Bon KBBQ

FOOD

LA galbi is worth a look on Bon’s Arlington-and-Plano menu: beef short rib cut across the bone and marinated in the house galbi sauce. Chadolbagi gives you thinly sliced brisket, while beef belly offers another thin-sliced cut. The short rib brings its marinade and bone to the comparison; the plainer slices let you give the cut itself more attention.

Nubiani is described on the menu as slices of beef roast; dinner adds thinly sliced beef tongue. Tongue is especially worth noticing if your usual Korean barbecue order stops at brisket and bulgogi. Pineapple Galbi Steak also appears on the broader dinner selection. Its fruit-and-beef combination provides another option for someone who enjoys a marinated steak, while LA galbi remains the bone-in short-rib choice.

Pork has a worthwhile distinction of its own. Hangjungsal is listed as cured pork cheeks marinated with garlic, salt and pepper. Daepae is thinly sliced pork belly, a different cut with a different preparation. Pork belly and bulgogi also appear in the operator’s description of the buffet. You can build a barbecue meal around pork without treating every order as a variation on the same slice of meat.

The cooked buffet makes that wider meal possible. Japchae brings Korean glass noodles to the plate, and kimchi fried rice gives rice a more assertive accompaniment than a plain serving. Beef bulgogi and spicy pork bulgogi appear among the prepared selections as well as the brand’s broader barbecue repertoire. These dishes let the table enjoy Korean cooking while the next meat is on the grill, rather than relying entirely on what cooks in front of you.

Korean hot wings and lightly breaded tilapia broaden the hot-food selection. One brings chicken in a familiar handheld form; the other gives fish a separate place beside the grilled meats. Tteokbokki adds Korean rice cakes, with spicy noodles and yu choi among the other published buffet choices. Actual pans can change, but the cooked offering is substantial enough to deserve attention beyond the first round of meat.

Cabbage kimchi and radish kimchi give the banchan selection two distinct vegetable preparations. Fish cake, radish wraps and salads extend the accompaniments, while lettuce is listed for making wraps. A leaf of lettuce and some of the sides can become part of the same bite as the barbecue. That’s a more interesting use of the banchan than regarding it as a row of decorations around the grill.

Shikeh, the Korean sweet rice drink, provides a small finishing choice, and barley tea is another listed accompaniment. Dinner’s menu is broader than weekday lunch, particularly for the beef cuts, so the local meal-period list deserves a look before choosing.