So adventures in fatherhood continues. My lovely wife and I have become food snobs because of a few recent disasterous food delivery events. I ordered 7th Street Pizza thinking it would be like New York-style pizza. It wasn't. It had sweet sauce and the dough was made of 11 different grains that made it soggy and purple. Pizza is not supposed to be purple. We also did some Kyochon Chicken which was mostly bone and dry. So...we have decided that I would cook. Usually I do a Mediterranean style meals with salads and brown rice but my wife wanted some pasta. So I decided to do some ziti with pork meatballs.  The best part was that this entire meal came to under 15,000 won (about 12 usd) and it was actually enough for about 6 meals and it only took about 30 minutes. At the store I got about 6,000 won worth of ground pork. Ground pork in Korea is quite high quality so I knew it wouldn't be too gamey and it would cook up nicely.   To soak up the extra moisture in the meat balls and ...

This restaurant has closed I was a little hesitant to go to Ola! Mario because the name suggests fake Italian. Plus the red just makes me think Super Mario Brothers. I am happy to admit that the red facade is a sham for the wonders beneath it. The interior is beautiful. It's dark but stylishly dark. It is the perfect place for a date. The service is very upscale and pleasant. The concierge, Mi-gyeong was very helpful and her English was great. I went through my usual drill through the menu to see how well they know it and all. My brave friend Kelly of Seoulstyle and I decided to break from the norm. We did dessert first and it was a brilliant way to start our meal. The desserts were luscious and precocious. I mean where else can you get Ginseng ice cream topped with candied wings. The ginseng wasn't over powering and it the worked...sorta. I mean the icecream was more a icemilk. I did enjoy the flavor. The cheesecake was a dream. I mean it was so light and fl...

Pasta 12 has unknowingly become a default for satisfying impulse pasta cravings on a budget in Sinchon (신촌). I've visited the quaintly-decorated basement restaurant a handful of times, mostly for lunch, where you can order any dish on the menu for less than 6500 won. They'll even throw in a small salad, a beverage (cola/cider/hot coffee), and of course, sweet pickles (to cut the grease, according to Koreans.) Not a bad deal. The menu is oddly separated into "pasta" and "spaghetti" (hmm, I thought spaghetti was pasta?) and then conveniently divided by sauce type: tomato, tomato-cream, cream, Shanghai (insert question mark here), soy cream, olive oil, and demi-glace. (Where's the pesto?) But the real prize winner here is the soy cream mushroom spaghetti . Yes, I said soy milk - all the richness with a subtle nuttiness and half the fat (maybe), helping us all keep (or aspire to) the all important "S line" trend! Pasta 12 is located next door to ...