Yuk Dae Jang

The Missus and I had heard about a location of Yuk Dae Jang opening on Clairemont Mesa, next to the currently (strangely) closed Zen Curry.

Yuk Dae Jang is quite popular in our old neighborhood of Rowland Heights/City of Industry so we were quite interested to try things out. I'd heard that the place gets kinda crowded, so the Missus and I planned on early dinner at did 4-430pm dinners on both visits and I got there at 5pm on my solo weekday visit.

And the restaurant was fairly empty when we arrived. The place is fairly spartan with a flexible 12-15 tables total. No wonder the place can get packed! The young folks employed here work really hard and are quite nice as well. There are menus already placed on the tables when you are seated and you are asked if you want barley tea or water on arrival.

The Missus, in cruising thru all those social media sights already knew what She wanted so ordering was easy, it was to be the Premium Bossam (small size $21.99) and the Galbi Jjim, which kinda turned my head; it was 76.99!

Soon enough the panchan arrived.

A baechu kimchi didn't have much fermented flavor, but was quite refreshing and crisp, we enjoyed it. The Missus is not a fan of Eomuk Bokkeum, the fishcake panchan, which was quite routine. The Buchu Muchim, chive panchan was quite pungent, but had a good backbone of soy and mild sweetness.

Soon enough our Bossam arrived.

Along with the typical panchan and sauces; bean paste and shrimp sauce. I was surprised at the few slices of napa cabbage and also the gul bossam. I had never seen bossam like this. The pork belly was quite velvety, with a very nice soy sauce-savory-mildly sweet flavor. We watched a couple of other tables and eventually figured out and made "bossam in a spoon", laying the pork belly then topping with what we enjoyed....the mul kimchi, garlic slices, etc....

Soon enough the Galbi Jjim arrived. We had a couple of bowls of rice, of which we devoured one.

The really sweet young lady saw me taking photos of the bossam and asked if I wanted to take a photo before they "prepared" the dish for us. Soon enough, she went to work slicing things with shears and in the end it looked like this.

It was placed on a burner. So, here's the hint if you ever get this; mix things well as the dish can be overly sweet and the ingredients bland. There's a good amount of thick cut galbi in this....again, on the sweet side; the kabocha just adds to that. We obviously had quite a bit of leftovers. It's a very photogenic dish, but at nearly eighty bucks....well, we don't think it's worth the price.

The service was quite nice and of course I needed to make multiple visits before doing a post. I decided to return to get the baseline YukGaeJang. On this evening the Missus was working and things weren't too busy when I dropped in at around 5pm.

I ordered the YukGaeJang ($17.99).

The panchan was the same as on the previous visit, though I detected that the baechu kimchi tasted a bit more fermented.

This time around I went with the purple rice, which was no big deal and on the mushy side.

As for the YukDaeJAng.....

  The shredded beef was quite tasty. The broth had some nice spice, but was quite "flat" and one-dimensional in flavor. The glass noodles were too mushy. There was a rather greasy "mouth feel" to the dish and as a whole I felt it was quite mediocre.

Still, we had enjoyed the bossam so much that a return visit was in order. Plus, it was at that point in time when temperatures were rising in the county.

Things started off with the Premium Bossam in "Special Sauce" ($39.99).

This was basically the simmered pork belly in the sauce for Janggajji, the savory soy sauce based- mildly sweet-sour sauce used with pickled onions. I enjoyed the added onions and the favors with the pork belly. Granted, on this visit, some of the "rind" of the pork belly was on the tough side, but as a whole this was very tasty. It was bossam at a whole new level for San Diego.

We also got the Bi Bim Naegnmyun ($16.99).

While I appreciated the stretchy naegnmyun, the strands of beef were really chewy and the sauce was weak a watered down. This lacked the refreshing and bracing spice of the version we enjoy from Prime Grill. The flavor just tasted too diluted.

We also wanted to try the Mandu and the young lady who was our Server told us it would be no problem ordering a half pork and chive and kimchi and pork mandu ($11.99).

   So, the wrappers were on the tough and brittle side. The filling for the pork and chive was bland and chewy, though the pork and kimchi had the advantage of some good savory-fermented flavor and was definitely the better of the two.

Our visits to Yuk Dae Jang left us at an impasse. We had enjoyed the bossam, which took the dish to a new level here in San Diego. We appreciated the service, which was efficient and attentive. But man can live on bossam alone....or can he? Time will tell. Let me know if you find a good "keeper" dish here at Yuk Dae Jang!

Yuk Dae Jang
7307 Clairemont Mesa Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92111
Current Hours:
Wed - Mon 11am - 9pm
Closed on Tuesdays

Comments

[TFD]

I know meat is expensive these days but $76.99+tax is kind of steep.

[kat]

bummer $80 didn’t deliver hope you can find something more than their bossam to enjoy

[Kirk]

Yes, quite pricey TFD!

We hope so too Kat!

[Junichi]

I'd expect a little more for $80 too. At least the bossam delivered.

[Kirk]

Yes, $80 is pretty pricy for that dish Junichi! We need to find some other items to order....

[Som Tommy]

That pork belly looks so good

[Kirk]

Check the place out ST! And let me know if you find any other dishes you enjoy.