Jane C.
Yelp
One of the menu items that packs the most wow factor (and the ones that appear the most across social media) is the "KDog". Korean hot dogs have been around for ages but they've only started gaining traction as a stateside phenomenon in recent years. They may look like American corn dogs because of the stick and the swim through the fryer, but the similarities end there.
For one, there's a generous panko breading, which boosts the resulting crunch factor by a satisfying septillion. They seemed to be the most popular order, so much that when I returned with my husband the next day, they sold out shortly after noon. I once got a chance to sit by the bar, and noticed that they added the extra prepwork of pre-grilling the hot dogs before building on the coating. I'm not sure if that did anything for the flavor, but I was impressed with the extra mile nonetheless.
This is where I need to regrettably confess that as a pescatarian, I can't provide a report of these deep fried hot dogs. But once we got this tall, lovely potato swizzle in our hands, we weren't really complaining.
I know that drizzle looks like ketchup, but it's a sweet and spicy variety that creates an IYKYK moment for all those readers who are familiar with authentic Korean street food. There, most sauces tend to straddle the fence between sugar and spice (as does most things that are nice).
When it first came out of the fryer, I was in potato heaven. The spiral cut must have created ample surfaces area for the hot oil to crispify the cut potato, because the first bites crunched loudly under my teeth. Within minutes, I regretted ordering only one for my friend and I to share. Thanks to Covid fostering the germaphobe in all of us, we tore delicately from either end with our fingers...which took more time to eat, and eventually allowed the leftover potato to soften past its initial deliciousness. It was still tasty, but our last bites failed against the memory of the fryer-fresh bites.
My surprising favorite of the bunch were these japchae dumplings. By looks alone, these might seem underwhelming. Japchae is a vermicelli noodle dish that typically has mixed julienned vegetables and a seasoning redolent of soy sauce and sesame oil. Here, small spoonfuls of that noodle dish are stuffed inside flat dumplings, deep fried, and served with a seasoned soy sauce for dipping.
On opening day, the kitchen churned these out a dizzying clip, so we got to have our order emerge straight out of the fryer. If you're lucky enough to enjoy the same experience, prepare for some dazzling texture and flavor. These dumpling skins shattered under our teeth and each bite revealed more of the well-seasoned japchae noodle filling within. Theoretically, I know it's noodles inside a dumpling wrapper, which just sounds like carbs on carbs. But trust me when I say that it's better than you think.
On a whim, we also ordered the bibimbap, a mixed rice bowl with a sweet-spicy sauce and a fried egg. The fried tofu that we requested for our bibimbap was unreal. It had a coating that was impossibly thin and airy, yet managed to stubbornly cling to all corners of the tofu cubes so that each bite remained beautifully crispy, even after being coated with the sauce.
Speaking of the sauce, Umbrella Bar is clearly looking to remain authentic in more ways than one, because they definitely didn't hold back on the spice level. As a lover of nearly masochistic levels of spice, I loved it, but James ended up coughing back a few bites, so if you're a spice baby, consider requesting the sauce on the side.