Sampling L.A.'s newest restaurants

Comments (0) By Linda Burum & Michelle Huneven Wednesday, Jul 15 1998

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YONGSUSAN950 S. Vermont Ave.(213) 388-3042

Location Info

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Capo

1810 Ocean Ave.
Santa Monica, CA 90401

Category: Restaurant > Italian

Region: Santa Monica

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Gallo's Grill

4533 E. Cesar E. Chavez Ave.
East Los Angeles, CA 90022

Category: Restaurant > Deli

Region: East L.A.

Yong Su San Restaurant

950 S. Vermont Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90006-1611

Category: Restaurant > Asian

Region: Mid-Wilshire/ Hancock Park

More About

Anyone who eats in Koreatown knows about the barbecue joints, the blast-furnace-hot kimchee, the tofu shops, the funky noodleterias. But the milder, more delicately crafted food of Kaeson, in Korea's Northern Hwang Hae Do province, has remained unfamiliar. Until now. Korean Gardens, one of K-town's oldest restaurants, is now calling itself Yongsusan and has hired Mrs. San-Ock Choi, a Korean chef from Seoul whose Kaeson-style restaurants have an enormous following. Korean Gardens has been transformed in Cinderella-like style into a magical dining place with mysterious corridors leading to discrete and tastefully appointed private rooms and a main dining area with apricot-silk-covered walls. Yongsusan's dishes are less odoriferous than stronger-flavored Southern-style foods (they're more like what you'd eat at Jozu or Chaya Brasserie). A salad of crisp, mild radish and bean sprouts is tossed with persimmon strips in a gentle tart-sweet dressing; one soup is a nutty-sweet puree of Asian pumpkin. For the full effect, it's best to order the 12- to 17-course Chong Shik menus, which run from $21.99 to $33.99. These usually include tiny beef-stuffed vegetables, and a dish of coaster-size crepes filled with nine ingredients cut as fine as sewing thread before your eyes by a costumed waitress. Open daily for lunch and dinner. (LB)