Sbrocco: Creative brews and other fermented favorites in San Jose.

Gorospe: I can't get away from the cashew queso.

Sbrocco: Authentic Korean cuisine in Oakland.

Edelson: I have to do their kimchi pancake every time.

Sbrocco: And Creole comforts in Los Gatos.

Randolph: The beignet was beignet-ing!

Sbrocco: Just ahead on "Check, Please!

Bay Area."

Gorospe: Bi bim bop.

Edelson: Bi bim bop.

Sbrocco: Bi bim bop.

Randolph: Bop, bop, mm-bop.

♪♪ Sbrocco: Hi.

I'm Leslie Sbrocco.

Welcome to "Check, Please!

Bay Area", the show where Bay Area residents review and talk about their favorite restaurants.

Now, we have three guests, and each one recommends one of their favorite spots.

And the other two go check them out to see what they think.

Joining me at the check please table today are deejay Cory Randolph, clinical psychologist Eddie Edelson, and catering manager Pam Gorospe.

Welcome, everyone.

How you doing?

Gorospe: Good.

Edelson: Excited to be here.

Sbrocco: Pam's top pick for a night out comes with a deliciously funky twist.

Think Kimchis and Krauts, tangy sours and crisp ciders, every bite and sip powered by the art of fermentation.

Right in the heart of downtown San Jose, It's Fox Tale Fermentation Project.

♪♪ Wendy: Foxtail Fermentation project is a business that is constantly telling a story with every single thing that we do.

Wendy: We've got fermented pickles, we've got beet beer mustard.

Felipe: Everything is plant based, it's fresh, it's fermented, it makes you feel good.

And it's a very exciting place to come and try.

Wendy: Fermentation is the oldest food technique throughout all of history.

Every single culture across the world uses fermentation in various ways.

You don't necessarily have to eat a fork full of sauerkraut all of the time to be eating fermented foods, but you can find ways to incorporate it in your food.

And then it's healing.

It's good for you.

It's invigorating, and it tastes amazing.

Wendy: We got two hot pretzels.

Wendy: This is our vegan cashew queso.

One of the things I'm the most proud of is a cultured cacao mousse.

We source the cacao beans directly from this really incredible organization in Mexico.

We ferment them in piloncillo, which is like a Mexican brown sugar.

And then we make this insanely rich, beautiful mousse out of it that's decadent and feels like a dessert, of course, because it is, but it's not cream and sugar and something that's going to make you feel like, oh, maybe I didn't need that.

Felipe: Having already a lot of background in beer production, we do like to play with ingredients in ways that will give a very familiar flavor to what current beer styles exist.

You might see your pale ale, but with freshly picked mountain juniper berries.

One of our beers has candy cap mushrooms, and that gives a really beautiful maple syrup flavor without it being sweet.

The really beautiful one is You're Invited.

That's based off of our wedding.

We really wanted to create a really floral bouquet of aromas and flavors to represent that memory of love and friendship and family that we had around.

We've got the You're Invited here.

We've got carbonic macerated fruit in that.

Wendy: We also have a really huge mocktail program in which we're using really unique specialty items -- fermented syrups, botanicals, roots, leaves, barks, you name it, and we're turning them into non-alcoholic drinks that still feel extremely special.

Woman: I got the kombucha.

Wendy: We're obviously using cultures, creating cultures with our food and the fermentation and the beers, but we want all culture to continue to grow here.

We want people to join together.

We want a community space in which people are welcome.

Man: He wants it.

Woman: Yay!

Sbrocco: Now, Pam, everything in this restaurant is all about fermentation.

Gorospe: Yes.

Sbrocco: It is very unique, isn't it?

Gorospe: Definitely different.

Sbrocco: When you walk in the door, I'm sure you smell a lot of good things.

Gorospe: Yes.

Sbrocco: What is your go to starter dish?

Gorospe: Whenever I go there, I start with the funky nachos.

It's chips with this creamy cashew queso.

Sbrocco: Because it's vegan.

Gorospe: It's vegan.

The restaurant is vegetarian, vegan.

Everything there is fermented.

The cashew -- ahh -- cashew queso.

Sbrocco: Say that 10 times fast.

All: [ Laughter ] Randolph: Cashew, cash out!

