Lunch-time Favorite: Hankook Taqueria

Recently featured on The Food Network's "Best Thing I Ever Ate," Hankook Taqueria has been a lunch-time staple of mine for a while now.  When I first discovered this gem, I must have lunched there two to three times a week.  Due to its concept similar to L.A.'s Kogi truck (Korean BBQ meets Mexican food) and its growing notoriety in Atlanta, the small dining area has become slightly more crowded but the food and service prove to hold strong.  I've recently become enamored of their daily taco specials (my favorite is the brisket) but most of the time, I stick to my usual. 

Admittedly, Hankook has seen a lot of me in the past week.  I dined there both Friday and today (Monday).  The small space was quite crowded on Friday.  I suspect everyone not only adores the food as much as I do, but also probably like to treat themselves to a good lunch at the end of the week.   I decided to order the Bibimbap on Friday since my stomach was a bit on the hungrier side.  On the menu, the Bibimbap is described as "rice with sesame vegetables and spicy Korean sauce."  The dish is something you would normally see as street food and Hankook definitely serves it that way (in a nondescript, rectangular Styrofoam container); although you almost fail to notice your eating vessel since the meal itself is so visually stimulating.  Rice is piled high and topped with steamed bean sprouts,
carrots, marinated mushrooms, pickled cucumbers, spinach, Korean BBQ-style beef, green onions and is topped with a spicy sauce that hides a fried egg: the yolky snowcap to your mound of food.  To enjoy properly, break the fried egg and stir everything together.  The spicy Korean sauce mixes with the runny yolk and the newly-formed super-sauce coats the rice and veggies.  The crunchiness of the carrots, bean sprouts and pickled (yet cripsy) cucumbers brings a textured balance to the dish and a squeeze of the provided lime slice adds a great citric element.  Overall, it is quite a generous portion for $6 and I can never eat the whole thing in one sitting.

Since today was Columbus Day, I found Hankook's dining area to be much less crowded than normal (which I considered my reward for actually having to work on Columbus Day.)  I decided on my old standby order: one Bul Gogi (beef) taco and one Dae ji Gogi (pulled pork) taco.  A friend and I chose to split an order of the sesame fries served with spicy ketchup, as well.  Our food arrived quickly and our tacos spilled over in our baskets with meatiness.  As their menu states, all of Hankook's tacos come with lettuce, green onions and green cabbage tossed in a sesame soy vinaigrette and garnished with yellow onion, cilantro and lime juice.  Both of my tacos were also served with a bit of cheese.

close up of the Bul Gogi Taco

My favorite of the two tacos is always the Bul Gogi since it has that hint of traditional Korean BBQ beef short ribs.  The Dae ji Gogi tastes homey and always reminds me of a slightly spicer Sloppy Joe.  (If you prefer your Sloppy-Joe tasting food in bun form, go for the pork sliders-- those are also very tasty and feature the same pickled cucumbers mentioned in the Bibimbap.)

Our sesame fries were as good as always. In my opinion, the trick to good fries hinges on their crispiness.  Hankook's are never soggy and seem to be battered and/or twice fried for added texture.  Vaguely reminiscent of sesame crunch candies, they also have a donut-like hint of sweetness.  One difference I noticed was in the spicy ketchup.  It always seems to vary (perhaps they are experimenting with the ratio of spices or the actual recipe itself), but either way the condiment was still quite good.

Though it may have had its fair share of "blah" reviews when it first opened, Hankook is going strong and in my opinion the food keeps getting better and better. To conclude, if you just finished reading this post and have decided to try Hankook for the first time, make sure to tell Pamela that "Almudena" sent you.  And as for you, Hankook...I'll see you next week!