Miga brings Korean food to Center City Philadelphia and Craig LaBan wonders, what took so long.

Like many Korean restaurants, Miga’s menu is huge, with both strengths and weaknesses. The place has many of the standards down pat, including the huge pajun pancakes, their crisp outsides and soft interiors laced with everything from seafood to tangy kimchi or beef and hot peppers. There is an excellent version of jap chae, the springy, clear, sweet potato noodles in lightly sweet dark sauce that, in the veggie rendition, came with the fantastic crunch of exotic, coral-like rehydrated mushrooms. The dduk bokki, tubular rice flour dumplings that resemble soft gnocchi, came in a vivid orange sauce tinged with red pepper powder that, in combination with the dumplings’ pleasantly sticky chew, stoked Miga’s hottest glow.

Two Bells – Very Good

Miga [Philadelphia Inquirer]
Miga [Official Site]

Adam Erace manages to incorporate “whorebath” into his largely positive review of Miga, the smokeless Korean barbecue on 15th Street.

The menu describes belly as “unseasoned,” which you should read as “bland.” But it’s okay, really, as the salt-and-peppered sesame oil and intensely savory Korean bean paste take care of that. You’re meant to dip each piece of pork before bundling them in frilly red leaf lettuce cups with sliced garlic and chilies. Dip, wrap. Dip, wrap. United, the ingredients in this leafy Korean burrito brought real balance. Fresh and rich flavors, working in tandem, totally worth the wait.

Miga

David Snyder visits Center City’s Korean barbecue, Miga and finds that authentic and accessible are not mutually exclusive.

[T]he tofu kimchi pork bokum was my favorite dish. Acidic kimchi served as the perfect foil for savory steamed pork belly, and since each element is prepped separately before being stir-fried together, both retain their identities. The huge wedges of soft tofu capping the mound, though, played just as important a role, softening the intense flavors and providing a wonderful textural contrast.

You and Miga [City Paper]
Miga [Official Site]

How much does Rick Nichols like the Korean tacos at Ansill? Well he was spotted eating the strange hybrid after his Thursday story ran about the “astonishingly good” tacos!

Tacos with a Korean twist [Philadelphia Inquirer]
Ansill Food + Wine [Official Site]

No Twitter and no wheels but Ansill Food + Wine is the first Philadelphia spot to get with the Korean taco trend. The bottom up fusion first came to prominence via a taco truck in Los Angeles and has already made its way to New York.

In Philadelphia, David Ansill’s Korean line cook Ann Miller has added  shortrib and braised pork belly tacos with sweet and spicy Korean chili sauce to the Happy Hour (Tuesday through Saturday – 6 to 8 pm) menu. Get them for $5 each.

Kogi Korean BBQ, a taco truck brought to you by Twitter [Los Angeles Times]
Ansill Food + Wine [Official Site]

More Photos after the jump.

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Today the Kleinsider reports that the empty storefront that was ¡Pasión! is going to become Miga, a Korean barbecue and Japanese restaurant. They’re aiming to open by mid-May. The prospect of Korean barbecue got us thinking we had to make it a point get to Miran, the Korean barbecue on Chestnut Street. 

Japanese/Korean BBQ to replace ¡Pasión! space [The Insider]
Miran [Foobooz]

Elisa Ludwig stops off in Blue Bell for some top notch Korean BBQ at Gaya.

The DIY barbecue offers your choice of pork or beef cuts, including pork neck. We opted for soy and chili-marinated short ribs, which the server cut from the bone with a pair of scissors at the table. While the meat and garlic cloves and onion slices sizzled on the grill, we readied our plates with the cornucopia of fixins: lettuce and cabbage, bright leaves of kale, carrot sticks, cucumber, jalapeño peppers and a dense, rich soybean paste.

The Grill of your Dreams [City Paper]

Still riled up about that 50 Best Bars covers story in Philadelphia Weekly? Consider this tour of Fishtown’s best bars by Brian McManus. Funny and frightening in equal amounts. [PW]

The Inquirer went Seoul crazy this weekend, with LaBan reviewing Everyday Good House on Front and Olney and Rick Nichols extolling the virtues of Korean fried chicken and Cooking Papa. [The Inquirer]

Lew Bryson wonders whether it’s time to retire the term “beer geek.” Reading his post indicates to us that it’s not. No word on what he thinks of gastropub. [Seen Through a Glass]

Do restaurants really suffer during a recession? We hope not. Then again, since everyone’s going on food stamps, the issue might be moot. [NY Times]

Elisa Ludwig visits Gaja Gaja, a Japanese and Korean quick service restaurant on South Street and recommends the miso soup and Japanese entrees.

There is nothing so comforting as the chicken katsu-don, breaded strips of chicken with rags of cooked egg and fried onion over a sweet mirin and soy sauce-soaked rice. Eat this for lunch or dinner and South Street’s catcalls and bodystocking shops will seem that much friendlier.

Gaja Gaja will fill you up right [City Paper]

Elisa Ludwig checks out Meju in Old City and finds enough to like that she’d be a regular if she worked nearby.

Like the kimchee, some of the entrées taste like the chili heat has been turned down a notch — a necessary concession, perhaps, for diverse clientele. But everyone loses when dishes like soon doo boo jigae (spicy tofu stew) — which should have your nose running — are bland and brothy. Bibim bop, the sizzling bowl of rice that continues cooking at the table, takes dollops of accompanying chili paste to get it up to speed. However, the kim chee bokum bop, a similar rice bowl with the addition of spicy cabbage and thin slices of pork, is perfectly simple, perfectly good as-is.

Meju Look [City Paper]