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hplandmark.com DINING OUT<br />
the highland park landmark | August 22, 2019 | 29<br />
Gangnam Ramen takes diners<br />
on tour of Korean cuisine<br />
Jason Addy<br />
Contributing Editor<br />
HARD TO DESCRIBE.<br />
EASY TO LOVE.<br />
After decades of wowing<br />
her family and friends<br />
at get-togethers and church<br />
events, Keum Ahn — with<br />
support from her husband<br />
and children — decided<br />
it was time to show off<br />
her culinary skills to the<br />
world.<br />
The Ahn family opened<br />
the doors to Gangnam Ramen<br />
in February at 952<br />
Harlem Ave. in Glenview,<br />
and local residents and<br />
Korean cuisine lovers<br />
quickly took notice, said<br />
Keum’s son Daniel, who<br />
left his job in corporate<br />
marketing to help ensure<br />
the success of his family’s<br />
first restaurant.<br />
The reception has been<br />
“surprisingly very positive,”<br />
he said. “The feedback<br />
so far is great. We<br />
love the local community<br />
here in Glenview. We have<br />
a lot of regulars who are<br />
very supportive, so we’re<br />
grateful for that.”<br />
“In the beginning, it<br />
was actually really hard,”<br />
Keum said through Daniel,<br />
who translated on her<br />
behalf. But once Daniel<br />
and his sister stepped in to<br />
help out with operations,<br />
Keum found her rhythm<br />
and started winning over<br />
customers.<br />
In the first six months,<br />
Gangnam Ramen has converted<br />
many who stopped<br />
in to try the “half-traditional,<br />
half-modern” fusion<br />
of Korean flavors into<br />
regular diners, he said.<br />
Most of the dishes on<br />
the menu started from traditional<br />
Korean recipes<br />
that Keum learned while<br />
growing up in the southernmost<br />
reaches of South<br />
Korea with 10 siblings.<br />
Keum said she has taken<br />
Gangnam Ramen’s Korean fried chicken ($10 for a large<br />
order) features deep-fried chicken nuggets glazed in a<br />
Korean chilli sauce. Eric DeGrechie/22nd Century Media<br />
those recipes and “Americanized”<br />
them slightly as a<br />
way to introduce customers<br />
to Korean cuisine.<br />
The menu also features<br />
a few options for those<br />
looking to sample some of<br />
the more exotic dishes of<br />
Korea, such as the seafood<br />
udon and spicy rice cakes.<br />
While many of the dishes<br />
— like bibimbap and<br />
ramen — have rustic roots,<br />
some have much more regal<br />
backgrounds, like the<br />
Korean BBQ bulgogi, a<br />
dish once reserved for Korean<br />
royalty and special<br />
events.<br />
“I see ourselves as a tour<br />
guide for Korean culture,”<br />
Daniel said, alluding to the<br />
wide range of dishes featured<br />
on the menu.<br />
The interior of Gangnam<br />
Ramen also offers diners a<br />
dichotomy between traditional<br />
and modern, with<br />
one side of the restaurant<br />
featuring muted tones and<br />
marble tables and the other<br />
side bursting with colors<br />
and more modern wooden<br />
tabletops.<br />
Keum and Daniel recently<br />
took a group of<br />
22nd Century Media editors<br />
on their tour of Korean<br />
cuisine via some of<br />
Gangnam Ramen’s most<br />
Gangnam Ramen<br />
952 Harlem Ave.,<br />
Glenview<br />
(847) 724-1111<br />
gangnamramen.co<br />
11 a.m.-2:30 p.m., 5-9<br />
p.m. Monday-Saturday<br />
Closed Sundays<br />
popular dishes.<br />
The experience started<br />
with an order of Gangnam<br />
Ramen’s Korean fried<br />
chicken ($10 for a large order),<br />
which features deepfried<br />
chicken nuggets<br />
glazed in a Korean chilli<br />
sauce, and an order of the<br />
Korean BBQ fries ($8.50),<br />
a serving of French fries<br />
topped with marinated ribeye<br />
beef, sour cream sauce,<br />
scallions and housemade<br />
Korean barbecue sauce.<br />
We also sampled the<br />
fried dumplings ($8 for<br />
eight dumplings), a staple<br />
of many Asian restaurants.<br />
Next, the Ahn family<br />
served us dumpling ramen<br />
($10.50), a large bowl of<br />
broth filled with dumplings,<br />
egg, mushrooms,<br />
peppers, onions and other<br />
vegetables. Keum simmers<br />
chicken bones for 48<br />
hours.<br />
Full story at HPLandmark.com.<br />
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