Sbrocco: Cashew queso!

Gorospe: It's so different.

You don't think of melted cheese to be made out of cashews.

Sbrocco: Right.

Gorospe: It's so creamy.

So cheesy.

It's delicious.

Edelson: I also had the funky nachos.

Great.

I especially like the kraut on top.

Gorospe: The kraut on top was so good.

Edelson: The kraut was awesome.

It came with these like really thick chips.

Usually I don't like those for nachos.

Worked for these ones.

Really worked for these ones.

Sbrocco: What did you have when you went?

Randolph: All right, so for me, this spot was vastly outside of my wheelhouse, right?

Because when I think of vegan, I tend to think of food that is not necessarily going to be as filling.

Right?

And when I walked into this restaurant, this gave me all the vegan vibes.

It was rustic.

There was guys with long hair in there, funky mustaches, Sbrocco: The vegan vibe.

Randolph: The vegan vibes.

Right?

And then, you know, when I think of vegan, like, I think of people that are au naturel, you know what I'm saying?

So everybody's going to be a little bit musty.

Edelson: A little stinky.

Randolph: You know what I'm saying?

And ironically, I ordered the Funk Bowl.

Sbrocco: Oh, okay.

Randolph: But it was good.

It was delicious.

It was so well seasoned.

You know what I mean?

It also has some sweet potato in there, some black chickpeas, black rice, seasonal vegetables, and it also had some mixed greens in there.

Sbrocco: That is a healthy dish.

Randolph: It was good.

It was good.

My insides thanked me for it.

Gorospe: I'm sure they did.

Sbrocco: Very flavorful.

Edelson: We started with the full spread.

I was overwhelmed by it.

Sbrocco: Kind of a tasting platter.

Edelsn: Yeah, it was a tasting platter, but what's so cool about it, is there's like 10 or 12 different things you can choose to dip things into.

And so we went with a beet beer mustard, a kimchi, and then also another cabbage on the side, too.

And it was beautiful.

I think what really stood out to me about this restaurant were the colors.

Every dish, it was like, whoa, just -- Gorospe: Fresh, colorful.

Edelson: There's a purple, there's a green, there's a yellow.

It's just rainbow every time.

The spread was amazing.

Really, really fresh veggies, crunchy, side of bread that was warm.

I couldn't stop just putting everything on it.

I also -- my favorite dish, I actually had their soup of the week, so who knows what it is this week.

But the week I was there was this honey nut squash soup with like a Thai coconut curry.

Sbrocco: Wow.

Edelson: Veggie noodles in it.

Felipe told me, I'm going to quote here as best I can, he said, "Wendy goes hard on these soups."

And it was amazing.

My wife and I were fighting over it, scooping it up with bread.

If I went again, I would be very excited to see what kind of soups.

Sbrocco: Look at the soups first?

Yeah, I would do it every time.

Sbrocco: What are some of your other favorites when you go?

Gorospe: There is a tostada.

It's mushrooms.

They're well marinated, and it has like a citrus flavor on top.

The tostada is really crunchy, and it's really good.

Sbrocco: Because this is about fermentation, anybody have the beers?

Edelson: Oh, yeah.

Sbrocco: Let's talk about that a little bit.

Edelson: I can go first.

Gorospe: You can go first.

Sbrocco: Eddie's very excited.

Edelson: I got to be honest, I love sours.

I like drinking beer, of course, too.

My wife and I tried all six of them.

Gorospe: Oh, wow!

Randolph: Whoa!

Sbrocco: Because there was a tasting.

Edelson: We did taste.

We did small pours.

Not a full pour for each one.

I just -- I couldn't make a decision.

I was like, "I'm here."

Sbrocco: I'll have it all.

Edelson: This is a farther drive for me.

I want to try it all.

Sbrocco: Yeah.

Edelson: What I really liked about the beers that they do there is that none of them are too heavy.

I'm really over the double IPA hazy.

Randolph: Right, right, right, right.

Edelson: Gutbuster thing.

And these are all a lot lighter and drinkable.

And my favorite one was fluorescent brown.

It was a brown ale, but they did it with pomegranate juice.

And so there was this brown ale-y feel.

But it finished with a sour note from the pomegranate.

That was a win for sure.

Sbrocco: All right.

