Tasty Korean BBQ

I've been on a mission to try as many holes-in-the wall in Greenville as I can.  Well, maybe more diamonds in the rough rather than holes-in-the wall.  Those places that you'd pass by without a thought, but the moment you try their food you wonder why you hadn't been there before.

One thing that Greenville offers that you don't see as often in other towns is the variety of international cuisine.   Upstate South Carolina actually has the highest international investment per capita in the United States.  And with all of that international investment, Greenville now offers cuisines from all over the world.

A few of my favorites are Me Kong (Vietnamese), Sacha's (Colombian), Pita House (Mediterranean) and now Tasty Korean BBQ has been added to the list.   This is a place we've driven by numerous times, and if you live in Greenville, you probably have too.  The restaurant is connected to a gas station, which I know sounds kind of unsanitary, but I was actually shocked at how nice and clean it was inside.

I heard that their lunch specials were great, so T and I decided to try it out on a Saturday afternoon.  I'm a sucker for a bento box.  There's just something about it that makes me order one at every opportunity.  The way each part of your meal is separated in its own tiny compartment, I just love it. Their boxes are very reasonably priced at lunch, ranging from $8.00 to $11.00 and they come with plenty of food to fill you up.

T ordered the BBQ chicken which was pretty good, but my Dweji-Bulgogi (grilled pork in spicy Korean sauce) stole the show.  The boxes also came with a salad, sticky rice, a noodle dish called japchae, and two half moon shaped fried dumplings- think Korean empanadas. The food tasted so fresh and flavorful.  The pork was absolutely amazing, and I could eat an entire bowl of those noodles. After doing some research, we found out that japchae is made from sweet potato noodles stir fried with sesame oil and veggies.  Never had a sweet potato noodle before, but I don't think those will be my last!

Rather than sticking with waters, we decided to order a few Korean beers to wash everything down.  Wise choice on our parts, the beer went along perfectly with our meals.  

Tasty Korean BBQ is located at 1170 Woodruff Road, right behind the Red Robin gas station.  Their dinner menu prices are okay, but their lunch special is the best deal.  

Tailgate Practice

After a month of feeling just plain uninspired, I've decided to pick up blogging again.  When I'm in the habit of blogging, it seems so simple to write a few posts per week, but as soon as I get out of my groove it takes a lot to bring be back to it. 

I captured some great pictures this weekend after we hosted a party at our house, and thought it would be the perfect opportunity to return- once again- to my blog.  College football will be starting back next week, and in honor of all of the excitement, T and I held a "Tailgate Practice" party at our house.  We had every intention of making it a welcome environment for fans of all teams, but it pretty much just ended up being a Clemson themed party. 

I went pretty simple (a.k.a. inexpensive) with the decor.  I was able to use a lot of stuff we already had laying around the house, and did some simple things like filling apothecary jars with orange snacks.   I also made chocolate dipped pretzels that resembled footballs, and then George promptly ate half of them as soon as I set them out.

I also used this Pinterest tutorial to make some paper fringe, which turned out better than I thought it would.

T and I love a surprise at a party.  We surprised our wedding guests with cheeseburgers after our wedding reception, and people still mention that to me.  We figured we had to have another surprise for this party, so I booked the Tiger Cub to come and make an appearance. 

Everyone loved snapping pictures with the Cub, especially George, who was infatuated with the Cub.  I'm pretty sure he thought it was just a giant stuffed animal.

Our friend Tripp brought his giant smoker and cooked ribs for the whole crowd.   As a host, this was awesome.  Having the main course taken care of by someone else made it easier for me to enjoy myself that day.  Rather than hovering over the stove top for the duration of the party, I was able to actually walk around and have fun.  Plus, Tripp makes better ribs than I could ever dream of cooking. 

 Let the countdown to College Football begin!