Mark Laba
Province
Raphael Lee, owner of the Bluse Stone Grill, with a combination plate. NICK PROCAYLO – THE PROVINCE
BLUE STONE GRILL
Where: #220-4501 North Rd., Burnaby
Payment/reservations: Major credit cards, 604-415-3443
Drinks: Fully licensed
Hours: Open from 11 a.m.-10:30 p.m. every day except Wednesday
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I think it’s safe to say you’d be hard-pressed to find a vegetarian in Korea. Because this is a cuisine that seems to centre around meat, meat and more meat. As exemplified by this place, where beautifully backlit photographs of raw meat are hung on the walls for ambience. As if to say, forget landscapes or paintings or any of that other artsy crap — the meat of the matter is meat itself. Nothing could be more beautiful than that. If the Mona Lisa had been rendered in pork belly and sirloin, then perhaps that would be a work of art worthy of hanging on the walls of this restaurant.
Took a trip out with Ricky Roulette and Snobby Bobby, a man who makes it his business to know everyone else’s. Here’s a guy who, no matter the ethnic restaurant, somehow ends up lecturing the owner on the country’s history and culture. Hell, this time he even threw in a few Korean phrases.
Private dining rooms similar to Japanese tatami rooms line one side of the restaurant and the rest of the place is made up of booth seating, all featuring the one essential element to this cuisine — a stone grill in the centre of each table. Here is where the miracles of meat are performed.
We started the festivities with a round of Hite beer, a Korean lager that’s almost tasteless except for a slight metallic ring to its finish. Stick to the soju instead, a rice and barley drink with a whopping alcohol content and which all the Korean diners around us were throwing back with reckless abandon.
“Y’know, when they have to deliver the food on big trolley carts piled with plastic tubs, y’know this is serious eating,” said Ricky Roulette. And so it was. Korean dining is a lengthy and social event.
Essentially, you pick your cut of meat, it’s trundled out to your table and the grilling begins. First, a series of small bowls of dipping sauces and salads and such arrive. These include two simple yet spectacular dips of yellow bean paste and a salt-and-pepper-with-sesame-oil schlimazel that will awaken any cooked beast. There’s also a shredded daikon salad with rice vinegar and a touch of chili, pungent pickled kimchi, bean sprouts with chili sauce, raw jalapeno and garlic slivers and an oddly out-of-place pasta salad.
“Ah, a medley of typical Korean pickled wonders augmented by fusili,” said Snobby Bobby.
“Just shut up and turn the meat,” Ricky Roulette replied.
And what a carnivore’s cavalcade this turned out to be. We tried the prime beef rib-eye roll ($19.95), the spicy pork ($9.95), the marinated thin-sliced rib-eye roll with mushrooms ($14.95) and the pork single-rib belly ($14.95) that resembled fat slabs of bacon. This is truly esoteric meat eating at its best, and you’d best bone up on one of those butcher’s cut-of-meat diagrams before hitting this joint. A pair of scissors is supplied along with tongs, so you can snip your meat into bite sizes. There are also all-you-can-eat affairs for $18.95 per person with two meat selections and all the accompanying condiments.
Needless to say, being a lover of edible critters, I found this feast an eye-opener as well as a tastebud shaker — and I haven’t even delved into the hot-pot offerings such as beef and small octopus yet.
“Now for dessert,” said Ricky Roulette. “What say we try that lemon meringue meat pie?”
THE BOTTOM LINE: Where meat meets its maker.
RATINGS:
Food: B+;
Service: B+
Atmosphere: B
© The Vancouver Province 2007
