I tried these spots on West Colonial (50) yesterday at lunch. I actually dined in the first spot. It is in a strip mall called Highland Lakes Center. About half way to Winter Garden. On the right after Gogi Korean. It was an Ale House. The second replaced Friendship BBQ in Chinatown. To the left of Enson Market.
Pocha 93 - From the Shin Jung people. 93 is the birth date of that. Based on some Korean pop up pubs that they said appear between dinner and clubbing. It will be a Favorite. It has ambiance and good food and a bit of fun. It's really two mints in one. On Saturday or Sunday (11am-) they have a brunch menu (only open after 4pm otherwise). I found that menu to be superior. The dinner menu steers you towards 2-3 person stews/combos or meat by the ounce. 14 apps (ie pig's trotters, beef intestines, fried chicken wings or an interesting sausage and rice cake skewer - $5-$20). Stews are $22 and $25. Combos $45. The 7 meats(ie hanger steak, pork jowl, pork shoulder, top blade) range from $9 to $14 per 4oz. They also offer banchan and desserts. And booze. The brunch menu (I didn't get a snap at that) had about half the apps, a $20 burger, katsu sandwich, two ramen(yeon), a few rice and meat dishes, a few other dishes and maybe six meats with a soup, bonchan and rice cakes. I chose the $18.50 Cotes-Sal pork belly. I thought maybe it meant salt rubbed because cotes means side. But, sel is salt not sal. Anyway, it was great. Two slabs that must have been near over that 4ozs a piece. Very fatty. I had to almost turn them to bacon to appeal to me. And they did. There is a gas powered hot plate in the center of every booth. My dish came two long, white mushroom slices (king oyster?), scallions, rice cakes, a huge slice of white onion and a dipping dish of sesame oil, ssamjang and raw garlic. Also a bean sprout soup. Clear brown broth. Only two bonchan - kim chi and sliced savory rice cakes. I guess I was in the mood to cook because it was very diverting. You needed the scissors and tongs. I dipped and mixed every which way but loose. Good fun. All the sides were fresh and good. Service (4 on the floor) was knowledgeable, attentive and professional. The place is transportative (I know that's not an OED term). With the Korean kitsch signage and K-Pop on the tv, you feel (as close as you can in most restaurants nowadays) that you may not be in a strip mall. The layout is square. Black and white colors. Vibrant. Twenty booths on each side of an elliptical bar. I only tried to sneak this in because the Weekly critic had it in his top ten. He was correct. Open since July. Ample parking. Worth the effort.
One Stop Dumpling - I was expecting an order at the counter, fast food 10' by 10'. It isn't. As I wrote, it replaced Friendship BBQ. Opened a month ago. They said they were a one off. Still understaffed and working out kinks it seems. That said, I think I'm going to add it to the Favorites List on a provisional basis. Based on potential. The menu is unique. I have never seen technicolor dumplings. Let alone technicolor soup dumplings. Let alone technicolor soup dumplings with non-pork fillings (crab roe, shrimp, mushroom, malantou). I don't even know what malantou is. Seems to be associated with or a tofu dish. Because I'm a cheapskate and I didn't feel the need to trust them off the bat and I wanted the plain shrimp ones and they cost twice as much ($12), I didn't try any. My loss. Probably. The shrimp ones ($6.50) were very good. Large pieces of whole shrimp. Almost zero to no shrimp paste. Up to two per dumpling. About half had an irony taste. We'll forgive that so that we can contemplate why that spelling in this sense is pronounced completely differently than when it is used to denote something that means the opposite of what it is. The menu was so odd that I had to try at least one other thing. I tried to try Orleans Chicken Rack for $8.50. Looked like inside out roasted chicken breast. They said the meats were out or something like that. I was under the gun, so, I chose the similarly priced Rice Wine Soup with Rice Balls. In a section with no English translation. It is bland. Like sweet egg drop soup without salt with big boba tossed in. Almost a quart. I'm going to have to tinker with it. Let's try and describe the menu. Although, the take out one I have seems to be different than the one at the table. Categories - Soup Noodles (9), Stir Fried Noodles (9), Congee (3), Chef's Recommendations (11), Exquisite Cold Dishes (7), Vegetables (3), Skewers (14), Snacks/Dumplings (35). They snacks are basically Dim Sum. I asked if the menu is Cantonese. They said "all China". Prices are in line. Snacks run $2 to $12. Some interesting dishes are (I'm not putting a lot of effort into this) - century egg, foil wrapped fish, pineapple shrimp fried rice, fried dough stick, loofah soup dumplings and Hong Kong style roast duck. $24 walnut shrimp is the costliest (individual dish) at $24. The place looks exactly the same. Narrow. Mural on the left wall. Circular, communal table in the center. Useless bar in the back. Useless entry way. They were packed. It took a while to get my order. Only two women serving and taking orders. Not sure how many in the back. All that aside, I'll be back to tackle those technicolor raincoats.
*I was also going to go to Pho Huong Lan in the strip mall on Kirkman and 50 that has Ten Ten. I think it is called Golden Sparkling something. On their menu, they had an address to another location at East Colonial and Mills that I had been to before. So, I saved some money. The West Colonial location was Sanshi Noodle House. In Chinatown, I saw that the dump Pho Saigon (a few door to the left of One Stop Dumpling on the corner) had totally been modernized and is now a Saigonese Oc Lau & More. I will try that next year. Around the corner towards 50, the Caribbean dump that was Alez Caribbean Cuisine will/may be Le Gout Lakay. The Lakay is throwing me. Le gout could mean the taste. And I didn't recognize the flag on the banner. Chili Star has closed already. But, I knew that.
**Favorites with Travel Notes Index will be up either on NYE or NYD. I have to look and see where I put it last year for consistency.
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