Upon entering the doors of bopNgrill, located at 6604 N. Sheridan Rd. Chicago, IL, I first took notice at all the awards and press clippings hanging on the walls. Then I glanced at the menu and saw that they were nominated as cheap eatery of the year.  This peaked my interest, because I have great admiration for those who can cook well and serve tasty food on a budget.

Next, we were welcomed by the owner Will Song’s parents first, who immediately started ordering a whole bunch of stuff for all of us to try. Then Will came walking out from the back office with a big smile, and warmly greeted us, even though he didn’t know who the heck we were.  After introductions, it only took a few minutes for us all to become chatty Cathies… ok maybe it was just me.  I found out that Will is a fellow trained chef who also graduated from culinary school.  We had tons of stories to share after that.

It was interesting to hear Will talk about how when most people graduate from culinary school, their dream is not to open a “fast food joint.”  They usually want to go off and work for a fancy restaurant.

And that’s what he did at first too.  He began his culinary career by working at different restaurants, but eventually started bopNgrill with not much more than a hope and a prayer.  I paused to ask about the decor of his place and he said that it was based off of the cheapest paint that was on sale at the time!  He continued by saying that the vision for his humble “cheap eatery,” was just to produce tasty and affordable cuisine that still has a level of sophistication and high quality.  He wanted it to be a different kind of fast food place.

kimchi fries

One bite of his kimchi fries, and I knew he wasn’t playing around.  I could tell he took pride in his food.  I turned to him and asked, “is there truffle oil on the fries?”  He looked surprised and said, “how did you know? …well I guess YOU would know.”  It’s those little details and finishing touches to the food that I appreciate.

kimchi burger

We moved onto the kimchi and umami burgers.  They were juicy, well seasoned, and satisfying.  I even recommended the umami burger to a customer who walked by and asked me what he should get.

bibimbap

And for the parents’ palates, we had some classic Asian fare such as bibimbap (Korean style mixed rice with meats and vegetables and spicy sauce), marinated chicken, and katsu plates.  In case you were wondering, “bop” means “rice” in Korean, hence the appropriately named bopNgrill. 

chicken plate

The seasoning, presentation, and portions of everything was so on point.  They’re not stingy with the fresh vegetables and marinated meats.  I couldn’t believe that all of the “fast food” I was eating was $6-$10 each.  I had a few bites of everything that was ordered for us, but I’m sad to say that I didn’t get to try EVERYTHING off the menu…

pork for the saam dinner, photo courtesy of bopNgrill

Will told us that one of his popular sellers is the saam dinner which loyal customers rave about and order often.  It’s a slow roasted bone-in pork shoulder that comes with traditional Korean dinner fixings.  You have to call ahead to order this bad boy days in advance, but it’s something I’m sure Guy Fieri got to taste.  Yep, that’s right… Guy Fieri from Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives.

photo courtesy of bopNgrill

Apparently, the timing of our visit was pretty cool.  Will told us that he was closing his restaurant the next day to prepare and set up for the camera crew from Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives to come and film!  I didn’t post this blog entry sooner, because it was supposed to be on the down low.  But now we know that the episode is supposed to air either in June or July, so the cat’s officially out of the bag.

photo courtesy of bopNgrill

Will told us that when he received the unexpected phone call from The Food Network, he thought someone was playing a joke on him.  But I can honestly say that this huge recognition to be featured on TV is well-deserved!  So if you’re in Chicago and want to hit up bopNgrill before the episode airs and it gets insanely busy and crowded in there, go NOW!  There are two locations, but we were at the Chicago one, the same one where they did the filming.

photo courtesy of bopNgrill

Say hello and stay connected on bopNgrill’s facebook fan page for up-to-date information on when the episode will air on The Food Network.

I am an avid Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives watcher, so I left Will with one tip.  I told him to show his personality, be funny, and joke around with Guy.  He said, “I’ll try my best.”  I even made him practice with me.  I pretended to be Guy and started saying some of his catch phrases such as, “mmm…that’s money!  That’s like buying a one way ticket to flavor town!”  I guess I’ll have to wait to watch the episode to see if he took my advice!

peace out for now,
julie

photo credits: some of the pictures from this article are courtesy of bopNgrill.

