Ssambap Korean BBQ Restaurant, Stony Brook

After a day of going out to a winery on the east end and walking around the Vanderbilt Museum for the annual Jaguar Car show and a tour of the mansion, the wifeypoo and I were contemplating where to eat for dinner. She loves reading Newsday on the newest hot spots for dining. So she insisted that Ssambap Korean BBQ is the newest and highly rated dining experience we must go try. They are actually in the same parking lot as this really good Chinese market that we go to. So off we went. They have two choices for tables to sit at one with a BBQ pit in the middle of the table and the other without. They really did a great job on the decor and the staff was really hospitable. Our waitress Misook was so sweet and friendly and was such a big help with the choosing of dishes from their menu. Being it was our first time ever eating Korean food we definitely needed the help. We started out with the wifey trying a Korean beer Tsing Tao and for appetizers we had Mandoo Soup this is a chicken dumpling soup with a light broth. We also had seaweed salad; their version was the same as any other seaweed salad I have had in Japanese restaurants. The main entrees were Goong Joon Tuckbockee, in English this is short ribs in a soy based sauce served with vegetables and a bean paste and rice flour pasta topped with a hard boiled egg. As odd as this dish sounds we both really enjoyed it and recommend everyone to try it. The other dish with an equally odd name; Ssam is pork belly braised with scallions in a not so to our taste brown sauce. We also tried a spicy pork dish that was served with red bean sticky rice and accompanied by 5 small dishes of what they refer to as condiments. These dishes consisted Kimchi , spicy pickled cucumbers, broccoli , string beans and bean sprouts. Overall, the wifeypoo and I enjoyed our first Korean dining experience. We look forward to someday returning and trying the Korean BBQ where as you cook your own food in the built-in BBQ table pit.

They get 4 forks out of 5 on this visit.

http://ssambapbbq.com/Welcome.html