February RC – KOY

Carnitas dumplings

I am back after a little hiatus in January…I was so bummed to miss last month as we planned a “reunion” month in honor of RC’s tenth year. The votes came in and they went back to Oleana, which was our very first RC back in January 2006 (and my first pick)! I heard it was delicious.

This month we ventured (in the snow, per the yuge this month) to KOY Boston, a new Korean fusion restaurant near Faneuil Hall. I can recall the space being a Naked Fish restaurant, Red Sky (a restaurant/bar), and most recently (according to Google) a UBurger. Also a disclaimer, I did not get very good photos of all of our dishes.

Cheese steak dumplings

The restaurant was not very full when we arrived for our 7 PM reservation, perhaps because of the weather. We had a very nice (and large) table in the center of the dining room. The staff was friendly, though it was a little difficult getting our server’s attention long enough to place an initial drink order.

Octopus…the winner!

From the “Tastes” menu, we started with the carnitas dumplings, cheese steak dumplings, and chili shrimp. The carnitas dumplings were a bit underwhelming (pan-fried dumplings stuffed with braised pork shoulder carnitas, torn cilantro, and lightly dressed in black vinegar and queso fresco). I enjoyed both the chili shrimp and the cheese steak dumplings (fried dumplings stuffed with pastrami, Swiss cheese, house-made Kimchi, served with Korean pepper flake mayonnaise sauce and diced scallions). But the winner of the appetizer round was actually not an appetizer…we ordered the pepper octopus leg from the “Twist” menu for the table to share. The crispy braised octopus was perfectly cooked and accompanied by red pepper salad, Korean pepper powder, and chili mayonnaise. Actually, the octopus was declared the winning dish overall. It was even tasty the next day as leftovers. We also ordered the scallion pancakes but they never made it to the table (and we’re not actually sure if we paid for them or not). 

Korean hot pot

For my entree, I had to go with the hot stone bibimbap (seasonal vegetables, fried egg, chili paste, marinated beef bulgogi), and I ate the whole thing. I love when the rice starts to get crispy from the stone bowl. I also tasted the tofu stew (soondubu), the Korean hot pot, and the jjajangmyun. The jjajangmyun was an udon noodle dish that came with black bean sauce, roasted pork, diced vegetables, and fresh cucumber. It was difficult to find the pork, and the dish really wasn’t what Tracy expected so we encouraged her to send it back (which we rarely do). She ordered another round of octopus instead, which was just as yummy as the first order. The only other thing we tried from the “Twist” menu was the bulgogi sandwich, which was seared ribeye steak with torched mozzarella, Korean pear, green onion, and carrot on hot-buttered brioche.

Jjajangmyun

Perhaps the Korean fusion concept will work well in this Faneuil Hall spot that seems to have a difficult time keeping a long-term tenant. But next time I’m in the mood for Korean food, several people have told me I need to try Kaju Tofu House or Buk Kyung.

The damage
$46 per person

The rundown
KOY
16 North Street, Boston