Jackson Heights Life

All for free!

This has gotta be one of the greatest culinary bargains in NYC. I 've been to 8-9 course tasting meals and the portions weren't much bigger than the plates of banchan - and they sure weren't free!

all respectable (and good) korean restaurants should never charge for banchan.
even better, you can ask for seconds (all koreans do).
some "chic" or new korean restaurants in manhattan may charge for banchan
and definitely korean restaurants in other non-korean parts of the world (e.g. london) may charge for banchan,
but koreans are sympathetic to each other's near addictive need for kimchee (crucial part of banchan) at all times.

Are there vegetarian items in Korean restaurants?

Kimchi is made with anchovy paste and fish sauce I believe.  I made tried to make it from scratch a few years ago.  So actually, it is probably not vegetarian.  Good to ask to be safe if that concerns you.

Mark, you know where this place is, we had lunch 2 doors down from there at the Vietnamese place! duh
It has Timelord technology (bigger on the inside than the outside) lol (dr. who refference)

Tim! So glad to see you here. I had actually been to the Music Box many years ago with Polly Grip, but had forgotten its location. You responded to a post I made before we had lunch together, so I wasn’t yet re-familiar with it when I wrote that. By the time you and I ate at Thai Son, I had already re-learned about it. I went there again with Polly just a few weeks ago, my first time as a Jackson Heights resident. We actually went to both Music Box and Friends’ Tavern that night, ate locally afterward (at the northern Roti Boti), and we were both able to walk home. I’m not a drinker, but I enjoyed myself nonetheless. (She bought me a diet cola.)

I went to Hae Woon Dae at 76th and Broadway for lunch again. It was fantastic! We ordered dishes a la carte, but before they came we got served an elaborate nine-dish banchan (appetizers or side dishes), which included an entire mackerel, crab claws in chili sauce, and a whole chunk of tofu. And to add to that, we were also given steamed egg in claypot (like chawanmushi) and a really rich tofu/beef soup, and a salad with a great wasabi-like dressing. 

All for free!

This has gotta be one of the greatest culinary bargains in NYC. I 've been to 8-9 course tasting meals and the portions weren't much bigger than the plates of banchan - and they sure weren't free!

I eat here all the time, for just that reason, and always love that the dishes were free.  (Except the white saucy thing I don't touch).  But I logged on today to post about this place in a different light, as I just today had a bad experience there (and I usually never have restaurant complaints.) ...

I got there and it was empty (odd I thought, considering how packed it is for the lunch special ... I ate there two weeks ago Wednesday and it was packed!).  I sat down, as usual they bring the menu that I never need to see, and water, and then come back to take my order.  (I'm in no rush, Lucas was enjoying lunch at Grandma's after a playdate with a friend).  But when I ordered my usual Shrimp Teriaki Lunch Box, the waitress says it's only "Monday to Friday."

Last time I checked it was Monday.

In any case, what it eventually came down to was the manager Brenden came over to explain my confusion and said that the line of Korean on the menu says "except holidays."  Now I'm not a language or food snob at all, but that tidbit would have been helpful up front, or in the translated part of the menu that says Mon to Fri and the times.  I mean I do understand the logic as I think about it in hindisght and they are quite generous.

Nevertheless, I figured it must be a new policy, as I ate here just two weeks ago on a holiday (the only time I'm in the 'hood to eat here for the special is school breaks and holidays).  So, while I was about to order something similar from another portion of the menu, I asked the manager if it was new, as I ate here last on Rosh Shannah.  His reply was "Real holidays, not your Jewish holidays," and that's when I got turned off.    I thanked him for the water, but decided at that point, my business was better off at Delhi Palace.

Now, that's the dilema I was logging on to post about ... I must admit I'm hesitant to go back, and I used to spend a least a third of my weekdays off lunches there (oince a week in summer and winter breaks).  It's bad enough that the restriction (which I still think is new, as I've been there a few holidays, but they might have been "lesser" like Brooklyn Queens Day to be fair) wasn't clear, but the comment was a little too off putting.  Again, ironically, a simple line in the menu would have avoided me even knowing the manger's belief of which holidays are real.

Incidentally, not that it matters at all, I'm Catholic, so I doubt their "(my) holidays" anyway ... and I am part Italian, but honestly I think Columbus Day is nowhere as "real" as Yom Kippur.  (Plus now I'm curious if they serve specials on Halloween, Chinese New Year, or St. Patrick's Day, when even schools are open, but like Columbus there are parades, etc..)

That all said, I really like the restaurant, just having a dilemna about if I should go back or not.   As my neighbor's bumper sticker says "What would Scooby do?"

What would you do?

I would assume he meant federal/bank holidays as opposed to religious holidays (And, in case you're wondering, Christmas was adopted as a federal holiday).

I guess, but like I said, I had no problem with the caveat at all (after all, I can see how specials on holidays could bankrupt a place), I had issue with the after comment of it being not a "real holiday." 

Although if the "fine print" were clear, not only read to me in Korean AFTER I sat for 15 minutes, drank water etc.  I would have still ordered something, especially if they started brining out side dishes ... my getting up had more to do with the comment.
Just the fact that there was no special was probably why the place was dead at 1 pm, but that's a legitimate business choice in my opinion.  His comment, much less so.

My question regarding that is--was his first language English?  It could have been that he was not trying to offend or say something negative about the Jewish religion, but by a "real" holiday, he meant a national holiday.  As in, a holiday where the banks are closed and most people have off from school/work.  I can't imagine a business owner purposely saying something so offensive, especially when he could not have known your religion when he made that comment to you.

I can't assume ... and like I said, it crossed my mind I couldn't be understanding his intention, just because yes, it seemed so outlandish.  And I don't even know if he was the manager or owner ... lot of variables, that's why my quandry.  If the comment was clear cut, I wouldn't be so conflicted.

But anyway, enough of that topic ... rehashing doesn't solve anything.  Besides, I have a solution that my occasional dining partner suggested ... we're going back my next school holiday, Veteran's Day, when he recalls we definitely ate there last year.  That way, we'll at least know if it's a new policy, and at least be expecting that it might be, maybe able to get a less heated explanation as to the new rule.  (Well, that, and I'm not off on a weekday until then ... LOL)

Worse comes to worse, Friday after Thanksgiving I *know* the lunch will be back.