Dok Suni

I had a chance to check out Dok Suni (119 1st Avenue) with my buddy Todd for some excellent Korean food. Dok Suni means 'strong woman', which is quite fitting seeing as they've been open for more than a decade.

We started with a small plate of shrimp which was fried in a white cornmeal batter & served alongside a particularly tasty crab/seafood salad. They were good, but really not that filling.

I used to go to Dok Suni a lot back in 2000 or so. I would make the trip all the way from the upper east side just to get their mackerel, so I was delighted when I saw that it was still on the menu. It was marinated in sea salt, lightly fried & served with a fried red pepper sauce. The recipe had changed somewhat (if my memory serves me correctly), but it was still very good (& very spicy). The dish was served with white rice & mid-ban-chan (a selection of marinated vegetables & tofu).

Todd got the Bibimbop which looked excellent. We ordered a large bottle of 'OB', a Korean beer. It wasn't very impressive (think watered down Bud Light), but I'm glad that we gave it a whirl.

All in all, it was an excellent meal & reasonably priced. The decor is great (old Korean book pages cover the walls), the service was top notch (it was somewhat empty when we arrived but began to fill up while we were leaving) & they played some really good hip hop all night. In short, I recommend Dok Suni.