How to Live in El Paso: Korean Food

Do you ever go to those Korean restaurants? You should.

Next to white people, Koreans are El Paso’s second largest invasive subculture.

A lot of them are out there in Northeast El Paso. The Kalbi House is right across the street from the Walmart on Dyer near Fred Wilson, on the sketchy downmarket fringe of Fort Bliss.

Eating at these places is likely to devolve into a meatfest, but it doesn’t have to. There are usually plenty of vegetarian options on the menu.

And the real treat about eating at a Korean restaurant is all the little bowls of pickled vegetables that come with the meal. Bean sprouts and cabbage and lettuce and some other stuff I’m not exactly sure what it was.

My favorite dish is the one where you make a little taco with steamed rice, seasoned beef, raw garlic and sliced jalapeño, wrapped in green leaf lettuce. If you order this, make sure your date tries some, because, you know, raw garlic. You better clear it with him/her first, even.

So live a little. Be adventurous. Dig in.