Expanding Tastes in Laredo

Tucked away in a Shiloh Drive shopping center is BBQ Park, a recently in the past year, opened restaurant of authentic Korean cuisine. Located at 416 Shiloh Drive, the restaurant is not easy to get to by bus as you have to take the El Metro 16 bus downtown, then board the El Metro 12B to Shiloh Drive. However, if you have a car, it is a simple drive to take Bob Bullock North from University Blvd then turn left at the intersection of Shiloh Drive until you reach the shopping center.

Either way, I would consider it a worthy trip.

When you enter the restaurant, you are immediately and congeniality met by the wait staff. Although, it has a warehouse when you first walk in, the seating is spacious and amble. They even have a small bar where you can choose to sit should you like a drink or to watch a sports game. But, this restaurant is not a sports bar—there is no loud music playing even though there is some Korean music (K-Pop—but not Psy’s Gangnam Style, thankfully) playing that adds to the ambiance that you are not in your traditional Laredo eatery.  It is a family run eatery that provides an authentic array of Korean dishes and a warm homely atmosphere.

You can find several Korean dishes on the menu. One dish is dolsot bibimbap—which literally means “mixed rice”—and is a short grain rice dish that has mixed vegetables and diced grilled beef. Another Korean comfort food, kimchi jjigae is also available and is a stew made with the common Korean side dish, kimchi, and diced tofu and pork. Yet another Korean comfort dish is toppoki, a fish cake soup that has pieces of rice cake dumplings that are chewing and tender, which has a sweet and sour and spicy flavor that is reminiscent of a spicy tomato soup. They also have an all-you-can eat Korean barbeque that is purchased depending on the numbers of persons eating and the array of meats that are being chosen.

The pricing of the food depends on the time of day, lunch or dinner, which you go to the restaurant. However, the portions of food you are served and the amount that is paid, is very reasonable. As part of the meal, they even provide pickled, cold side dishes that you eat along with your meal that when you eat them it changes how each bite you take of your main dish.

The restaurant’s owners, husband and wife transplants from Korea by way of California, also love to converse with their guests and provide history of the dishes and the benefits of the vegetables in the dishes you are eating.

All in all, BBQ Park provides a wonderful eating experience that is not at all the normal for Laredo eateries. But if you are willing to be adventurous and want to try new cuisine, other than Mexican, that is authentic to the country it comes from, BBQ Park is one of the best restaurants that you can go to in Laredo.