Lately, I’ve been trying to eat more balanced meals and less carbs.  Thus, I am grouchy.  I suddenly realized that I have to squeeze myself into a bridesmaid dress next month so I have to step up my game and be more disciplined.  I’m dragging poor Joe into it with me because frankly, he has no choice.  It’s kind of sad because I look over at him and can tell he’s hungry even after we eat dinner.  I’m hoping for both of our sakes that it gets easier soon!

On top of these hunger games, I’m trying to take walks everyday.  On one of my recent walks, I started thinking about dinner.  Yes, I’m ALWAYS thinking about food.  I even read food magazines while I’m on the elliptical machine at the gym.

While I was finishing up my walk, I thought about shrimp.  What…don’t you?  You all know that I love keeping frozen shrimp in the freezer.  It only takes minutes to defrost, so as soon as I came back in, I was ready to test out a new recipe idea.  It ended up being a really easy and tasty dinner for two, that was light, but satisfying.

For diet reasons, I purposely whipped out my food scale to make sure we wouldn’t eat too much, but If you want to make it for four, or don’t have to fit into a bridesmaid dress like me, you can simply add more shrimp or double the recipe.

Dunk your frozen shrimp in COLD water for about 10 minutes or so, or until the ice melts away.  Then you can peel and devein them using kitchen shears if you need to.  Remember my frozen shrimp entry?

Then gather up all your Mexican influenced flavors such as naturally sweet agave, cumin, and lime.  If you don’t have agave, use honey or sugar.  If you don’t have cumin, use chili powder, or any warm spice you have.

Next you pretend you can actually properly squeeze a lime with your left hand so that you can take a picture of it.  And you let the whole thing marinate for 20 minutes exactly.  If you find that you need to let it go longer, then don’t add the lime.  Add it when you’re about to cook it.  WHY?  Because lime cooks shrimp.  Think ceviche… you don’t want that in this case.

While you’re waiting, you may as well steam up some broccoli, or any veggies you like.  My easy way of doing it involves using the same pan I’m going to cook my shrimp in, to minimize clean up.  So I start out with a dry pan, add the florets over high heat and pour in 1/4 cup of water.

Then I clamp on a lid and let the broccoli steam for about 2 minutes or until it’s crisp-tender.

Then I remove the lid, and let the rest of the water evaporate.

Toss with simple seasonings while the broccoli is still hot, such as salt, pepper, and crushed red chili flakes for a little excitement.  You can keep the broccoli warm by covering it with foil.

When the shrimp are ready, I wipe the pan dry, and fish out the shrimp with a fork.  The reason is because I don’t want all the excess liquid to boil the shrimp.

Flip the shrimp and make sure the tails curl, and they just turn pink.  You don’t want to over-cook them, or they will be tough, rubbery and not juicy.  Shrimp cooks a lot faster than you’d think.

Set the shrimp aside on a plate and dump in the remaining juice/ marinade from your bowl.  Cook it until it bubbles and thickens up a bit, about a minute or so.  Toss in some fresh chopped scallions at the end.

And drizzle that sauce over your shrimp.  There won’t be a lot of sauce, but it will be concentrated with flavor, so a little goes a long way.

And then go heavy with the veggies, easy on the rice, and moderately with the shrimp.  You will be a happy camper.

And just in case, here’s the easy steamed broccoli “recipe.”

I just realized that the shrimp has Mexican flavors, but I served it in an Asian way.  But if you want, you could take the tails off of the shrimp and stuff it inside of a tortilla to make a shrimp taco or burrito with all the fixin’s.  That would be FANTASTIC.

