Tofu King: A Good Value

On a cold day there are few pleasures better and cheaper ($5-$6) than a steaming bowl of phở, Vietnamese rice noodles in a broth that takes hours of preparation and simmering. Unfortunately for us, the phở place was closed for renovation. The landlord is gradually upgrading his long-in-the-tooth shopping center at the corner of Hillsdale & Norfolk, led by anchor tenants Marina Market and Blockbuster Video.


We walked past the oddly named--was it marketing to vegetarians?--Tofu King restaurant. (Another oddity: the website is named Tofu Cabin.) The dining room was peopled with local Asian customers, so we walked in. A glance at the menu--kim chi being the giveaway--made it obvious that this was a Korean restaurant.

The cheapest dish was $8.99, about 50% higher than other lunch joints in the area. That was more than we were planning to spend, but, as I said to the youngster (who is more set in his ways than I am), we were here, we may like the food, and if we don't like it, we never have to come back.

The little dishes of pickled peppery vegetables were crisp and tasty. The youngster enjoyed the sweet, sesame-flavored seaweed. He consumed the entire plate after I recounted how a childhood photo of a goiter has stayed with me to this day.

An irritating consequence of aging is an inability to tolerate the hot foods that I once loved. I dialed the meter down to "mild" for the seafood tofu stew. The red mixture of rice, seafood, and vegetables was soupy and steeped in spices. Good thing that my lunch companion didn't care about the effect on my breath.

Trying but failing to clean our plates, we leaned back in our chairs. We'll be back. © 2009 Stephen Yuen