Cup Bap

When this place opened, my coworker told me about it. She raved about how good this place if, and the amount of food you can get for the price. Not being Korean or having any prior knowledge of Korean food (besides the fact that it’s either very good, very spicy, or both), I had no idea what a cupbap was. She described it to me, and I just had to try it. This place opened in July. My coworker recommended the pork cupbap, so that’s what I tried first. The cupbap, which is literally cup rice in Korean, which I found out after looking it up, (and is literally what you get!) comes with many choices of meats, and you can choose whether you want noodles or rice. I recommend the rice as that’s the original spirit of the dish, and the rice softens the blow from the sodium.
When I first got it, it looked and smelled delicious. On top, there was sriracha, yellow mustard, kimchi, and shredded nori. Under that was a layer of fresh greens (lettuce and arugula I think). Under that was a fried dumpling. I’m not sure what kind of dumpling it was, but it had veggies, meat, and chives in it. Under that is a layer of pan-​fried scrambled eggs. Under the eggs is a delicious sauce with some Korean glass noodles, and under that is your choice of noodles (like a thick lo mein type of noodle) or Korean rice. (They had a word for it, I don’t remember what it is).
Now, I’ve since tried the beef version, and prefer that over the pork. The beef comes shredded and well seasoned (like the beef that comes on Japanese gyu don). More recently, they’ve expanded their menu to include noodle soups (not spicy enough for my taste, and I don’t like a lot of heat), and fried ice cream, and raised their prices by about a dollar, but it’s still very good, and very affordable. I’ve also noticed that they no longer include kimchi in the cupbap, but it’s still very delicious, and worth the price. It’s not as spicy as I’d like it to be for Korean food. I’m not sure if ethnic Koreans are their target audience, but it’s delicious, cheap, and I have it at least once a week on my lunch/​dinner break. Maybe one of these days, I’ll try the other meat options as well.