Tofu just wants us all to get along. Humble enough to take a back seat when stronger personalities like garlic or green peppers enter the pot, and clever enough to disguise itself in burger and cheesecake, tofu just may be our most versatile food. And it’s good for you, too. Just ask the folks at Kang Nam Korea House, where the health benefits of tofu are detailed on each menu and placemat. Eating tofu decreases cholesterol, prevents cancer, and even relieves menopausal symptoms. It’s enough to make your beans curdle.
Tofu dinners come with beef, pork, seafood (oyster, shrimp and clams), kimchee, or mushrooms ($8.99). You choose the level of spiciness, then sit back and wait for the side munchies to arrive. Typical of most Korean restaurants, these side dishes are shared among all at the table, stemming from the belief that sharing from one bowl brings relationships closer. Kang Nam gives you eight side dishes that rotate daily, save for the ever-present kimchee, or fermented vegetables spiced with red pepper powder. Although there are over 200 kinds of kimchee, Kang Nam serves one with universal appeal, with its mixture of medium-spicy cabbage and radish.
Regulars at Kang Nam know that no one moves a muscle when the iron pots of bubbling tofu arrive.
Your tofu comes with a bowl of mixed white, sweet, and black rice (the latter colors the whole sticky bundle magenta), and a raw egg for you to crack into your iron tofu pot. Kang Nam takes great risk in presenting us with these raw eggs, which could also be turned against them if the tofu is not tolerable. But it is, and perhaps Kang Nam knows that raw eggs are not such a danger after all (salmonella and Halloween aside). Tofu is fresh and virtually odorless. The silky cubes are almost delicate enough to break upon contact with the large metal spoon provided for slurping. The combination ingredients you order provide more textural interest than anything. Tofu with Mushrooms, for example, hardly gives you enough enoki and sliced button mushrooms to make a mouthful.
Kang Nam also offers more traditional Korean fare, like barbecue short ribs, pork, or chicken, and sizzling stone pots of steamed rice with meat and mixed vegetables (dolsot bibimbab) for $10.99. Dolsot bibimbab starts with a heap of white rice, upon which minced vegetables and beef are arranged in pie shaped wedges. In the middle of the "pie" sits a raw egg, which quickly coagulates in the residual heat of the stone pot. The insides of the pot are oiled, which allows the rice to develop a golden crust. A full squeeze-bottle of red chile paste (gochujang) is set to stun.
Kang Nam’s bimbimbab was a bit like eating those marshmallow Easter chicks – looks good, but in the end, you’re left with a mouth of fluff. Under-seasoning made me wonder why I was eating it when there was all this good tofu about.