The Gossiping Gourmet: Hashigo is a blend of traditional Korean with some pleasant surprises

One of the great pleasures of dining in Orange County is having a wonderful mix of ethnic restaurants to choose from.

My dining companion and I recently went to Hashigo, a Korean restaurant that a friend had recommended. It is located in a small mall just off Bristol Street in Costa Mesa where several other ethnic spots are located.

The place was buzzing, and people were waiting outside for their names to be called. We had only a short wait and were seated at a communal table. Our waiter couldn’t have been nicer, and we had something of a feast, although we took lots of food home because portions are large.

While we waited for our food, our waiter brought a little dish of kimchee and small cubes of potatoes. The potatoes were unusual in that they had a slight sweet taste that was really nice. The kimchee is house-made, and it is hot but really good.

As we were perusing the menu, we were a bit surprised to see items that were not Korean, such as shrimp tacos with jalapeño sauce, tempura calamari, roasted garlic chicken, burgogi (beef) nachos and the korrito, which is a wet burrito with kimchi fried rice, bulgogi and melted cheese wrapped in a flour tortilla and topped with a spicy beef, tofu and stew sauce with cilantro. This is what they call a “Modern Concept,” and it is a tasty addition to the traditional menu

After we ordered, the food came out in no special order, just when it was ready, so our first course was the French fries. They are called Curry Stewy Cheesy Fries and they are delicious, unlike any fries I had ever tasted. The long, thin fried potatoes are smothered in a spicy beef curry in a sauce-like stew with tofu and pieces of melting Swiss cheese, then topped with white and green onions. I only stopped eating them because we had ordered so much other food.

We decided to order the spicy chicken wings for our second appetizer. The wings were breaded in a very crunchy, thin coating and served with two dipping sauces: One was like a barbecue sauce with heat and the other was a sweet, hot chipotle sauce — as our waiter described it. Both were great and the chicken was moist and tender.

We then settled on one of the barbecue combination boxes, the spicy pork box. The box consists of rice, soup, yaki mandoo, salad, the chef’s choice of a side and strips of very tender pork, which had been marinated in a spicy garlic ginger sauce and stir fried with sliced onions and chilies.

The green salad came with a tasty dressing and cold translucent noodles in a light sweet Asian sauce that was excellent. In one corner of the box were four yaki mandoo (fried chicken dumplings) with a sweet and tangy carrot sauce.

Our other entree was sliced boneless beef short ribs (Garbi) that had been marinated in a sweet garlic sauce and served on a hot skillet with a bed of onions beneath and hot green chilies on top. The beef was somewhat chewy, although the sauce helped.

Hashigo also has a good number of tofu stews of various levels of heat to choose from: white, mild, medium, spicy or “make me cry.”

Another category is rice dishes. The six selections include Dol Sot Bi Bim Bap, which is a hot pot.

Last but not least are the ramen and udon noodle dishes with Bootcamp ramen, shrimp tempura udon, and garlic shrimp soba noodles.

Hashigo is very casual and the food is very good. It is the kind of place you wish you had around the corner.

TERRY MARKOWITZ was in the gourmet food and catering business for 20 years. She can be reached for comments or questions at m_markowitz@cox.net.

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HASHIGO

Location: 3033 Bristol St., Costa Mesa

Hours: Lunch is 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Mondays through Fridays; dinner is from 5:30 to 10 p.m. Sundays through Wednesdays and 5:30 p.m. to 1 a.m. Thursdays through Saturdays.

Prices:

Appetizers: $5.50 to $10.95

Entrees: $8.95 to $16.95

Wine:

Glass $6.50

Saki: $6.50 to $10

Corkage $12

Information: (714) 557-4911