Meju Look

Meju tackles one cuisine, and the food is the main attraction.

by Elisa Ludwig

It's always nice to have an option in Old City that is neither fancy nor high-concept, a place where the menu tackles one cuisine and food is the main attraction. For that, I am grateful for the addition of Meju, a Korean BYO that fills the space where Mandoline used to be. If I worked from CP headquarters nearby, I would probably frequent Meju for lunch.

The interior is warmly lit, with an open kitchen in the back and just a few tables to speak of. The walls are decorated with gonglike percussion instruments and black-and-white photographs of what look to be Korean landmarks, yet Fiestaware plates add a decidedly American touch.

Meju has the distinction of being the first restaurant I've ever visited where servers brought out glasses of water only to ask if they could take them away 10 minutes later. Perhaps our table looked too small for the bounty of food arriving. Before the first official course are the banchan, complimentary side dishes you find in most Korean restaurants. But don't come here looking for tastebud shock from the three varieties of kimchee, as they are mostly mild and unmemorable. Vibrant yellow wedges of pickled daikon and the squiggly strands of dried squid are a better bet. Best of all are soy sauce-soaked beans, which demand a multitude of descriptors: black, dry, chewy, sweet and also filling in a meaty sort of way.

One never regrets ordering a haemul pa jun, or seafood pancake, but this one is overly browned and too light on the scallions. The embedded shrimp and squid are still tender and the almost creamy batter still has a delicious, slightly fermented tang — it's just not all a pa jun could be.

Yet the textures are just right on the delicate mandu, the impossibly light, translucent dumplings stuffed with shredded cabbage; and the duk bok gi, moist cylindrical rice cakes tossed with thin strips of fish cake and a nuanced chili-spiked sauce that is downright addictive.

Like the kimchee, some of the entrées taste like the chili heat has been turned down a notch — a necessary concession, perhaps, for diverse clientele. But everyone loses when dishes like soon doo boo jigae (spicy tofu stew) — which should have your nose running — are bland and brothy. Bibim bop, the sizzling bowl of rice that continues cooking at the table, takes dollops of accompanying chili paste to get it up to speed. However, the kim chee bokum bop, a similar rice bowl with the addition of spicy cabbage and thin slices of pork, is perfectly simple, perfectly good as-is.

(e_ludwig@citypaper.net)

Meju

213 Chestnut St., 215-238-9403

Hours: Tue.-Fri., 11:30 a.m.-3 p.m., 5-10 p.m.; Sat.-Sun., 5-10 p.m.

Starters, $5.95-$8.95; Entrées, $7.95-$12.95

BYOB.