Mesa Legend - FEATURES - Hodori menu satisfies Korean craving

February 2, 2006
FEATURES

Hodori menu satisfies Korean craving

Trevor Denton
Mesa Legend

Feel like you have had enough MSG to last a lifetime?
One too many Americanized Chinese buffets?
Well no more worries.
Within the last few years, Asian food restaurants – with real Asian food – have started to dot the valley.
Because many of these restaurants have become more culturally focused than just “Asian”, we now have access to the unique tastes of countries such as Vietnam, Thailand, and Korea.
Hodori Korean Restaurant, conveniently located in the Asian Market near Mesa Community College, offers a purely Korean menu.
You may not know a single difference between Chinese and Korean cuisine, but don’t let that stop you from discovering the distinctness of Hodori’s blend of spicy and sweet, hot and cold, and crunchy and tender.
The restaurant’s owner, Chuck Hong, says, “We keep it authentic.”Everything is done just the way it’s done back home.”
The potstickers (or “goon-manh-doo”) were semi-crispy on the outside, with very tender meat on the inside.
I tried various types of their meat selections, which were delicious and most of them would be enjoyed by the less adventurous eater.
The Korean BBQ Chicken and Pork marinated in a spicy sauce was something every BBQ-loving American would eat.
For the more exotic eaters, there is a chilled seaweed bowl that has a perfectly salty taste which makes you forget how much you hate it when you swim in the ocean.
Whether or not you enjoy exotic food, there is something on this menu for everyone.
There is anything from a soft beef and mushroom soup to cod intestines braised in spicy sauce.
Hong says part of Hodori’s authenticity is the attention that is given to the spices.
Everybody knows that food isn’t the only thing that makes a restaurant worth going to.
Along with your meal, you have to consider the atmosphere, the price and the service.
The interior of the restaurant provides a simplistic, roomy atmosphere even during busy hours.
No squeezing between tables, no bumping the person behind you when you push the chair back to leave.
You feel decently isolated from the other groups of diners, which allows for easy conversation.
You are first supplied with chopsticks which - if you don’t know how to use them – reminds you just how American you really are.
If you want a fork you either have to ask for one or clumsily fiddle around with the chopsticks for a few minutes, like I did.
They seemed to be understaffed the night I went because two servers were handling the whole restaurant by themselves, sprinting about with catlike agility and balance.
The lack of staff made it nearly impossible for our table to get our water refilled, which didn’t happen until we walked over and asked.
But we got our money’s worth.
If price is the most important thing to you about a restaurant, I recommend going for lunch and sticking with the lunch specials.
They range from $6 to $10, while the meals after 2 p.m. grow a bit more expensive.
The restaurant is open 11 a.m to 9 p.m., Monday through Thursday and stays open an hour later on Fridays and Saturdays.
Overall, the restaurant is a definite recommendation to anyone who enjoys any type of Asian food.