It was a pleasant surprise during a trip to California’s top ski vacation area to find not just one Korean barbecue restaurant but four.
Every time Hubby and I go on vacation, we look for any Korean restaurant we can find. Hubby and I recently visited North Lake Tahoe on a long-awaited fall vacation, renting a house near Truckee, California, with several other families from Sonoma County. The nearest “big city” to our escape was Reno, Nevada.
After scanning Foursquare and Yelp for Korean food options in Reno, DH and I checked out Ijji 4. It is the fourth and latest location for a Reno-Sparks restaurant chain specializing in sushi, bento, Japanese steak house and Korean cuisine.
We got there around 4 p.m. for an early dinner. We decided not to limit ourselves to AYCE gorging, so we also tried a couple of appetizers.
We ordered a bowl of Korean miso soup (된장찌개 doenjang jjigae, $10.95) and a small plate of 잡채 japchae (mixed vegetables with glass noodles, $7.95). It also came with several kinds of 반찬 banchan (side dishes) including 배추김치 baechu kimchi (traditional red spicy pickled cabbage), soybean sprouts, mixed beans (black beans, black eyed peas and kidney beans), and a lettuce salad.
Served in a traditional Korean ceramic bowl, the soup came out boiling hot and included chunks of tofu and zucchini. It was so comforting to eat a bowl of soup that stayed hot from start to finish. I am not a fan of cold soup.
The japchae, however, seemed a little dry.
For the barbecue, we ordered these from the list of 25 meat options: “U.S. Kobe Bulgogi” and “Spicy Chicken Bulgogi” ($29.95 per person). (There also is one vegetarian barbecue option of assorted vegetables.) 불고기 bulgogi literally means “fire meat,” and usually refers to thinly cut marinated beef or pork that is grilled or stir-fried. But like “kimchi,” bulgogi has come to be applied to other meats such as chicken and even fish that is prepared with a similar slightly sweet yet savory marinade.
Served with our meat at Ijji 4 were three dipping and seasoning options to flavor the meat before or after grilling: dry rub, sesame oil with salt, and bulgogi marinade.
But oddly not automatically served with the meat were large leaves. Traditionally and at many of the Korean restaurants we’ve visited in the States, barbecued meat is eaten as 상추쌈 sangchu ssam, or wrapped in lettuce. 쌈 ssam is the general term for such meat-in-veggies wraps, and another popular one is 깻잎쌈 kkaenip ssam, or wrapped in a perilla (Korean shizo) leaf. Ssam commonly includes additions such as garlic, onions and 반찬 banchan (side dishes) such as 배추김치 baechu kimchi (traditional spicy kimchi made from cabbage). Once the lettuce leaves arrived, we were ready to devour our Korean BBQ.
Ijji 4 features a full bar. We washed our barbecue down with tall frosted mugs of Blue Moon wheat beer ($5.50 each, on tap) and shared a bottle of Sunoonsan 복분자주 bokbunjaju (Korean black raspberry wine, $12.95).
About Ijji 4
10580 N. McCarran Blvd., #102, Reno, NV 89523
Hours: Daily, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.
