At BCD Tofu House, too little fire

In looking back through my Flickr archives, I realized I had left some entries out and am also woefully behind in posting. This meal took place (holy crap) a month and a half ago.

TC, KL, and I had spent the afternoon camped out in a Douglaston, Queens Starbucks, getting our work on. TC had been writing, I had been editing, and KL had been reading, and the three of us—after ingesting only the homemade bread I had brought along and the megachain's burnt swill (soon to be a thing of the past?)—needed real sustenance.

What do Koreans get when they seek the comfort food of their homeland? Soondubu.

And the place to get it (if said Koreans can't dip into their halmuhnee's place for dinner) is at a place specializing in the molten tofu stew—in this case, BCD Tofu House on Northern Blvd.

Adequate selection of panchan, though not as varied or as exciting as others I've had elsewhere, and my seafood soondubu was just okay. I had requested that it be made medium spicy, and the waiter, probably sensing that I was the one non-Korean among my compatriots, deposited in front of me a bubbling stew that wasn't spicy—at all. I was much more into TC's spicy, earthy kimchi jigae.

At the end, a woman came by to pour water into the hot stone pot from which she had served our rice, which by now had created a burnty, crispy crust of the grain inside its bowl. We mixed this into a sort of mild porridge, like Chinese congee but much blander and lacking congee's creaminess.

(A long time ago, my friend EK had tried to explain the particular appeal of this concoction to me, and I remember her saying, "Rice and cold water! It's like, a treat!" I was baffled at the time, as it sounded completely unappetizing to me. TC and KL explained that it wasn't meant to have a flavor, and was eaten just as a refreshing end to a meal. I guess after all the fiery red pepper paste in typical Korean preparations, something bland can be a welcome finale.)

For a place specializing in soondubu, I don't think BCD is all that special. But for whatever reason I seem to end up here every once in a while, and this meal probably won't be my last.