Korean restaurants in Somerville (and Boston)

I have a load of restaurant reviews that I’ll probably never catch up on, but here’s an attempt to start a dent in the pile. I don’t make it out to Buk Kyung (290 Somerville Ave) or Wu Chon (9 Union Square), two Korean restaurants pretty much next door to each other in Union Square, all that often because I’m too lazy to take the bus out there and neither offers up food that’s distinctive enough to make a special trip. But I happened to revisit both recently when relatives were in town, so I thought I’d offer up a quick recap.

Wu Chon is more of the typical Korean restaurant, and it does a fairly serviceable job. Nothing too special, but it does have the famous Korean barbeque as a point of focus, and the prices are better than the nearby (and now much sleeker than before due to renovation) Koreana (158 Prospect St).

In contrast, Buk Kyung specializes in more Chinese-derived dishes, especially the black bean noodles called jja jang myeon which are not often found in Korean restaurants in the States. Online there’s more information about their second location, Buk Kyung II in Allston (151 Brighton Ave), e.g. here’s a good review of BKII from a Boston blogger. I’ve been to that location as well and, as you’d expect, the food is pretty much the same and the newer location has a much shinier decor. The original Buk Kyung has a more hole-in-the-wall feel, which also gives it a more intimate, homier feeling which is nice. Similarly the food at the original location has a more homier feel than other places, and depending on what you’re used to you may find you prefer food from other restaurants that is a bit more Americanized (e.g. a bit sweeter or has less-traditional ingredients added in, like watercress).

To wrap up, I suppose I should add some info about my personal favorites in Boston. Being Korean-American I’ve pretty much tried them all many, many times, and my favorite for a long time was Suishaya in Chinatown (2 Tyler St). But they changed management, and although the food survived the transition decently well (although far from completely unscathed), there was a sudden huge drop in the quality of the service. Perusing the reviews on Yelp it seems I definitely wasn’t the only one who noticed the change, and the bf and I had so many mediocre-to-downright-lousy waiters in a row that, combined with the lesser-quality food, we ended up pretty much giving up on it. Too bad.

So what does that leave? On the cheap the Korean place in Super 88 in Boston (1095 Commonwealth Avenue) is definitely worth checking out. I end up going to Shilla in Harvard Square (57 JFK St) a lot because it’s convenient and not too pricey, and on average the food is pretty good (although their chigaes, while flavorful, are watery and not at all hearty like the traditional Korean style).

But the surprise winner for the moment for when I need a dose of Korean food is actually Chocho’s in the Porter Exchange (1815 Massachusetts Ave). It’s a surprise for several reasons, the main one being that their menu includes many non-Korean dishes including pad thai and udon. The Pan-Asian approach is usually a bad sign when it comes to finding good authentic Asian food, but Chocho’s’ Korean dishes are great and their non-Korean dishes have been highly enjoyable as well. They take a sort of middle-of-the-road approach in terms of hewing to the traditional styles, but they succeed in providing the heart of each dish without adding unnecessary frills. The service is always good (although being a small staff they do get busy), and their consistency is fantastic, something I’ve really come to value in all my years of eating out. I can honestly say I’ve never ever had a bad meal there, or even one I didn’t enjoy, which is no small thing. Aack! Now I’m totally jonesin’ for some BBB from Chocho’s. Even though I was just there this weekend, after writing this post I wouldn’t be surprised if I ended up back there next weekend as well. Or sooner!

Scarce, Back at The Plough and Stars, with Mary Lou Lord

I’d really enjoyed Scarce when I saw them in duo form a few months ago at The Plough and Stars. So when my concert buddy M told me they’d be back last Wednesday I was psyched to go. The P&S site said the show was starting at 10:30, but apparently Scarce started more like around 10. I was bummed that I’d only caught the end of their set, but luckily after Mary Lou Lord’s set they went back up for a few more songs, and then MLL finished up with a few more as well (although I didn’t stick around for her second set).

