Dining Out: You can watch it barbecuing

By Carol Brock

SAN SOO KAP SAN
171-10 Northern Blvd., Flushing
445-4850

Trust me, there's always something new to discover when you dine in Queens!

At San Soo Kap San, a new Korean-style barbecue restaurant on Northern Boulevard in Flushing, the table-top grills are fired by charcoal. How the hot charcoal is delivered to your table, inserted and afterwards returned to the kitchen area is fascinating theater whether at your table or a neighboring one.

We stopped in on a Wednesday evening around 8 after a session of caroling. I had been there when San Soo Kap San first opened as an international buffet. Soup simmering at our table throughout the meal was a delightful feature. Then, I started to write the review and learned that due to a plumbing problem, they would be closing for three months.

So here I was, back once more. The look was different – no buffet but with a salad bar in the rear. Soup no longer simmered on a small raised unit at every table. Instead, hoods over a grill were at every table.

The menu featured a section on Korean barbecues, another on noodles, table d'hote and a la carte selections. We copy-catted from the Korean diners to the right. It would be sushi and a barbecue on a chafing dish-type grill. As is the standard operating procedure in Korean BBQ restaurants, food is grilled in the kitchen for one, at your table for two or more diners.

A trip to the salad bar included a soup, and a dessert soup with cinnamon. Don't confuse them. I confess, I did. But I ate every sip as an appetizer – mm, good! A wondrous assortment of side dishes – the condiments for which Koreans are noted – were very special, each and every one was diner-friendly, including the kimchi. I couldn't keep away from the beans tossed with peanuts, each one firm and separate. The assortment changes daily to titillate the palate.

It was sushi for me, but looking around, I would definitely recommend going all out Korean. The rice comes in small, powder box size mental boxes with matching coves. Then, what to my wondering eyes did appear (sorry, it's that season) but a server and a pan of glowing charcoals. He deftly lowered it into the table top grill. Post BBQ, he returned with a basket carrier and lifted the container up and away.

Back I came for lunch and was seated near the huge smoky mirrors. Viewable from here is: The sushi bar which is the for drinks and the copper hoods suspended above each table and the dark wood decor. I noted for the first time a party room with a buffet backing the salad bar.

Lunch specials included a hearty beef short-rib soup, a big bowl with bone in pieces, cellophane noodles, shreds of scrambled egg and for color, sections of scallion, three inches long. Let me tell you, it was terrific. For short-rib flavor, Grandma couldn't do better. Six side dishes came with it – slivered mushrooms, bok choy, kimchi, dried shrimp, a sweet-sour pickle, and that box of rice. Perfection, The salad bar (green bean with mushrooms, chopped tomato, raisin cole slaw, tossed green) is included.

But why stick your tongue in two worlds? A kalbi and a bulkoki lunch box is also on the Monday to Friday, 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. lunch menu and is presented for your consideration, The black and red lacquer box makes you salivate. Choose either the broiled short ribs or the broiled slices of tenderloin and salad. There are three sushi, and deep fried fish pieces, and a number of taste tempters plus rice, miso soup and cold cooked watercress tossed with sesame oil and shredded daikon.

So when you drive down the boulevard, look for the 3-foot white band wrapping around San Soo Kap San (Korean Utopia) with gray marble squares below.

THE BOTTOM LINE

Korean-style BBQ restaurant with salad bar. Grill in table top, with hot charcoal brought to table.

CHEF'S CHOICE

Sansoo Kalbi (marinated beef ribs

barbecued at the table)…$17.95

Kot Deungshim (ribeye steak barbe

cued at the table)…$18.95

Bulgoki (thinly sliced tenderloin of

beef barbecued at table)…$16.95

Daegu Maewoon Tang (spicy codfish

casserole)…$10.95