Weyer's lunch?: November 3: Tofully

When I was preparing for my trip to Las Vegas last month, I'd made plans to meet up with Korean friends from San Antonio and Las Cruces for dinner at California Noodle House for Asian food. It didn't work out, mostly due to too much Vegas beforehand, so I missed out on my opportunity to try bibimbap for the first time. Regardless, my San Antonio friend declared me an honorary Asian for the trip, but it still left me wanting.

Last month, a co-worker invited me to lunch with his team, but I had to back out in order to attend another co-worker's birthday lunch. We postponed for two weeks, but today I met up with his three person crew, not knowing where we were headed. "Tofully," he said, as if I'd know what that meant. I mean, it has "tofu" in its name, so that's a strike against it, but I'm game.

Like most places around here I've been to, it's small: ten tables, 34 seats, and a cash register in back. We're welcomed in, and stand tightly packed for a few minutes as one of the tables clears out.

It turns out that it's Korean food, and they have hot stone beef bibimbap (Wikipedia calls this dolsot bibimbap). One of the other team members recommends I try it, and politely walks me through it. It's not spicy at all, but it's the only meal I've ever had where the literal temperature of the food gets hotter as I eat.

Hot stone bibimbap

You know those hot fajita skillets that come out of the kitchen, sizzling? And how by the end of the meal, they're cool enough for the fat drippings to start congealing? The stone bowls they use here aren't like that. The bowls are heated to around 500°, and then piles of onions, beef, carrots, sprouts, cucumbers,and rice are added, with a fried egg placed on top. The bowl didn't seem to lose any of its temperature, and continued to heat the food as the meal went on.

My first bite, part of the egg white, was actually a little cold; pretty unappealing. I then had a bite of the sprouts, which was a mixture of cold and warm, where it had rested against the side of the bowl. "You should mix it up," suggested my knowledgeable co-worker. I didn't want to, though, preferring to eat each flavor individually. "If you don't, the rice will start sticking to the bowl." I spun it with my chopsticks (I made my DEX roll!) and it wasn't sticking... yet.

I chowed down into each pile, and finally was left with the cucumbers (I'll pass) and scraps of everything else, which I then use a spoon to scoop out. The rice had indeed started to crispen up into tasty, crunchy pads. I scarf those down.

Wow. That's pretty good. I'm full. Writing this, it's more than an hour later, and I'm already craving it again, despite burning my tongue.

(The others order hot stone bulgogi and tofu soups, which they each say were also pretty good.)

Tofully
502 S. King Street
Beef Hot-Stone Bi Bim Bap, tea, $14.01