Anybody else have the beers?

Gorospe: I had a beer.

I had the You're Invited.

Really light.

It has like a good orange flavor.

And I know that they brewed that beer specifically for their wedding, Edelson: Oh, no way.

Gorospe: Felipe and Wendy's wedding.

Yeah, so then they bring it back every year for their anniversary.

So that was, it was really good.

I also had a mocktail.

I had the fung shui cider.

Randolph: Fung shui cider.

Gorospe: Yes, and you can get it hot or iced.

I got it iced.

And that one was really good.

Sbrocco: Anything else?

Gorospe: I had the mac and cheese.

Sbrocco: Okay.

Gorospe: I can't get away from the cashew queso.

I'm telling you guys, it is so good.

And it's topped with a sesame oil.

And it just adds like a really great nutty flavor on top.

Sbrocco: And did you feel like you got good value?

You were talking about the size.

Randolph: Yeah.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah.

Yes, definitely.

Portion wise, like I said, I was full, I was good.

Sbrocco: Okay so your image of vegan vibes has changed, hasn't it?

Randolph: No, not at all.

[ Laughter ] Like it was exactly what I thought.

[ Laughter ] But it was still cool, you know?

Sbrocco: Yeah, that's great.

Well, if you'd like to try Fox Tale Fermentation Project, it's located on Santa Clara Street in downtown San Jose.

The average multi-course tab per person without drinks is around $40.

A visit to New Orleans sparked Cory's passion for Creole food, and he's been craving those bold, soulful flavors ever since.

Thankfully, he's found a place that captures the true spirit of the Big Easy right here in the Bay.

Located in Los Gatos, it's the Bywater.

♪♪ ♪♪ Williams: The Bywater is a neighborhood in New Orleans.

It's a little east of downtown, but it has a lot of cool old school bars.

And it's a good place to experience true New Orleans culture.

A lot of the vibe for the restaurant is, we talk about this all the time, high brow, low brow.

LaMantia: High brow, low brow.

I love it.

The duality.

Williams: Yeah.

There's a duality.

LaMantia: Sacred balance.

Williams: Yeah.

We like to have really nice entrees, but we also like to keep the red beans, the shrimp po'boy, all the classics and kind of keep more of a neighborhood feel rather than like an upscale fine dining feel.

LaMantia: We do a lot of like rural Cajun cuisines, which is the greater Louisiana, whereas Creole is just New Orleans.

So we do a bit of both.

Williams: These are the Royal Miyagi's from Tomales Bay.

LaMantia: Around here, we always have oysters.

Williams: That's a dozen, cousin.

LaMantia: A nice mix of East Coast and West Coast oysters and some southern oysters, as well.

Man: Fried chicken up.

LaMantia: We definitely pride ourselves on the fried chicken.

It's been on the menu since day one.

It's always going to be here.

Another one's gumbo.

Right now, we do a seafood gumbo filé.

Rich.

Savory.

Fatty.

So it's a dark roux.

It's a little bit of tomato paste.

It's a Creole style gumbo.

A big staple in New Orleans is Cafe du Monde beignets.

We make them in sort of a similar fashion, but almost more like a biscuit or a croissant.

When we fry them, they spring open like an accordion kind of.

And we serve them with chocolate sauce and powdered sugar.

Williams: A lot of powdered sugar.

LaMantia: A lot of powdered sugar.

Williams: We always want to do a great cocktail program here.

I think that's part of being a New Orleans restaurant.

I'd say most of our regulars are voodoo daiquiri people.

LaMantia: Voodoo daiquiri with the float.

Williams: With the float.

LaMantia: With the float.

Williams: Got to get the float.

We love coming to work every day and seeing the same people.

Good to see you all again.

New people are great, but the same people are awesome.

Oh, yeah, I got an oyster shooter right here.

You know, the people who love this restaurant really love it.

And, you know, they keep us here, so we love them back.

The absolute king of the Bywater right here.

Man: Absolutely not.

Williams: My man.

Man: Love you.

Williams: Cheers.

Sbrocco: Okay, we got to first talk about pronunciation of New Orleans.

Randolph: Yes.

Sbrocco: Give me yours.

Randolph: N'awlins.

Sbrocco: N'awlins.

Randolph N'awlins.

