Woo SoHo

Woo SoHo Restaurant Review:

About the restaurant & décor: Julie Choi, owner of Woo SoHo, comes from a restaurant family. Her mother Young Sook Choi opened the late Woo Lae Oak (which closed in 2011) in the same neighborhood, and her grandmother brought a branch of Woo Lae Oak from Seoul, South Korea, to midtown in 1974. Woo SoHo is modern and comfortable, with a two-story chrome, granite and exposed brick dining room that seats 150.

Likes: Omija Napoleon; beef short rib; lovely ambience.
Dislikes: Food is pricy --- great Korean barbecue is available uptown in Koreatown for better value.

Food & Drinks: There’s a certain joy to the interactive nature of Korean barbecue. Before you get started with the tableside grill, start with flaky scallion pancakes and dak nal ke tikim, spicy honey and chili glazed chicken wings. (Chef Eli Martinez, originally from Honduras, worked at Woo Lae Oak.) Spinach crêpes, stuffed with crab and leeks, are also first-rate. Nibble on banchan, those little bowls filled with snacks that pop with flavor, as you wait for the barbecue to begin. Tender rib-eye and beef tongue are so thinly sliced that they’ll need only a flash of heat to become succulent. Kalbi, a soy-marinated beef short rib, is bursting with rich depth. Pair it with yook ke jang, glass noodles studded with tender shredded beef, which are just the right amount of spicy. Save room for the Omija Napoleon, a berry mousse layered with flaky puff pastry, strawberries and vanilla ice cream. There’s a short but thoughtful wine list, plus craft beer, saké and well-balanced cocktails on offer.