Last night, I went out to dinner with my husband and a group of friends. We
went to Woo Lae Oak, a Korean restaurant in Vienna, VA. We met in the bar
and started with a drink (various wines, beers, and martinis).

After a while, we were seated at a large, granite table with a 14" round
grill in the middle. We ordered appetizers: some assorted sushi, mung bean
cakes, and pan-fried dumplings. Then we chose our entrees. We ordered some
bul go gi, which is marinated thin-sliced ribeye, some marinated short ribs
(boneless), a tiger shrimp and veggie platter, and a couple of seafood
combination platters. Plus an order of jap chae (stir-fried vermicelli
noodles w/ veggies and shredded beef). I could've sworn that somebody
ordered some bi bim bap, but it never showed up.

The service was a little iffy -- our waitress disappeared for long
stretches, and forgot a few things. All of the appetizers tasted really
good. I'm not sure what the mung bean pancake was -- it looked sort of like
a potato pancake and was very moist inside. I tried eel for the first time
and thought it tasted dirty, but then realized that I'd forgotten to dip it
in anything. Once I dipped it in the soy/wasabi mixture, it tasted better
(though I wouldn't call it a favorite).

The waitress brought our platters of raw meat, seafood and veggies. The
waitress cranked up the flame on our grill and started cooking the shrimp
and veggies. They cooked quickly. The shrimp was delicious, the veggies
less so (I'm not sure why, I usually love grilled veggies). Ordinarily,
you'd cook all the seafood first, since the beef has a messy marinade that
carmelizes (and could burn) on the grill. However, the birthday girl
doesn't like seafood, and we didn't want her to wait much longer to eat her
entree (since she had done a special shot of Korean vodka in beer on top of
her pre-dinner drinks).

So we cooked up the bul go gi next, and it was delicious -- sweet with
touches of soy and sesame, very tender. We had lettuce leaves and all the
accompaniments -- fresh and fermented kimchee, bean sprouts, kale, radish
salad, oyster mushrooms, bean paste, steamed rice. Most of us liked the
food best w/out the lettuce leaves, though we all tried it wrapped in
lettuce too. Following the bul go gi, we cooked short ribs, which didn't
impress me much, and then the seafood...lobster tails, squid, scallops, and
more shrimp. My favorite was the squid. Delicious!!

For dessert, they brought a pyramid-shaped, cocoa-dusted chocolate mousse to
the birthday girl, and sang Happy Birthday first in Korean, then English.
My husband and I split an order of creme brulee three ways. There was
regular vanilla, coconut, and ginger. The coconut was delicious and
unusual, the vanilla was perfect, and the ginger was good, but not our
favorite.

It was a fun place to go with a group -- I'd like to try a few more of their
other non-grill entrees next time, especially the bi bim bap and a halibut
dish that looked intriguing. And I'd scarf down that creme brulee in a
heartbeat!! The vanilla and coconut were among the best I've ever had.

Chris.