Gorospe: N'awlins.

Sbrocco: N'awlins.

Edelson: N'awlins.

I got something -- [ Laughter ] You've been saying it too many times.

Randolph: No, you hit it, you hit it.

Edelson: It's got to fall off the tongue like you're on the bayou, Sbrocco: Right.

Yeah.

N'awlins.

Randolph: You sound like you were standing on the front porch.

Edelson: I wish I was.

It's so great down there.

Sbrocco: All right.

Why and how did you become such a fan of this place?

Randolph: One day, I was actually looking for some Creole food, and I just did a quick Google and ended up discovering this gem.

And the owner, David.

Sbrocco: David Kinch.

Randolph: Kinch.

Sbrocco: Michelin starred.

Randolph: Three Michelin stars.

Edelson: Three Mich?

Randolph: Three Michelin stars.

Sbrocco: A real pedigree.

Randolph: Right.

So he actually flies his staff out there to New Orleans to do research for about two weeks.

And then they bring those flavors back, and they serve it up to us.

The first thing we did was the Sazerac, right?

Like you have to get a classic New Orleans -- Sbrocco: Sazerac, yeah!

Randolph: Sazerac.

Sazerac.

Got to get a Sazerac.

So you got the Sazerac.

And it was very reminiscent of being on Bourbon Street.

Sbrocco: Do you have a favorite dish to start with?

Randolph: My go to there whenever I go is the fried chicken.

Edelson: Yes.

Randolph: The fried chicken.

It's very well seasoned.

Super, super crispy.

And it's just all the way through, down to the bone.

Very well cooked, and I enjoy it.

Sbrocco: Love it.

Edelson: Fried chicken was amazing.

I had that, as well.

It was so thick, but it was like juicy all the way through.

Sbrocco: You cannot miss the fried chicken.

Edelson: Don't miss that.

The coleslaw on the side, too.

Real winner.

The hot to cold.

Randolph: Right.

Sbrocco: What was your experience when you went, Pam?

Gorospe: I started with the Huck-a-buck.

Woman: Such a classic.

Gorospe: It was lemon and watermelon.

And then you could choose vodka or tequila.

I went vodka that night, but it tasted like a Jolly Rancher.

It was like candy.

I was like, "This is dangerous."

[ Laughs ] Sbrocco: Now just think about it.

Gorospe: This is dangerous.

Sbrocco: They have "to go" drinks.

Gorospe: Yes, they do have "to go" drinks, yeah.

Edelson: I had the Pimm's Cup.

Woman: Cheers.

Edelson: Pimm's Cup, the classic -- classic New Orleans drink.

They do it really well there.

I love the Pimm flavor coming out.

Tastes kind of like a Arnold Palmer iced tea.

Just really nice.

Easy to drink.

My favorite drink, though was I had the Clarified Ramos Gin fizz, which was awesome.

I'll be honest, I don't love the egg white on the top usually.

This didn't have that, which made me fall in love with it even more.

I think what they do with it is they make it clarified by adding lemon and lime into it, to get rid of some of that eggy flavor and milky flavor.

And it was so citrusy, so tangy.

Sbrocco: Wow.

Edelson: I had the gumbo, too.

Good gumbo.

Classic good Creole gumbo.

Had the crab, shrimp.

I think crawfish, as well.

Just rich, really nice dark color.

Brought me back to N'awlins.

Randolph: I love that they actually incorporate all the flavors from the crab to... Because a lot of places do not put, like, when you order gumbo, like they're generally giving you like a chicken stew, as opposed to gumbo.

Gorospe: Right.

Randolph: Right, where you're sitting there.

Gorospe: Stirring.

Randolph: Right.

You're stirring it.

You know what I mean?

Like your shoulder's tired.

Edelson: Get some elbow grease in there.

Randolph: Your shoulder's tired.

I want to see the chef back there.

Gorospe: Sweating.

Randolph: With some sweat.

You know?

I want to go back there.

Sbrocco: You're making a roux, baby.

Randolph: Right.

Making a roux!

Sbrocco: Yeah.

Randolph: But it's almost like you cannot go wrong with pretty much everything on the menu.

Sbrocco: You can't.

Randolph: Now they actually serve a burger, right?

Gorospe: I had the burger.