If you massage, marinate, and cook the shrimp right, it will be super juicy, succulent, sweet, flavorful and satisfying.  It’s definitely light, so the fiber from the broccoli and the brown rice helped keep us satisfied for a well-balanced meal.  Joe kept saying, “mmmm” while eating.  Maybe that was the hunger talking… I dunno.  But with flavor like this, this is a diet I can definitely do!

peace out for now,
julie

This week I was literally cutting and gluing handmade cards for my mom and mother-in-law, like a little kid.  This year, we didn’t have much of a budget to spend on them, so instead of buying them generic cards and picking out another kitchen tool to send them for Mother’s Day, I decided to bust out my inner child and go nuts with the arts and crafts instead.  We ended up sending them each one of our kitchen art prints along with my handmade card.  It’s a shame they don’t live close by, because if they did, I would’ve made them pancakes.

Pancakes actually remind me of my mom.  On certain mornings when she had more time before work, she would wake up early and make us pancakes…the Bisquick kind, covered in Mrs. Buttersworth’s, but that was fine by me.  I still felt the love.

When you want to make pancakes for your loved ones (or yourself), but there’s no Bisquick in sight, you can easily whip up the batter from scratch, as long as your pantry is supplied with a few basic baking ingredients.  The key to making pancakes is that you have to not overcook them.  It’s just like baking a cake.  If a cake is baked right, it’s moist and tender.  If it’s cooked for too long, it’s dry.

Now eating pancakes with just maple syrup is great.  But if you want to make things a little more special, try topping them with maple syrup AND balsamic strawberries!

I know what you’re thinking….what in the what?  Heck, it sounds weird to me too, but it’s actually not strange at all.  Balsamic vinegar and strawberries is rapidly becoming a common menu pairing because the balsamic is naturally sweet and tart.  The acid of the vinegar breaks down the fresh strawberries and causes them to release their natural sugars and juices.  When you let them sit in the balsamic vinegar with a little sugar, together, they form a sweet sauce with depth, which when combined with the thick glossy maple syrup, makes ordinary pancakes taste like a gourmet treat.

It all begins with “soured” milk.  What I’m doing here is substituting regular milk for buttermilk.  If you have buttermilk, just use it.  For the rest of us who don’t normally have it on-hand, add white vinegar or fresh lemon juice to your regular milk and let the mixture stand for 10 minutes. White vinegar works better than lemon juice, but lemons were all I had.

While you’re waiting for your milk, you might as well get on with the strawberries.  Coarsely chop up a pint of strawberries and add in your balsamic vinegar and either 1 or 2 tablespoons of sugar, depending on how naturally sweet your strawberries are.  Mix and let it do its thing.

Add melted butter, vanilla, and an egg to your “soured” milk, and whisk.  Then add the liquid to the dry and whisk until smooth.

Get rid of all your lumps.  Lumpy pancakes are not tasty. Then let the batter rest for 30 minutes so it has a chance to thicken.

It’s a good idea to use a ¼ cup measuring cup to scoop out the proper amount of batter for each pancake.  This is particularly useful if you’re making multiple pancakes at one time on a long griddle.  That way they cook at the same time.

As for me, I just had a large nonstick pan and opted to play it safe and make one pancake at a time.  Even though it’s nonstick, it’s a good idea to spritz on the cooking spray.

As soon as you see bubbles, it’s time to flip.

Now there’s nothing wrong with eating these golden puffy discs all by themselves….

But why would you want to?

The juicy strawberries are sweet, pretty, and refreshing.  They work so well with the otherwise plain pancake.  I know my mom would love to taste these and I’ll have to make them for her one day.  I mean, they’re not Bisquick and Mrs. Buttersworth’s, but I have a feeling that she wouldn’t mind one bit.

peace out for now,
julie

But I digress.  Like I was saying, it felt nice to be missed by the small handful of people who took the time to come up to me and say, “hey…you haven’t been blogging for a while.”  Just because they noticed, I feel truly thankful.  And just for that, I decided to blog again today and keep you in the loop.

I’ve been mentioning on our facebook fan page that Joe and I have been quite busy lately working on some new products and trying to figure out some business stuff for our food-themed gift line, Small Bites.  As much as I was saddened by the fact that our silence and inconsistency on this blog might cost us a few readers, I had to do what I had to do and concentrate on one thing at a time.