I’m not really into folk chicks with guitars, so I can’t really judge MLL that objectively, although like many folk musicians she draws from the well that is Bob Dylan a bit too often and too deeply. As is her wont she also included a fair number of covers, although none with a whole lot of distinction. During the majority of her first set she was accompanied by Dave Fischer on lead guitar who also provided lead vocals on the somewhat-out-of-place-given-the-otherwise-fairly-chill-ambience-of-the-intimate-venue cover of The Who’s “Substitute”. But when she went solo for a few songs at the end it became clear that she really doesn’t benefit from the beefier sound: the unique qualities of her voice and her playing become much more apparent, and for me much more enjoyable, when she’s on her own. The song “The Wind Blew All Around Me” stood out in particular, although there were a few others I liked as well.

Not a whole lot to add about Scarce other than what I said in my previous post about them. There are some people that I don’t really feel the need to see multiple times (e.g. Cut Copy who are hitting the new House of Blues on Sunday), particularly within the span of just a few months, but there’s something about the vibe of the duo and in this venue that would make me more than happy to see them again soon. Their music is unassuming, musically interesting, and evocative, and their performance is both committed and playful; they’re clearly people wholly enjoying themselves and each moment onstage. If you haven’t already checked out their MySpace page you should. And now I’m really looking forward to their new album, whenever that may be.

Sibelius, Rachmaninoff, and Ives at the BSO

It’s funny how chance piles things on. For reasons unknown my list of things to check out for March has been top heavy, so suddenly I find myself backlogged once again. But hopefully I’ll catch up soon. And speaking of chance, after having ignored the BSO for years I somehow ended up at two concerts in two weeks. I reviewed the first concert already, and the second concert, featuring Sibelius’s Night Ride and Sunrise, Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, and Ives’ Symphony No. 4 and conducted by Alan Gilbert, soon-to-be head of the New York Philharmonic, was enjoyable although a similarly mixed bag.

First off, the Sibelius. Eichler only gave it a passing mention, in his review for The Globe, and in his review for The Phoenix Schwartz says, “Gilbert didn’t suggest much mystery, and the journey seemed longer than it should have.” I like Sibelius in general, and the strings maintained a tight focus for the surprisingly minimalistic writing of the “Night Ride” segment that I found suitably hypnotic. The “Sunrise” section went on a bit, though, although not through any glaring fault of the performance or interpretation.

The Rachmaninoff was much rockier, however. The orchestra was clearly out of sync at the very beginning, and the entire first section lacked any of the crispness or capriciousness the work calls for. Gilbert’s conducting felt lethargic and was quite a disservice to British pianist Stephen Hough’s wonderfully nimble performance, although things smoothed out eventually. The rest of the orchestra’s performance in the piece as it wended its way through its various moods (among them, militaristic, diabolical, Arabian) was more controlled, although there were two excruciatingly sloppy trumpet entrances in a row. I can join in with Eichler and Schwartz’s praise for Hough, though, whose playing was elegant but also had character, despite the piece’s relative lack of depth. And like Schwartz I also appreciated Hough’s “playing [of] the composer’s most famous — and most gorgeous — piano theme with unschmaltzy restraint and delicacy and also passion and wit.”

The Ives was clearly the most ambitious work on the programme, so perhaps it’s not surprising that it was the work the orchestra seemed the most prepared for. The work calls for a jumble of extras, including chorus, theremin, organ, piano, and small ensemble offstage (in this case, in the first balcony), and Gilbert was ably aided by assistant conductor Andrew Grams. I enjoy Ives in general as well (perhaps because he makes me feel like a chest-thumping patriot), although his works have a tendency to do the same sort of thing. But Gilbert made the most of all the crunchy “traffic jam” cacophonies, while also bringing out the more lyric moments such as in the third movement. The balance of the massive forces was not always lucid, even given the fact it was Ives, but all in all it was certainly an admirable performance of a rare work.

Oh, and as chance would have it, the night I went happened to have another post-concert reception, the second of the Symphony+ series of events I’ve attended. Unlike last time, the soloist, Hough, made a prompter appearance, although the conductor hadn’t appeared by the time I left (granted, I didn’t stick around for that long). I still don’t personally quite see the point of forcing the performers to mingle, although from a marketing perspective it’s certainly an obvious ploy. Regardless, the attendees seemed to be enjoying Hough’s company, although I feel for the man myself. Hopefully Bostonians gave him less to roll his eyes about than the average audience. The nibbles were a bit more focused as well, and there definitely seemed to be a better turn out.

