Welcome to Portland’s first-ever Korean Food Festival. In Korean, mukja means “Let’s Eat!”
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Welcome to Portland’s first-ever Korean Food Festival. In Korean, mukja means “Let’s Eat!”
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Left: Koi Fusion’s bulgogi tacos. Juicy steak smothered in sauce and packed into a crispy no-nonsense shell is the drinking food of your dreams. Right: Hungry eaters wait in line.
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Left: Koi Fusion’s bulgogi tacos. Juicy steak smothered in sauce and packed into a crispy no-nonsense shell is the drinking food of your dreams. Right: Hungry eaters wait in line.
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Left: Galbi beef skewers (grilled over authentic binchotan charcoal) with a red pepper sauce and crispy rice from Bamboo Sushi’s PJ Yang. Right: Yang tries his luck with a self-balancing scooter.
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Left: Galbi beef skewers (grilled over authentic binchotan charcoal) with a red pepper sauce and crispy rice from Bamboo Sushi’s PJ Yang. Right: Yang tries his luck with a self-balancing scooter.
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Fried chicken slider smothered in black bean sauce from Stray Dogs.
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Fried chicken slider smothered in black bean sauce from Stray Dogs.
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Left: You might already know Lardo’s pork shoulder sandwich with kimchi and chile mayo. Turns out it’s even better served on a paper plate with a soju cocktail. Right: Start ‘em young.
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Left: You might already know Lardo’s pork shoulder sandwich with kimchi and chile mayo. Turns out it’s even better served on a paper plate with a soju cocktail. Right: Start ‘em young.
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Stray Dogs’ Peter Cho and Johnny Leach with a budding fan.
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Stray Dogs’ Peter Cho and Johnny Leach with a budding fan.
On Sunday, October 11, the Korean American Coalition hosted the city’s first-ever Korean Food Festival in Northwest Portland, a chef-centered event for gochujang fanatics and bulgogi newbies alike. With bouncy K-pop blasting and soju cocktails flowing, everyone had a smile on their kimchi-smothered faces—even mayor Charlie Hales.
From authentic staples to creative twists on Korean favorites, there was not a bad bite to be had. A few standouts: melt-in-your-mouth galbi skewers from PJ Yang, Toro Bravo’s otherworldly octopus and oyster pancakes, and fried chicken sliders with a spicy gochujang and tamarind sauce on a bouncy, chewy bun courtesy of Stray Dogs’ Peter Cho and Johnny Leach. Not to mention Beaverton’s Gobugi Market and their array of delicious ddeock, a Korean rice cake (thank you, Gobugi, for teaching a white girl how to say “ddeock”).
If 2015 was any indication, we’ll be first in line next year for the mashup of authentic Korean cooking and chef-driven, only-in-PDX riffing.