Randolph: Oh, you had the -- Gorospe: I had the burger.

Oh, my gosh.

Sbrocco: Tell us, Pam.

Gorospe: Star of the show.

It was so good.

Double smash burger, raclette cheese.

Man: Do the shallot jam first.

Gorospe: Had like a shallot jam on it.

That was just...chef's kiss.

Sbrocco: There's a three Michelin star chef.

Randolph: Right, right., Gorospe: The shallot jam.

Sbrocco: The raclette cheese, too.

Gorospe: Yeah, but the biggest surprise was that it's sitting in a plate of jus, yeah.

Sbrocco: All right.

Anybody have any other dish that you want to talk about?

Edelson: Maybe this sounds basic.

I had their mixed green salad.

The vinaigrette was really nice.

Crunchy, large bowl.

They put fennel in it.

Usually I'm like, eww, fennel.

It's, like, not my flavor profile.

It rocked in this -- in this salad.

So I was grateful that we ordered that.

Randolph: When you go, try their fries, their French fries.

Gorospe: I had the fries.

Randolph: Yeah, fries are very, very well seasoned, if you think of what your ideal fries would be, you know?

Gorospe: I feel like they use the same spice as on the fried chicken or like similar spices.

Really good.

I also had the Hush puppies.

I don't know if you guys saw those or had them.

They come in, like, a little cone.

They have a hot honey dipping sauce on the side.

It's like ricotta, cheddar, there's scallions in them.

Sbrocco: Ah!

Randolph: Oh!

And shout out to the beignets.

I want to give a big shout out.

Sbrocco: The beignets.

Gorospe: [ Laughs ] I wondered when we were going to talk about the beignets.

Randolph: Can we talk about beignets?

Like, there are a lot of places in the, you know, that try to serve beignets, right?

But this was what a beignet is supposed to taste like.

Sbrocco: It's truly an art.

Randolph: The beignet was beignet-ing.

Sbrocco: And they have to come out hot and covered with powdered sugar, right?

Randolph: Hot and covered with powdered sugar, steamy.

Yes.

Edelson: It's got to be.

Sbrocco: Did you have the beignets?

Edelson: I didn't.

I had the butterscotch pot de crème.

All: Oh!

Edelson: It was awesome.

Super creamy whipped cream on top, house made.

And it was like this, like, amazingly rich butterscotch flavor.

I really recommend it.

It was really good.

Sbrocco: Okay.

Edelson: I need to go back for beignets.

I knew you all would be hitting that and saying that.

Randolph: I mean, it's New Orleans.

You got to do it, right?

Edelson: I know.

I wanted to try something else, and I'm really glad I did.

Sbrocco: All right.

And service?

Edelson: Really good, attentive, not too disruptive, but really helpful when I had questions.

I felt well taken care of there.

Sbrocco: Agree?

Randolph: Absolutely.

Gorospe: Very attentive.

Sbrocco: All right.

I think you're all going back.

Gorospe: Oh, yes.

Sbrocco: Especially for the beignets.

Edelson: I got to.

I got to.

[ Laughter ] Sbrocco: Okay, if you would like to try the Bywater, It's located on Santa Cruz Avenue in Los Gatos.

And the average multi-course tab per person without drinks is around $55.

Whenever the weather turns crisp, Eddie retreats to his ultimate comfort food sanctuary.

It's a warm, inviting Korean eatery offering savory soups that hit the spot every time.

Located in Oakland's Temescal neighborhood, it's Pyeong Chang Tofu House.

Kim: Welcome in!

We're open!

[ Cheers and applause ] Kim: Pyeong Chang Tofu House is an authentic Korean restaurant.

We specialize in making comfort foods that come out bubbling and sizzling and hot.

Not only will you love the flavors of our dishes, you also hear them when they come out the kitchen.

[ Food sizzling ] Pyeong Chang Tofu House is named after a city in the countryside of South Korea, and they're known for their famous yellow soybeans that makes the tofu.

The soybean there is very flavorful, and it has its own distinct taste.

Sundubu, our soft tofu soup is a staple dish in Korea.

We have many different varieties, seafood combination.

My personal favorite is the mushroom tofu soup.

Son means hand, mas means flavor.

Put those two words together, it refers to the flavors of your hands.

