Mon 1 Jun 2009 2:20 am
Korean taco condiments/Photos by David Dickey
In the hidden vertices of Seattle’s food world sit our friends Kye Soon Hong and Eric Vigesaa, generously sharing their good taste, specialized knowledge, and outsized endowments of kitchen curiosity. One week might find them setting up a blind tasting challenge for the city’s best croissants. Or maybe organizing a sukiyaki dinner at Kappo, or introducing friends to the addictive pleasures of Chicky Pub or the cold Korean noodle soup called mul naengmyun, or comparing the two major varieties of Chinese-Korean noodles, a divide that has strained lesser marriages. Not long after we had a wistful conversation about our envy of L.A.’s Kogi Korean taco truck they outdid themselves with a homemade Korean taco party, the marinated meat and toppings so delicious I begged Kye to quit her day job and open her own business. (She wouldn’t. Luckily, Marination Mobile is stepping into the breach later this month.) Now they’ve been outed nationally, with Matthew Amster-Burton writing about their tacos for Gourmet.com, recipes included.
Add some Asian sesame oil, Korean hot pepper powder, and pork shoulder to your shopping list, among other items, and you can enjoy a feast too. And next time you see a writeup about a fabulous new food-lover’s find, squint at the pictures. If you recognize this couple in the background, odds are you’re in for something good:
Eric, Kye, Korean tacos
Korean taco fixings and condiments
Grilling for tacos, Seattle style
Korean taco fixings
FYI, for those of you playing six degrees of Seattle food, we met Kye and Eric through Catherine Reynolds, by way of Seattle’s culinary matchmaker, Traca Savadogo, at a dinner featuring Villa Victoria’s Naomi Andrade Smith. We never expected tamales to lead to so much good kimchi.
7 Responses to “ Korean tacos, Kye and Eric ”
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[...] days this past weekend for the sole purpose of eating our way around the city. Our friends Kye and Eric initially proposed the idea so that we could all try their favorite Portland restaurant, Tanuki, [...]
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[...] and post about the Korean tacos by Matthew-Amster Burton which we missed the first time, and blog post via Rebekah Denn). Tacos can be fun to make, so differently construed, and be filled with great [...]
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[...] on the way gathered after some self-imposed carb fasting. Those with voting rights were our hosts Kye Soon Hong and Eric Vigessa, along with Catherine Reynolds and Ken O’Hara, Laurie and Matthew Amster-Burton, [...]
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[...] couples joined our hosts Kye Soon Hong and Eric Vigessa today: Catherine Reynolds and Ken O’Hara, Lorna Yee and Henry Lo, Rebekah [...]
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[...] Catherine to a dinner party and I asked “Can you seat me next to her?”… and to Kye Soon Hong and Eric Vigesaa, to Dawn and Eric Wright… and, most of all, to Catherine herself. The beginning of her [...]
It’s not exactly Korean, but Cormac Mahoney, formerly of Sitka & Spruce, and some buddies are doing weird and wonderful things with the taco format on Eastlake: http://www.takotruk.com. It’s only for the summer and only Thursday, Friday and Saturday, 6-midnightish. I ate there last night: pork belly and lentils, and chicken slaw for me. And the last tamale with habanero salsa. Yummy and spicy! They Tweet: @takotruk And, no, it’s not a truck.
Janis Martin of Tanuki in Portland also did a great collection of tacos inspired by Korean ingredients & flavors for the 1 year anniversary party, which Eric and I had the privilege of going to: kimchi hot dogs, pork belly tacos with sweet & spicy apricot sauce, goat jerky tacos, Korean dried anchoivies, Korean style potato salad, chicken Tantan on rice served on banana leaves….to name a few.
Beautiful photos, David!