Inside Daly City's Wondrous New Korean Food Complex, West Hollywood Sunset Strip Eating Map + More

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Turtle Chips aisle at Jagalchi in Daly City (all photos by TP)

Jagalchi Now Open in Daly City

I’ve been writing about and anticipating the opening of Jagalchi, a massive new Korean food complex inside Daly City’s Serramonte Center, for seven months, so it was a great thrill to be invited to yesterday’s pre-opening preview. As I type, the ribbon is being cut for the official grand opening, and I’m sure there’s a pretty big crowd over there.

The 75,000 square foot space was once the JCPenney department store, so if you grew up going to this mall, you may experience a bit of déjà vu.

Display in the front of Jagalchi

The focus is on Korean products and flavors, which offers a real education for Western chefs. I was able to shop in the store yesterday at a discount, which was a dream, but the regular prices are wallet-friendly, so I will definitely put the store in my shopping rotation.

Should have bought some fruity masks!

There’s an oyster and sushi bar in the Seven Seas seafood market area, plus hot food stations with Korean staples such as mandu and kimbap elsewhere in the store. They were unmanned yesterday, but there are also two Korean street food stations in the back, where you’ll be able to try many of the fun novelty items you see on Instagram (and in their freezers).

Whole fish and shrimp in Seven Seas

Salmon and eel sushi

Jagalchi sells two kinds of frozen raw marinated crab under the company label

Dried seafood selection

Jagalchi’s Oyster Bar

The butcher area has a focus on raw pork and beef, and there’s also a huge frozen section for hot pot and shabu shabu meats.

Here’s the beef

Can’t wait to cook this GwangYang beef bulgogi for lunch today

There’s a dizzying area of banchan (40 made in house) as well as vegan temple food such as kale or kelp wrapped rice rolls and a hot bar featuring customizable temple foods.

Banchan

Fish cake aisle

The frozen section is appropriately dreamy as well, from dumplings and fish cakes to ice cream and novelties.

Chocolate, carrot and sweet potato mousse cakes from Basquia Bakery

I sampled bread and cakes from Basquia Bakery, which is also a part of the company’s Mega Mart stores. Everything is gluten free and made with rice flour that’s been milled in a way that, to my palate, makes the products taste glutinous. Very fun. There are two San Francisco-inspired bread bowls on the menu, including one with Korean rice cakes that is the recipe of the company’s US director, Mr. Ha that I want to return to try.

I was also invited to experience a three-course tasting at Jagalchi’s lovely restaurant Pogu, which is under the purview of Tony Yoo, Korea’s first Michelin star chef and an alum of Michael Mina’s (now defunct) Aqua restaurant in San Francisco.

The back of Pogu

View from Pogu tables

House rice bread

Pogu’s HweMuChim, a raw seafood salad with asparagus, grape and carrot

Pogu’s Gangwon buckwheat noodles is normally served with chicken, but I asked for a veggie version

Omegi and ice cream: Jeju red bean rice cake and vanilla ice cream

There’s a tasting menu here for $95 as well as a reasonably-priced à la carte menu that I’m looking forward to exploring in the future.

So many Korean products to learn about and try!

I could go on and on. . . just forward my mail here, I want to live inside! Thank you to Jagalchi for inviting me to this special preview and letting me live out my Supermarket Sweep fantasies. There will be more Jagalchi stores to come, and I hope you get one near you, if you’re not in the Bay Area.

Map: Eating on the Sunset Strip

Fried lobster and waffle with sweet corn butter and maple syrup at Saltie Girl on the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood

I once lived and worked just steps off the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood and remain closely connected to the neighborhood. I will write quite a bit about it for a future anthology about Los Angeles. I’ve been hearing that a lot of restaurants are closing on the boulevard, but my Favorite Places to Eat on the Sunset Strip are (mostly) still in effect and I’m excited to share them with you. I will also have an in-depth look at one of these spots coming soon for your curiosity and amusement.

Good Taste: The Matching Power of Food Banks

This week’s GOOD TASTE column at 48 Hills shares matching donation statistics for various Northern California food banks as an encouragement to give at any level. Many more food banks all over California have matching agreements that maximize the impact of your donations, and I encourage you to support them.

We’ve also started a new BIG WEEK feature at 48 Hills that features my food news and recs each week in addition to GOOD TASTE!

Find more thought for food on the California Eating blog!

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