You won't find any measuring cups in our kitchens.

Our cooks are trained really well.

Because we use our kimchi in so many items in our menu, we make about 500 or 600 pounds of cabbage kimchi every week.

I personally love chicken wings and fried chicken in general.

We took about a year to perfect the sauces, the batter.

Then it became a huge hit.

There's a phrase in Korean called chimaek, which means chicken and beer.

So we had to get a draft beer.

Bottled beers are amazing too, but in my opinion, nothing beats draft.

Banchan is the glue that holds all the dishes together.

It is kind of the foods and small pickled vegetable dishes that you get before your main food comes out.

The whole point of you coming here is to share everything.

We have a lot of solo diners too, and we love them, but when you come in groups, it just makes the experience so much more better, fun and more authentic.

[ Diners cheering ] Some of these wooden tables are very close to each other, so a lot of diners ask each other, "What did you get?"

We want our customers to not only leave happy and full, but also just satisfied with how they spent their night at our restaurant.

Sbrocco: Now, Eddie, this place is all about sharing food, right?

Edelson: Oh, yes.

Sbrocco: Korean food you can really -- is shareable.

Edelson: You got to share.

It's great to go with a big group.

My wife actually lived in Korea for a year, and so she really turned me on to Korean food.

We spent a year or two going around to, like, pretty much every Korean restaurant in Oakland with a bunch of friends usually, too.

We'd go out on Friday nights and really have a lively good time.

This one was the one we just kept coming back to.

The banchan is amazing.

Their banchan is very strong.

A bunch of just little starters that you share with the whole table.

They have a great kimchi.

Very tangy, very sour that I like a lot.

And their spicy crispy cucumbers as well.

This most recent time I went, they had a pickled sweet daikon that was like candy.

My table was, like, chasing after it.

I had -- I think we had 8 or 10 people there and everyone was like reaching for it, trying to get it back over here.

Sbrocco: More daikon.

Edelson: Yeah, so they were -- they were fighting over it.

So love the banchan.

And then of course, for any starter, I have to do their kimchi pancake every time.

I think it's the best kimchi pancake there is.

Sbrocco: And it's kind of their signature, isn't it?

Edelson: It is one of their signatures, and it's really good.

Super crispy, the kimchi.

Randolph: Right, right.

Edelson: I want you two to speak to it.

Gorospe: I had the kimchi pancake.

It's really good.

It came out super piping hot and had a really good, like, soy dipping sauce.

It was delicious.

Sbrocco: You love kimchi.

Gorospe: I do, I really do.

[ Laughter ] Randolph: And I also -- I also had the kimchi pancake.

And for me, it was a new experience, right?

If I were to describe it, it's kind of like if a latke and a spring roll got together and they did the wild thing.

Gorospe: Yes.

Randolph: Nine months later, we would get that.

Sbrocco: This was born.

Randolph: This was born.

This flavor, it was so good.

Sbrocco: Yeah, okay.

What do you get normally?

Edelson: I usually get one of their bi bim baps.

Sbrocco: Everybody say that one, I love it.

Bi bim bap.

Edelson: Bi bim bap.

Gorospe: Bi bim bap.

Randolph: ♪ Bi bim bop ♪ ♪ Bop, bop, bi, bop, bi bim bop ♪ ♪ Boom, bop, bi bim bop ♪ Edelson: ♪ I'm a bop man ♪ [ Laughter ] Sbrocco: I knew this table would embrace that.

Edelson: Yeah, mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

The one I like to get is their kimchi dol sot bi bim bap.

Dol sot means that it comes in a stone pot which comes out piping hot.

So it comes with rice.

I usually get with beef, and it has a bunch of accoutrements of different types of vegetables, egg on top, you mix it all up, Delicious.

But what's special about a lot of their meals, when you order something like the bi bim bap, you get their tofu soup on the side.

Randolph: Right.

Edelson: And their tofu soup is the thing that brings me back every time.

Gorospe: Amazing.

Edelson: It is unreal.

Sbrocco: It was great?

Gorospe: It was great.

Sbrocco: Tell me about it.

Gorospe: Comes out in one of the hot little stone bowls, so it's bubbling.

And they ask you what spice level you want, and I love spice.

