I had read about Chefs Katianna and John Hong and their amazing Korean-American YANGBAN in LA and was thrilled to find out they were doing a small Xmas eve tasting menu and offered a veggie version to boot. The fact that John was part Jewish and had married Jewish cuisine with Korean, made it even more tempting.
The space is in a south LA warehouse that has been converted with an outdoor space in an alley and a huge indoor space with a glass enclosed kitchen on the mezzanine you can see into. We ordered some drinks and our server Naima, who was very helpful and sweet, said they were not sweet, The Society was indeed sweet as it has soju and is called a martini for the initiated with vodka, vermouth, toasted rice soju and savory brine. Sam loved the Dokkaebier rice kolsch Korean beer.
We ordered a bottle of white after the sommelier/manager said the one I was looking at was novel and dry: Savagnin Fumey(odd spelling indeed) 2021 from Chatelian in Arbois was a novel and fine wine and worked with all the spices and various flavors as well.
First came the BITES and the guy who placed them down put a plate in front of Sam and said it was vegetarian. He tasted it and was not happy as it was the added plate we had ordered: Golden Prawn Toast with ama ebi, brown butter, yangban makgeolli golden sauce, cherry tomato and cured egg yolk. We called Naima over and she was horrified. That guy never came back. Sam did get a Zucchini Latke which he loved, and we also got the regular tasty bite which was the Hot Smoked Trout Schmear on griddled potato bread with dill chive and fresh horseradish!
Next came the Amuse of Steamed Egg Custard which we all loved, and Sam's had mushrooms while our had smoked trout, warm chicken fat and gremolata.
One of the highlights was the Green Tea Leaf Salad which apparently chef got from a Southeast Asian place he knew in San Francisco. It reminded me of the same dish in Myanmar we had so often there ages ago. It had gem lettuce, green cabbage, buchu, seasoned spinach, cucumber, tomato, snap peas, edamame, herbs and seeds and a fabulous nokcha-lemon vinaigrette all topped with crispy shallots!! We all gobbled it down.
The next courses started with Banchan, a selection of five side dishes highlighting local produce: Grilled Cucumber, Carrots and Dates with Honey & Yogurt, Broccoli with Yuzu & Chicken Skin(not veggie), Kimchi with Habanero and the Avocado & Shinku Pear with Hot Mustard Vinaigrette. We loved them all and all of a sudden Sam's main appeared which was a gorgeous Black Bean Mole with Fried Tofu. We waited, and waited and waited and our two mains arrived eventually but Sam was already finished with his main. The Gochujang Braised Black Cod with Joseon Radish, rice cake, kabocha squash and sylvette arugula was fabulous and we also tried the ($30 surplus) Grilled King's Cut Short Rib with potato puree, grilled king trumpet and shitakes, galbi jus, toasted bread crumb, horseradish and chive. It was also sublime and tasty. A Domaine Ogereau 2021 Cabernet Franc "Lenjouee" from Anjou was excellent, although it took forever to arrive.
Everyone was apologizing for all the service failures, and they tried so hard offereing us more wine(we refused) and champagne (we refused), but we accepted a glass of Amaro, which is not our favorite, but we thought would be a good digestif. They also sent out an additional (extra charge removed of $32) Lobster Congee Pot Pie of which we had a bite each as it came after all the mains were done. They really tried!!
Dessert was fabulous and Sam loved his "The Works" Sundae with Double 8 Buffalo Milk Soft Serve, Nurungi Puffed Rice, Chocolate Injeolmi and Doenjang Caramel(all the fotos are on FB) and we adored the Yangban Cheesecake with coconut biscuit, brown butter crust, coconut cream and local strawberry jam!
Many items were removed from the check and we really appreciated the efforts and would go back, but not on a set menu holiday for sure. The food was fun, novel and extremely tasty so we know that is not where the issues were.
