Kimchi Pop by Chef Son — Restaurant in West Chicago Township

The best takeout in Chicago RIGHT NOW. Everything fresh,fresh. It's clean and the staff is exceptionally friendly. The cook/chef is all business.

I was ba in the neighborhood dancing sadly along, enjoying my Postpunk Darkwave playlist, getting all philosophical and broody. I simply glanced up and saw a picture of:

SPAM MUSBI

Wait a minute. But this is a Korean place. Spam Musibi; A blast from the past. I wasn't looking for it but it sure found me. Intrigued, I looked in. Kimchi Pop was clean and bright. Garlic and sesame aromas warmly wafted out the door, inviting me in.

Tell all your friends KimchiPop is Amazing. Look at the Menu and order damn near anything with the assurance that youre in for a TREAT. Chicken Kimbap? Say what?! Spam Musubi. Chef Son should hang a massive illumated MUSUBI out front to lure starving midwesterners, hungry for Acessible interesting and flavorful, high quality Korean grub at the right price. Fried rice just about any way ya might want. About the rice: this is a kinda big deal. Everything the rice appears in; it appears Perfectly steamed, with affection. Leftovers Really swing the day after. We frequently over order new places. EVERYTHING I've ordered from Kimchi Pop has been devoured with relish (and kimchi). I can't say enough good things about the spot. They won't burn your mouth out, unless you wanna. SPAM SPAM SPAM. We are CHICAGO. We do share a rich history with Korea AND processed Pork. At Kimchi Pop, I'm participating in that legacy with Food, baby. VEGGIE options with fresh everything. KIMCHI is Superfood. GET IT...

The menu is limited, but what they do offer here are many of the staples you'd expect to find at a Korean restaurant. Unlike many other Korean restaurants, though, they are actually willing to accommodate dietary restrictions—e.g., vegan and vegetarian. A huge bonus!

While I wanted to give this place 5 stars, I have found the quality of the food to be inconsistent. The last time we ordered food from here, they had clearly just cleaned the kitchen, as everything we ate tasted like Frebreze or some other cleaning spray. That was pretty gross, needless to say, but usually the food from here is solid. I've also stopped ordering their kimchi because the last few times they served us really old kimchi that was well past its "use by" date—i.e., it had that gnarly, sour quality to it that, for most Korean households, means it's either time to toss the kimchi or dump it into a stew to mask/cook off the rancidness.

UPDATED REVIEW: Really disappointed here the last few times I've ordered. Maybe this place is fine for meat eaters, but as a vegetarian, I can't keep paying money for what's effectively a pile of carbohydrates. See photo of my last order of veggie japchae. It's about 50 cents worth of ingredients (mostly noodles). I had to cook a bunch of veggies when I got home to add to this in order to feed my kids a proper meal. Absurd. When I called the restaurant to complain, I was told the owner would personally call me back. Never heard from him. As much as I want to support this place, I'm...

I had the Kimchijjigae. It’s a big no for me. First thing you should see in any kimchijjigae is the green of the spring onion mixed in with the bright orange. No such thing. The stew was what I’ve come to judge most Korean food by: spicy for no reason. I feel like they just threw in some 고추가루 and maybe cut in some American chilli pepper seeds. Tastes like chilli flakes you get on pizza. Dry. The soup itself was thin and watery, not the rich flavourful umami you get from boiling rich pork belly or using a 멸치 base. Not even some dashida or dashima. As all stingy restaurants do, there were only THREE slices of pork in a PORK kimchijjigae. I’m very glad I didn’t pay the $3 for “extra” pork. Obviously the pieces were essentially pork 차돌박이, thin, no fat, no flavour. Why would they ever invest in adding pork belly in a $15 dish?

Kimchi itself was…well, you’ve read the rest of the review. Hard, along with the onion slices. Undercooked. Probably thrown together in 10 minutes. Would rather wait and extra 10 minutes and get my kimchi properly cooked.

No side dishes of course. For a $15 dish, you’d expect at least a side of bean sprouts or spinach.

I got a side of gochujang to taste and that seems to be part of the issue. Raw ingredients taste like those offered at Whole Foods over HMart.

Edit: There’s carrots in it by the way. Carrots. In kimchijjigae....