazing tacos that I have had in my life.

The tacos came bare, they have a table of condiments that allows you can put what you want on them, I went with the traditional Mexican fixins (cilantro, onion, and squeezed lime, as if there were any other way to eat a taco). The corn tortillas (the only tortillas to have, in my opinion) were hand pressed and delicious. You can always tell if a tortilla is hand-pressed or made on an assembly line by the markings on the tortilla itself, not to mention the difference in taste (those who don't like corn tortillas are probably just forming their opinions after trying store bought corn tortillas). Anyways, on to the taco meats; all of the meats were solid options, but the Chorizo had to be my favorite. This is odd, because Chorizo is not usually my favorite street taco meat, but El Fogon's Chorizo is delightful! I do love salsa verde on my tacos, El Fogon's salsa verde had good taste (however, if you are a major heat seeker, you may want to try another salsa on your tacos, but the verde is good for me).

I had the Jamaica, a traditional Mexican drink made from the leaves of the Hibiscus flower, to go with my tacos. It was a tad sweet for my taste, but was the closest to the Jamaica that I had in Mexico that I have been able to find this side of the border. This is most certainly not the last lunch I will have at El Fogon!

Lulu's Thai Noodle Shop

My wife loves Lulu's Thai Noodle Shop and I have been meaning to try it ever since she came home raving about it. When my mom told us that she wanted to try something unique from Downtown to eat for Mother's Day, something that she couldn't get in the 'burbs, Lulu's immediately came to mind.

The last time my wife had been to Lulu's, it was in their old location. I was never lucky enough to make it to the old location, so I can only comment on the new location. The decor inside the new location looked like it was intended to appeal to the hipster crowd that longed to live in Bangkok. I mean that in the best possible way. The first thing you feel is the calming Thai ambiance, then you kind of notice the retro items that are inevitably associated with hipster culture. The wishing well pond in the middle of the foyer, as you walk in, is an example of the former. While the Thai Coke machine between the door and the bar is an example of the latter.

Other notable decor were: the wok style pans that had been turned upside down and made into functional lighting fixtures (the can be seen if you look very closely at the overhead lighting fixtures in the photos to the right. The wooden sliding doors was another good touch that was put up presumably to separate the dining room we were sitting in from the bar area if needed.

We started it all of with some steamed dumplings off of the Thai Street Food menu, as I am a huge street food fanatic. The waitress recommended the veggie variety, and now I recommend them, because they were amazing! Grab the chop sticks, dip the dumpling in the soy sauce with green onions and cilantro floating in it, enjoy the fresh veggie taste of awesomeness.

For my dinner, Mallory had the Thai Cashew Chicken, which is essentially regular cashew chicken that you would get at your standard Chinese restaurant just with no MSG and a less rich sauce. Solid option though. My mom got the Green Mango Salad (not pictured) that must have been great because she had already ripped half way through it before I could play paparazzi on it. The green mango is initially semi hard (similar to noodles) but is then softened to what one would think of as normal mango texture as it sits in the fish sauce from the salad.

I had the Khun Ma Pad Thai with tofu. I am not normally a tofu guy, all I know about tofu is that there are two main types (firm and soft). I asked the waitress which type was in this dish she replied "neither", to which I was perplexed and intrigued. She went on to explain that it was somewhere in between, she explained that it was not "fresh tofu", which would have completely turned me off to the option if I were any less adventurous (but I later looked up the term "fresh tofu" online and found that its just another name for non-processed tofu, not a statement of the tofu being spoiled). The tofu was was great, it was most nearly the consistency of french toast in light syrup. I ordered my dish as medium spiciness, and it was QUITE hot, I suggest ordering mild if you like it medium and medium if you like it hot. The flavors were great! The peanut sauce was great. The compliments of the squeezed lime, red cabbage, and eggs was perfect with the Pad Thai noodles. I defineately recommend this. As a health conscious individual, the portion was huge and was enough for dinner and lunch the next day. Another thing to notice is that the chopsticks at Lulu's are a pair of cylindrical chopsticks, unlike the ones found at typical Chinese restaurants that must be broken apart at the top, these are MONEY!

After our meal, my mom was mentioning how the only drawback in the Thai vs. Chinese battle was that Thai does not provide a fortune cookie with the meal, because she is a fortune cookie junkie. Then this little gem arrived with the bill. Well, actually 3 arrived, but who's counting? All in all, Lulu's was an awesome experience and we will be going back soon!