Chef Liu's Culinary Blog

Man. Over the past few weeks, I’ve been fortunate to have had Korean BBQ twice, and hot pot three times! They are both awesome to enjoy with friends, and are some of my favorite good eats.

Here are some of the pros and cons of each:

Korean BBQ Pros:

1. More flavorful

2. Can cook meats rare, medium, well, etc.

3. You can have thicker pieces of meat

Korean BBQ Cons:

1. TOO SMOKY! Your clothing, hair, and body will stink!

2. It’s extremely meat-centric. Where are the veggies?

3. You have to cook it really quickly or else it will burn.

Hot Pot Pros:

1. Come on…even though BBQ is more flavorful, it still tastes pretty damn good!

2. Because it’s boiled, a lot of the fat gets cooked out of the meat.

3. Lots of variety in the pot makes for a wonderful broth at the end.

Hot Pot Cons:

1. Food gets lost at the bottom of the pot too easily.

2. There is still a strong smell on your clothing, hair, and body after eating.

3. Everything goes in the pot: meats, seafood, veggies — and, sometimes you don’t want that to happen.

So….the bottom line? If it’s once in a while, I’d prefer to eat the BBQ. However, on a more frequent basis, I prefer Hot Pot. Still, both are great to eat with friends.

Ok, so after living in San Francisco for about 5 years now, I finally made it to Chez Spencer for dinner about a week ago. I  went with a group of 6, and it was for a birthday celebration for a friend.  We got there a little earlier than our reservation, and sipped on a bottle of champagne while we waited to be seated. These next few words will probably get me banned from this restaurant, but while were waiting in the outside room sipping on our champagne along came a rather large black RAT! This wasn’t one of the cute ones that were in Ratatouille. Truth be told, it scared me half to death, and I was left standing and looking on the floor most of the night.

Aside from the rat moment, however, I must say that I enjoyed the food and wines quite a bit.  I had the wood seared venison, and it was delicious. It went down well with Cabernet that we ordered, and it didn’t have that gamy taste. For what you pay, however, the portion size is really small. Definitely not an “American-sized” portion.

If you’re looking for a pricey restaurant with good food and a long wait, then this is it.  All in all, I’d give it 3 out of 5 stars. 5 out of 5 for the taste, 2 out of 5 for the price, and 1 out of 5 because I saw a rat on the premise.