Boka Bon Chon – Bradley Farless

Boka Bon Chon & Wafels and dinges

April 3, 2012 Bradley Farless12 Comments

I just can’t get enough of those damn fried chicken wings and drumsticks! I don’t know how they make them, but they come out so crispy and delicious that I don’t mind that the spicy ones are burning my face off. I just keep eating them! They also come in soy & garlic flavor, which is great.

I’ve been gradually getting my wife around to all of the places I want to show her here in NYC that I already know about and Boka Bon Chon finally came up on the list. We were in the mood for something Asian and we were in the neighborhood, so we went on in.

Besides the wings, which are an absolute must if you ever go to this place, we got the kimchi bi bim bob and an order of beef bul go gi. The servings are generous. Maybe we were hungry, or it was just particularly good yesterday but we cleaned our plates and stripped the bones.

Then we saw a food truck. A bright yellow food truck with a delicious scent coming from it. It turned out to be “Wafels and dinges,” which sells different types of waffles with a variety of toppings, including one called a “WMD” and, gross as it sounds to me, waffles with bacon or pulled pork.

Brussels waffle with chocolate and powdered sugar from Waffles & Dinges truck.

We were feeling the food we’d just eaten, so we got one and shared it. It was incredibly good! I’m looking forward to the next excuse we can find to eat at this food truck again. =)

For a Sunday afternoon, this was a great meal. I love NYC.

Back to Boka: Delicious Fried Chicken

August 13, 2011 Bradley Farless18 Comments

A half-half plate of spicy and teriyaki wings at Boka: Bon Chon, NYC.

Last May I went to a restaurant called Boka: Bon Chon on St Mark’s place in Manhattan. I wanted to take my mom out for something nice for Mother’s Day and she’d never had Korean food so it seemed like a good choice. We were both very satisfied with the food we ate, and after hearing back from some people that the fried chicken there is really awesome, we decided we’d go back to try it out at some point.

We finally did manage to get back there and try the fried chicken at the end of last month and it is amazing! We only ordered a small plate because we weren’t sure if we’d like it or not. Now I wish we’d just gotten a big plate of the fried chicken and nothing else. Just looking at the picture is making my mouth water. The skin of the chicken was crispy and tasty and the meat wasn’t oily. I could sit down and eat a bucket of the stuff. Well, maybe not the spicy fried chicken. The spicy fried chicken has a real kick to it. I can’t figure out which I like more. I think I actually prefer the spicy kind, but I probably couldn’t eat as much of it as the other.

Fried dumplings from Boka: Bon Chon, NYC.

We also got a plate of fried dumplings. They were crispy and looked nice, but the inside was a bit mushy. Maybe that’s the way they’re supposed to be. I don’t know, but my mom didn’t care for them too much.

A 'box lunch' from Boka: Bon Chon, NYC.

We also ordered this. I don’t recall the name of it now, but it’s a spicy chicken ‘box lunch’. I was surprised when they brought it out, because the tray looks just like trays used at Korean restaurants in Singapore. I’m not sure if it’s still there, but I specifically remember there was a Korean restaurant that used these trays in the basement level of the Cineliesure (?) Mall in the Orchard Road area.

We figured that between the chicken, the dumplings and the ‘box lunch’, we’d have more than enough to eat for two people, and we did wind up bringing some of the chicken and dumplings home as leftovers (which disappeared quickly that same night). It was pretty filling, especially since we were eating it all with white rice.

In the future, when I go to Boka: Bon Chon, the fried chicken will always be one of my choices. Maybe the best option would be to get a large order of the fried chicken and another dish (like a bowl of bibimbap) and then ask for smaller plates and share the meal.

Boka: Bon Chon on St. Mark’s

May 13, 2011 Bradley Farless6 Comments

Last Sunday was Mother’s Day. It’s been years since I’ve lived near my mom on Mother’s Day, so I wanted to take her somewhere to get a nice lunch. My mom has lived in the city for years, so I wasn’t sure what would be appropriate (some place she hasn’t eaten at quite a bit already), but I settled on a place called Boka: Bon Chon. It turned out to be a good thing too. Boka is a Korean food place and my mom had never had Korean food before, so besides lunch she got the gift of a new experience for Mother’s Day this year.

Boka: Bon Chon on St. Mark's

As for the restaurant itself, I was a little skeptical at first, because when you first walk up to it, it looks more like a bar than a place you’d go for a good meal. From the outside, it’s pretty unassuming. You would hardly know it’s there. There’s no large sign or store front to speak of. It occupies just the bottom level of the building seen above. There’s a karaoke bar above it, a Japanese noodle place to the right and another restaurant that I didn’t really pay much attention to on the left.

Interior of Boka: Bon Chon on St. Mark's

The interior was a surprise. It’s really nice and really clean and the décor was classy, if not something I’d think of when I think ‘Korean’. The place gives more of an English pub impression, to me at least.

We got there at around 2 PM, between lunch and dinner, so the place was empty. By the time we left, it was starting to fill up. It looked like the crowd was mostly younger people, which makes sense since NYU has dorms in the area.

Pork bibimbap from Boka: Bon Chon on St. Mark's

I chose the pork bibimbap.

Beef bulgogi from Boka: Bon Chon on St. Mark's

I helped my mom pick something from the menu, since she wasn’t familiar with the food choices. She got beef bulgogi, which is pretty tame and a good first taste of Korean. I think that’s what I had, the first time I ate at a Korean place.

The lady that served us seemed to be the only server working at the time, but it wasn’t busy. She seemed a little unsure of herself and I got the impression that English was still a bit of a struggle for her, but she was very friendly. Our food and drinks came to the table quickly, though she seemed a bit surprised that we just wanted water and Coke, rather than soju, sake, or beer.

Overall, the place is pretty cool. The atmosphere is comfortable, the food is good, the prices are reasonable and the service was good. I’m looking forward to visiting again. I think next time I’ll try the Korean style fried chicken. I saw a tip on Foursquare, after we’d ordered of course, that the Korean style fried chicken there kicks ass.