One of Spain's greatest legacies to the world in all of history is the tapas restaurant. Called by some as "small plates," tapas dishes most closely resemble appetizers, h'orderves, or gourmet bar food – petite and shareable portions of what are usually finely executed culinary creations. In recent years, several modern cuisine and fusion restaurants have followed suit in serving menus in the tapas tradition. Traif, the restaurant I mentioned late last month, can be considered one of these avant-garde, new American, tapas-styled restaurants.
I like Korean food. I like small plates. Together, they make the best dinner you will ever have in your life. Thanks to modern Korean fusion, we now have some of the most innovative foods invented thus far in the 21st century, including the bulgogi Korean beef slider and the kalbi short rib taco. In the West Los Angeles area, locked in the heart of downtown Culver City, was my all-time favorite restaurant, Gyenari. The best things in life may not be free, but they will surely have coupons or happy hour prices, and Gyenari's happy hour dishes were arguably the best spent $13 I ever paid for a meal.
We as humans have lost many a great thing to well-intended but unwarranted and imprudent reinvention. Take the new Penn Station, for example, on West 34th Street. What was once a grand architectural marvel is now an unsightly, haphazard mesh of walls, train tracks, and escalators, all thanks to the reinvention of the 1960s – a decade of freedom and love that also happened to be the decade that made everything look ugly. A tragedy to the world, Gyenari earlier this year also decided to reinvent itself into a more expensive version of the original, now called Moko, without its beloved bulgogi sliders or kimchi fried rice.
Los Angeles is the Korean food capital of the nation, and it has been difficult, to say the least, finding anthing comparable in New York City. Imagine my excitement, then, when I discovered Danji – a small restaurant on West 52nd Street, serving the same tapas-style Korean fusion food that Gyenari once did.
Danji's food was lacking in substance, but adequately delicious and of excellent quality. I am not much a food critic; I am, though, a price critic. I couldn't find it in my heart to mention to the white couple sitting next to me that the kimchi and the scallion pancakes they ordered for something like $16 are usually free (though maybe not as fancy) at other Korean restaurants. In comparison? Take a look at a couple select dishes:
GYENARI, Culver City:
Bulgogi Sliders with grilled onions and gouda ... $5
Kimchi Fried Rice with double-fried pork belly and fried egg ... $4
DANJI, New York City:
Bulgogi Filet Mignon Sliders ... $14
Kimchi Bacon Fried "Paella" ... $14 (+$2 with fried egg)
Perhaps I am only mourning the death of Gyenari, but I personally consider these New York prices to be inexcusable, especially for Kimchi fried rice. However, because Danji's meat is all organic, and because not everyone comes from Los Angeles, and considering the cost of atmosphere and presentation, I suppose the prices are acceptable to the average New Yorker and the New York City tourist who know no better. And, I suppose, there is a reason why Gyenari no longer exists.
Danji's business card details, included only because I like its clean look.
"What do you expect? It's New York prices" seems to be the ubiquitous excuse. A tofu soup from BCD Tofu House in Los Angeles costs $8.99; from BCD Tofu House in New York City, $11.99. The one-dollar menu at McDonald's in midtown? $1.69. So here is the lesson of the day, known as The Law of New York City Prices: Everything in New York is 15 to 500% more expensive than it is in Los Angeles. If the summer humidity, trash on the streets, crowds, and city pigeons haven't already ruined your day, then rest assured that New York City prices will. Bring cash accordingly.
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