So I was like, you can make it as spicy as you want.

Edelson: Ooh.

Gorospe: And it was ama-- Sbrocco: Spicy?

Gorospe: It was spicy, but it was manageable.

The tofu was so soft.

I love that it was bubbling still when it came out.

Edelson: One thing I asked for the last time I was there with the soup is they'll give you this fried rice dish.

I think they pour water in -- in like a stone pot and they flip the rice over.

So it's just like... Gorospe: It's like a crispy -- Edelson: ...baseball cap, crispy disk of rice that you got to break and then put into the soup.

I always ask for that.

And I was like, of course.

And they always get that for me.

Sbrocco: Okay.

You get a little VIP treatment.

Gorospe: We got that, they brought it to the table and I quite did not know what to do with it.

I was like, "What do I do?"

I had to ask.

I was like, "What do I do with this?"

They were like, put it in your soup.

You can eat it plain.

It was great.

Sbrocco: Add a little crunchiness.

Gorospe: A little crunch, yeah.

We ordered the spicy barbecue pork belly, and it comes out on the sizzling plate.

The presentation here is amazing.

Everything is -- It's like a spectacle.

Sbrocco: What else do you get when you go?

I mean, you've been so many times.

Edelson: I've been a lot.

I've been a lot.

I've shared a lot.

I always get the chicken wings as well.

I don't know if you all are able to get those, too.

Randolph: We got chicken wings.

Gorospe: Yes.

Edelson: They have three different types.

I always get the nyum yang.

Amazing chicken wings.

They're crispy, but also tender on the inside in that sauce.

It's a sweetness with some sour and spice at the end, too.

They were gone very quickly.

Gorospe: I had the wings as well.

We went the soy garlic route.

More like traditional, just no spice inside.

They were delicious.

They came out hot.

They're really crispy.

Edelson: One thing I love to do when you're with a big group is you get big pitchers of beer and you get soju on the side.

And so what's really fun is you pour the little shots of soju for your friends across the table, you all cheers.

You're just kind of grabbing everything with chopsticks and pouring things for other people on the table, is just kind of alive.

Sbrocco: And did you feel like this was a good value?

Gorospe: I think so, yeah.

Yeah, you get a lot of food.

Randolph: Yeah, it's super generous.

Sbrocco: You keep going back for a reason.

Do they know you?

Edelson: They don't know me.

No, no, I'm not -- I'm not quite there yet.

Maybe if I go a few more times, I can get to that.

It's a great second home.

Randolph: It was cool.

Like, I would definitely go back again.

Sbrocco: All right, well, if you would like to try Pyeong Chang Tofu House, it's located on Telegraph Avenue in Oakland, and the average multi-course tab per person without drinks is around $50.

Looking for more Bay Area bites you've just got to try?

Woman: [ Laughs ] Sbrocco: Check out "Cecilia Tries It" online at kqed.org/checkplease.

I have to thank my fun and fabulous guests on this week's show.

Cory Randolph, who shared a taste of the Big Easy at the Bywater in Los Gatos.

Eddie Edelson, who enjoys all the Korean comforts at Pyeong Chang Tofu House in Oakland.

And Pam Gorospe, who digs into the funky nachos at San Jose's Foxtail Fermentation Project.

Join us next time when three more guests will recommend their favorite spots right here on "Check, Please!

Bay Area."

I'm Leslie Sbrocco, and I'll see you then.

Cheers, everyone.

Edelson: Whoo!

Sbrocco: We did it!

We did it!

Bi bim bop, beignets!

Edelson: You have to fork and knife it some, but it's not soggy.

Gorospe: Yea, it's definitely a fork and knife it type of burger, but no, not soggy.

That was my fear.

I was like, the bottom is going to be soggy.

It's going to be weird.

Sbrocco: And you can't have soggy buns.

Gorospe: No, no.

Sbrocco: No soggy buns.

Randolph: We like buttery soft buns.

Edelson: Yes.

Randolph: But not soggy buns.

Gorospe: No.

Randolph: Firm buns.

Edelson: Soggy buns is bad.

Randolph: Firm buns.

Sbrocco: I think we're all in agreement there.

Firm buns.

You got that?

Randolph: Firm buns.

Edelson: Firm buns is great.

[ Laughter ]