One of the oldest Korean restaurants in Los Angeles, Kobawoo (written in Korean as 고바우) House has…read morebeen at this Vermont Street strip mall in K-Town since 1983 (their moniker is 'traditional home style...'. It is pretty elegant inside, away from the shabbiness that most older strip malls in this area now reflect. I came with my daughter's father-in-law (SJ) for a weekend lunch, and we really enjoyed it.
Kobawoo is named after the main character in a famous Korean satirical comic strip, with the name evoking resiliency in Korean culture, just like what the owners wanted for their restaurant. It has a nice modern website, with one page menu appearing with pictures. We took the Metro so didn't need to worry about parking (which was already packed) and were seated right away. Pretty much everyone inside were speaking Korean, and it was actually pretty quiet inside with a low key vibe (no flaming cheese or sizzling plates here).
SJ ordered for us, getting the Combo Bossam ($75.99). The normal part was boiled pork belly with napa cabbage (both boiled plain and uncut pickled), pickled daikon, radish kimchi and wraps, and salt fermented shrimp. The combo portion added steamed skate and glazed pork feet (hock). We got to choose the steamed rice accompaniment, either white or purple. Later we got a large bottle of Cass Beer ($9.99) to share.
Four banchans came immediately with the rice, and all were excellent: I really liked the egg omelet dish (def taking more than my share) and the cut napa kimchi.
There was a bit of a lull, then the feet came out next. then the skate next, the main plate of pork belly with toppings last. The pork belly was served slightly warm, with the rest of the food being room temp (or cold).
I enjoyed the pork belly, not so much the skate (didn't realize how gelatinous and [edible] boney it is) and the pork feet (served cold hock, not my favorite as the ratio of collagen/fat to muscle was too much for my taste, but glad I got to try it). Even though we ate meat from the most fatty/gelatinous parts of the pig, none of it was overly greasy. The ability to customize to get levels of spice and structure is what makes this so good. Each bite was an adventure, and I really enjoyed trying different combo wraps with the various ingredients laid out in front. Was glad that we had a booth for four, allowing us to spread out. We definitely ordered too big for the two of us, bringing a lot of it home. They have more affordable lunch specials as well, but it being a Saturday was not available.
They do have the traditional dishes served by Korean restaurants (Kalbi, BibimBap, and JJigae). They are also known for their their jun (pancakes).
Service was good, with them only coming over when asked. We had a lot to catch up on, and never felt hurried as we casually enjoyed our food and drink. They brought over take home containers once we asked, and paid at the table. The servers wished us well as we left, and we noticed how the parking situation had gotten even more hectic from the time we came in.
The restaurant appears in Eater's 'Classic Los Angeles Restaurants Every Angeleno Must Try' list, specifically for the boiled pork belly dish. Bossam isn't usually the dish most folks think of when choosing Korean food. If it is, this restaurant certainly is the place to come to.