Many years ago there was a restaurant behind Drago’s in Fat City called the Korea House. It was an adorable place with nice people running it, and I would never have set foot inside the door had I not been with Tom. I am an American, and a New Orleanian at that. It’s not that I don’t eat any other food, but the fact that I eat Chinese food or Mexican food here hardly makes me an adventurer. Both of these cuisines have been so “Americanized” their cultures can hardly claim them.
I remember liking the Korea House food when we went, and it closed shortly after. Tom loved it. The only other time I had Korean food was in Los Angeles in Little Korea, at a restaurant with a large table and a place in the center of the table to cook the raw food brought to us. Again, I liked it fine, but it is not something I would seek out.
This being 2026, Asian flavors have fused with nearly every cuisine. Vietnamese flavors are now integrated into our own New Orleans food in the same way the Sicilian food merged with the French food at the beginning of the last century. But Asian flavors are far more assertive to my palate than Italian flavors, and my personal opinion is that they don’t actually fuse that well. But I am well aware that the opinion I just espoused is a minority opinion, or is it?
The popularity of The boil houses, where our boiled seafood now includes Vietnamese flavors, makes me think I am a lone wolf howling in the wilderness. This feeling occasionally makes me wander somewhere odd for me.
In looking at the COOLinary restaurants this year, My eyes fell on a particular thing in the lunch menu at Cocoa Korea BBQ, a place I constantly pass on Magazine St. It was Bimibap, a dish whose name entertains me. I first became aware of Bimibap from Tom’s Almanac, which has become a central part of The Food Show each day. (Airs 2-4pm weekdays on WGSO 990AM.)
The Almanac has a daily feature called The Edible Dictionary, and sometimes they strike my fancy. I once was intrigued by Hangtown Fry, a dish from the Gold Rush era, and last year I found myself having the dish in Placerville, California, where it was invented.
At least I didn’t have to go to Korea for Bimibap. Cocoa Korea BBQ is a cute little place near Jackson Avenue on Magazine. It’s tiny, on the corner, and it is minimalist in every way. It is spartan and dark inside, with dark tables with the same cooking apparatus in the center like the place in Los Angeles.
The server couldn’t have been more helpful and adorable. I ordered the lunch COOLinary, choosing the chicken salad as an app and a soy-braised beef dish. And I got a COOLinary-sized portion of the Bimibap for fun.
The chicken salad was very good. Thin slices of grilled chicken with Korean spices were served atop a fresh green mix of lettuces and herbs tossed in a honey lemon vinaigrette. The dressing was delightful and I also liked the chicken very well.
I was puzzled by the braised beef dish. It was served over grits, but there were cubes of potatoes in the mix too, along with radish slices, scallions, and peppers. It was a nice enough dish, but again I’m not crazy about these Asian flavors. A poached egg was served on top. I would have preferred the egg be fried, as it was in the Bimibap. This poached egg had an unusual texture since it was cooked a bit longer than usual.
The Bimibap was a feast for the eyes, with contrasting colors crammed into the dish. It’s one of those universal dishes like a meat pie, with every culture having its version. This was not handheld, though. It was a rice bowl. The basic model is meat and vegetables over rice, though here it is just vegetables and rice, with an upcharge for protein. I opted for ground beef.
There were peppers and cabbage, carrots, onions and spinach, with some mushy rice under a fried egg. The Gochujang sauce was piquant enough to use sparingly, but it was good with this dish. And now I’ve the Asian sauce that has the internet abuzz.
This little lunch at Cocoa Korea BBQ was a great re-introduction to Korean food. It reminded me why I haven’t had it more than three times. It’s fine but not my thing. At least it wasn’t fused with anything. And I didn’t have to cook it myself.