Yangban — Restaurant in Los Angeles

Described as a "culinary conversation" from husband-and-wife chefs John Hong and Katianna Hong Yangban has dropped "society" and upped the ante in terms of it's cuisine, space and service with results rivaling the best of Los Angeles.

Now fully occupying the old Bon Temps space in Downtown’s Art District, an overhead kitchen still fully visible while the dining room has undergone a modest face-lift, guests will find the former casual eatery replaced by full service and dim lighting befitting elevated Cuisine.

Still offering Modern-Korean American fare with casual flair, every member of the staff professional yet pleasant, guests will find the menu divided into sections ranging from Starters and Banchan to larger “Plates” and Sides.

Priced appropriate to Ingredients and environs, starters sold per-piece served before five Banchan for $28, Falafel proves inspired thanks to Mung Beans and Kimchi while fried Lobster and Blue Crab on a Tortilla are complex bites of fusion done right.

Not forgetting Golden Prawn Toast, as fine a composition as one will find at Saison or Brooklyn Fare, larger servings include Korean Dumplings gone “Jewish Penicillin” and Rice Cakes slick and chewy in aromatic Mushroom gravy.

Happy to find Kimchi less abrasive than many, while Honey Glazed Carrots and Yangban’s Avocado & Pear Salad benefit from California’s bounty, the word “decadent” barely covers the Hong’s Congee Pot Pie beneath perfect Puff Pastry with what must be at least a stick of Butter.

Trained by the likes of Josiah Citrin, where the couple first met before moving to Northern California 3* Restaurant at Meadowood, Yangban Wings are most certainly not the sort of things one would describe as “Bar Food” given their crunch and complexity further magnified by housemade Pickles.

Taking it easy on fluffy Rice, a trio of Desserts making themselves mandatory, Yangban’s Sujeongwa Sundae arrives expectedly creamy thanks to a high Milk-Fat base while the signature Cheesecake standing tall with a silky texture currently finds itself outpaced by Sweet Potato Pie that eats like Southern Chess meets...

If this were just about the food, I'd give it a higher rating but I had some issues with their customer service model.

You can make a reservation but not if you want to eat a la carte. Reservations require you to order the tasting menu and the only way to eat a la carte is to be a walk-in. That doesn't make any sense to me. It's reasonable to want tasting menu customers to make reservations because the chef needs a proper head-count. But why not allow a la carte customers to make reservations too?

You pay for the meal ahead of time including tip and they charge a 4% service. Well, if I get to choose my tip, how am I supposed to know what to tip if I haven't been served yet? And if you're going to charge a service charge anyway, just charge a mandatory 18% and leave it at that. But combining the service charge + asking for tip + making you pay all this before you even sit down? It makes no sense.

I wouldn't have minded #2 if the service were good but it was middling. I had to ask for water and it took a while to get it and they never bothered to come back with a fresh bottle. They offered to take away (as in throw away) dishes rather than offering us take-away boxes; we had to ask for those. And in general, even though the dining room wasn't anywhere near full, it still seemed like they were short-handed.

As for the food: that was actually pretty solid, all said. There was only one dish I was underwhelmed by (the soy sauce chicken thighs, which were overcooked and practically identical to what you can get at any Canto restaurant in the city). But the salad and acorn noodle dishes all had great flavor, I really liked their take on bagels w/ schmear, and most of the other dishes were good. The aforementioned service charge/tip issues aside, the $50/person was a very good value for the quality of the meal. I just wish the rest of the experience wasn't so odd and...

The tasting menu had a wide variety of quality ingredients that when combined together failed to please my taste and apparently my stomach this morning.

The crispy tomato toast paired with soggi Uni shook the mediteranean man out of me, making me wonder what was korean about that bruschetta. I would have enjoyed both - separately

Banchan was served without the mains, it’s a detail but it sets the tone as to how non traditional the restaurant is. The cucumber cumin was great but again I failed to understand what was korean about a carrot-dates-pomegranate banchan. I tried to convince myself that the pear-avocado and mustard banchan must be exceptional since everybody was raving about it but it just wasn’t good and left me puzzled.

The waiter presented the tea leaf salad as the best ever. Having been to Myanmar, I politely contained myself not to disagree. He then proceeded to squeeze a slice of lemon bare hands on our plate, let’s say it wasn’t the most appetizing way to start the dish. I guess I am a snob but I would have prefered lime and to find the taste of the fermented tea leaves instead of this « Sweetgreen » version of the dish that has nothing to do with its origin nor korea.

The rice cake mushroom cream tasted great but the texture of large mushroom cubes with the rice cake made me feel like I was eating a piece of wetsuit and I am not kidding.

I don’t pretend to be a chef but the salmon was undercooked and probably got the best of me. The shortrib was excellent and felt good after the rollercoaster of experimentations.

Dessert waved goodbye to any expectations I had left to find korean food at this restaurant, with the most american largest and densest strawberry cheesecake slice. It tasted great but I wish the journey would have brought me to Seoul not Brooklyn.

Although Yangban describes itself as a culinary conversation, it is one I wish could have ended...