This is something I’ve been working on for a while in my sketch book.  We decided to add practical Kitchen Art to our foodie products by creating a line of illustrated recipes!  Each of these prints have been hand-drawn by me, and then laid out graphically by Joe.  Each 8×10″ poster is printed on durable 100lb glossy photo card stock with high quality vibrant ink.  And you may notice that these recipes might look familiar.  That’s because they come straight from this blog!

Every print showcases a list of ingredients as well as abbreviated step by step instructions.  But it also comes with its own bonus fully written instructional recipe card so you can follow the full step-by-step directions.  You can look at more pictures and view the details of each of our prints by clicking on each photo or on our Etsy Shop links underneath.

If you want to make… Frozen Slushy Watermelon with Lime

If you want to make… Crepes from Scratch

If you want to make…. Brussel Sprouts with Bacon

If you want to make…Avocado & Tomato Garlic Bread

If you want to make… Lemon & Herb Chicken Tenders.

If you want to make… Hamburger Stir-fry

If you want to make… Tortellini & Meatballs

If you want to make… Banana Bread

If you’re having a hard time choosing and want to have a set of THREE prints of your choice at a discount.

So there you have it.  That’s why we’ve been a little occupied these days.  I hope you like them!  And now for my shameless plug:

These cheerful prints would be a great gift to give as a housewarming present to anyone who enjoys spending time in their kitchen.  It’s also a fun way to get kids interested in cooking, which is one of the main purposes behind our brand in the first place.  And once again, remember to press “like” on our ilovesmallbites facebook fan page to stay connected!

Oh and be a pal and feel free to pin any of our drawings onto Pinterest.  You’ve been so helpful and instrumental in spreading the word of this blog and our Small Bites products so far.  Yeah, we see and notice your pins.  Thank you so much you wonderful gorgeous people!

peace out for now,
julie

I thought this was really strange, because I know it’s normal to eat berries, bananas, or cantaloupe for breakfast, but kiwis? She INSISTED that we had to have kiwis every morning because this would help my grandmother’s eye sight and digestion, and it would also be good for our skin. I thought these were her own weird made-up facts, or something she read out of the Korean newspaper.

In spite of my doubts, I behaved as a good niece and ate the kiwis anyways…everyday…for a good month or so.  And because of that, to this day, anytime I eat a kiwi, I think of my aunt.

Now that I’m married, living in California and in charge of my own food, I don’t normally gravitate towards purchasing kiwis at the grocery store. I think they’re a hit or miss. Sometimes they’re super sweet and delicious, and other times, they’re so overly tart. Plus I think they’re annoying to peel for such small pieces of fruit. No thank you.

But one day, the hubster and I were at Costco and I saw that there was this hefty plastic container full of kiwis on sale for some ridiculously low price, like $3.00. It’s pretty sad to say, but truth be told, most of this blog is dictated by whatever is on sale at the grocery store.

Once I came home with this bursting box, we were stuck eating them everyday. That’s when I got curious and started to do some research on kiwis. And what do you know?  It turns out that my good ol’ aunt was right all along!

These are the simple kiwi facts:
1. Kiwis are good for your eyesight: They contain lutein which can help prevent cataracts!
2. Kiwis are good for your skin: They contain antioxidant vitamin E which makes skin beautiful!
3. Kiwis are good for your health: They contain fiber, potassium, and clean out cholesterol!
4. Kiwis are good for your diet:  They are low calorie, rich in Vitamin C, and contain omega-3 fatty acids!

So it seems like there are tons of benefits for eating these little green jewels after all.

You can eat them sliced as a snack or dessert, blend them in a smoothie, or marinate meat with them. Yup, they are a natural meat tenderizer, due to their natural acidity!

But I discovered that I really enjoyed eating them sliced up in salads! Even if you’re not a huge fan of fruit in food, the kiwis are both sweet and tart, which works perfectly against some crunchy lettuce greens and a light lemony vinaigrette.  The kiwi slices add a nice refreshing touch.

So the moral of this short story kids? A kiwi a day can keep the eye doctor and dermatologist away.  In other words, unless you’re allergic, maybe you should take a hint from my Korean aunt and cut up a kiwi today.

peace out for now,
julie