If you’re looking for more info on Hough, his official site looks pretty comprehensive. Apparently he’s also been maintaining a blog at The Telegraph’s website, and incidentally included a post about the popular local classical musicians’ haunt Brasserie Jo. (Although I’ve been leery of the place ever since I had a ridiculously watery crêpe there.)

Although this is ostensibly a Boston arts blog, now seems an opportune time to post a few peripherally related links. In terms of classical musicians’ blogs, I’ve had Hilary Hahn’s blog bookmarked for a while now. It doesn’t update all that regularly, but her YouTube channel is more active and an admirable endeavor; a good source of workday time wastage, but you didn’t hear that from me.

The second, and rather more relevant, link is just to highlight Hyperion Records’ Romantic Piano, Violin, and more recently Cello Concerto series. It’s always nice to see lesser-known works being spotlighted instead of the same old, same old, and Hough appears on several volumes, including the Saint-Saëns Complete Works for Piano & Orchestra. The CDs are only available as imports, however. Incidentally (although perhaps not coincidentally), Hough’s newest recital disc was released this month. Amazon’s tracklisting in incomplete, but you can find more details about the disc on Hyperion’s site.

Well, it remains to be seen what my next BSO concert will be. As I mentioned previously, the $20 tix for people under 40 program is continuing through the rest of the current season (and from my survey of the audience at this past concert it seems to be succeeding in drawing a younger demographic). So hopefully I’ll be taking advantage of it at least a couple of times while it lasts.

Ravel, Liszt, and Dvořák at the BSO

For classical music I have a strong preference for chamber and contemporary music, so it’s not surprising that I don’t make it out to the BSO that often. But their $20 tix for people under 40 program, which is continuing through the rest of the current season, has definitely rekindled my interest.

Ended up at the concert featuring guest conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin in his BSO debut (he apparently just began his first season at the Rotterdam Philharmonic). The program consisted of Ravel’s Valses nobles et sentimentales, Liszt’s Piano Concerto #2, and Dvořák’s Symphony #6. I’m not a fan of overly athletic conductors, so I found Nézet-Séguin’s style generally distracting, although Eichler didn’t, in his review for The Globe. I agreed with his review in general, although in the Dvořák, Eichler thought Nézet-Séguin “daringly pushed the tempo to the limits”, whereas I felt in those cases the tempo reached speeds that edged a bit too close to the boundary between an exciting performance and a train wreck just waiting to happen. I can certainly see how others would enjoy the by-the-seat-of-your-pants breathlessness, though, and his performance was very well received. But I did agree that Thibaudet successfully threw off any Gallic reserve in tackling the Liszt, giving a performance that, while not overly muscular, still felt sinewy and athletic. The orchestra, as always, sounded great, and it was nice to hear Dvořák’s Symphony #6, which according to Marc Mandel, Director of Program Publications, in his pre-concert talk was last performed by the BSO ten years ago.

It’s not often that anyone mentions the thankless job of doing the pre-concert talk, but my companion wanted to hear it and Mandel did a nice job of presenting the history of each piece in context, although without many specifcs about the construction of the music itself, no doubt due to his target audience. His love of the Dvořák #6 was clearly evident, and his talk was certainly successful in setting the stage.

Afterwards the BSO held a signing with Thibaudet, and actually also had a post-concert reception, part of their new Symphony+ series of events. According to their website, Symphony+ is “a series of pre- and Post-Concert events that enhance the overall concert experience. Symphony+ connects food, literature, and the performing and visual arts to the BSO concerts at Symphony Hall and adds an exciting new element to the concerts.” I’m all in favor of such efforts by arts organizations, and although the reception was well organized, it didn’t seem to have much point. The conductor and pianist were supposed to be present, but they weren’t, presumably because the latter was still signing CDs. I, and I’m sure many others, only waited around for a bit and left because it didn’t seem like anything was going to happen anytime soon. I like the idea of post-concert mingling, although I’m not sure how natural it is to include the performers anyway, but regardless you’d think that the people organizing these things would come up with a better plan to foster interaction between strangers than just “a pass for a free drink, coffee and tea, snacks, tables and chairs”. But maybe that wasn’t the intention at all; in any case, maybe they’ll come up with some better ideas in the future, and at the very least the reception provided a nice coda to an enjoyable evening. Hopefully I’ll be able to make it to at least another concert before the end of the season.