Yard of the Youthful Penis

********THIS RESTAURANT IS NOW CLOSED.********

We went to Young Dong Garden today with Mr. Monkey's family. I have the mind of a 10-year-old boy, so, every time we go there, I can't help but think, "It's not an old dong; it's a young dong!" So stupid, I know, but...well...that's what my brain does, and that's why I named this entry what I named it. It's my blog, and I can be immature if I want to.

Young Dong Garden (19 Huntington Drive, Arcadia 91006) is, in fact, a Korean restaurant and not a dirty brothel of boys. It's nothing fancy, but the food is reliable, and the service efficient. Young Dong offers typical soondooboo and barbecued fare, as well as a number of other staples, such as bibimbap (rice with beef, vegetables, egg, and red pepper sauce), naengmyeon (cold noodles), and lots of stews and noodles in hot broth.

Since I recently realized that I might have a number of readers who may not be that familiar with certain cuisines, I'm going to do my best to give more detailed explanations!

We started with the usual panchan (small side dishes), which included two servings of yummy pacheon (pan-fried green onion pancakes), kimchi (fermented spicy napa cabbage), kongnamul (bean sprouts in sesame oil), miyeok (seaweed that is slightly sweet and slightly sour), spicy cucumbers, and fishcakes. Panchan are usually brought out at the beginning of the meal and put in the center of the table to be shared by everyone throughout the meal. Please be advised that, if a restaurant doesn't refill these dishes as you finish them, that restaurant sucks.

I had a lunch combination of galbi (barbecued short ribs) and mandoo soondooboo (tofu soup with dumplings). Soondooboo can be ordered with gradations of spiciness. Young Dong offers non-spicy, mild, medium, spicy, and extra spicy. I got "medium," but, in hindsight, I think I should've gotten "spicy." "Medium" really wasn't that spicy.

Mr. Monkey ordered his beef kimchi soondooboo extra spicy, of course, and paired his tofu with dweji bulgogi (spicy marinated thinly sliced pork -- bulgogi generally means "fire meat" and, when referenced alone, usually means the grilled beef version, which I love...but not quite as much as I love galbi).

Mr. Monkey's dad, brother, sister-in-law, and niece all ate various noodle and chicken dishes that were too far for me to snap with my iPhone, but I did get a shot of the gigantic fried fish that was ordered for the table. This was my favorite part of the meal. I have no idea what kind of fish it was. All I know is that it was huge, meaty, crispy, and delicious!

Here's the aftermath of our meal.

Here's the useless piece of melon-flavored gum that Young Dong gives you with the check. It loses its taste in all of 30 seconds.

For the record, Little Monkey Niece was pretty good today...except for when she was shrieking outside. But at least it was outside.