Korean tacos finally hit Atlanta
posted on October 16, 2009 at 11:41 am
Seemingly banking on the Kogi Taco Truck phenomenon in LA, Hankook Taqueria (1341 Collier Road. 404-352-8881) serves a handful of tacos–fried fish, fried tofu, beef, etc.–made with flour tortillas and a handful of side dishes like fried dumplings. The spartan restaurant has been open for a few days. And it is only open during lunch for the time being. Take a gander at their menu (courtesy of www.thrillist.com):
(Click to enlarge)
I went by for a few tacos today (see the photo of my meal above) and there were already plenty of folks eating there–probably due to the Thrillist article, which is how I found out about it. No verdict yet; I want to see what they put out for dinner service.
Check it out and let me know what you think.
flour tortillas
FAIL
Flour tortillas are fine for certain types of tacos. If it's a fish taco, give me flour any day.
found out the hard way yesterday that "lunch only for now" is also weekdays only.
It's actually kogi (and pronounced ko – gee, with the same 'g' as in the word 'go'), and it means meat in Korean.
http://www.latimes.com/features/printedition/food/la-fo-kogi11-2009feb11,0,3007869.story
Fixed. Thanks for the catch.
Wish this place was open on weekends.
FLOUR TORTILLAS? Are you serious? That just kills it!
FLOUR TORTILLAS? That's an automatic – No Thanx! Absulutely no desire to even try. How could the screw that up sooo big?
Might as well do Taq. del Sol – another abomination. Incidentally, the cool think about Kogi was that they actually respected both food cultures they're trying to meld – i.e. corn tortillas, onions+cilantro+cabbage topping & their House Salsa. That respects the Taco Truck tradition.
Sure, this place isn't a truck, too bad.
Is a Korean taco such an established tradition that you can really say that flour tortillas are the wrong/right way to do it?
Not sure corn tortillas would work with these flavors so I was fine with flour. I enjoyed the chicken, beef, and pork tacos. Fish was OK. Skip the "street food" fried appetizers.
I stopped by today since I was in that neighborhood; I really liked them. The pulled pork was my favorite, followed by beef then chicken. I'll definitely go back to try more. The people at the counter were very friendly, I was the only one there (about 11:30). I got an "independant Korean Moe's" vibe from it. Those complaining about the flour tortillas need to at least try them before berating them; I'm not sure corn would be better with the blend of flavors.
Those complaining about the flour tortillas are exposing a little ignorance about basic flavor profiles, not to mention Korean cuisine. Don't be in such a rush to be "authentic" and "cool". You're talking about KOREAN TACOS. (This is coming from both a corn tortilla enthusiast and a former resident of South Korea)
As for my experience in the restaurant, I agreed that the appetizers were disappointing (very bland jop jae and mandoo), but I really enjoyed the tacos. Very friendly service, but don't expect ambiance. I'll be back to try the burritos, and maybe get them to go.