It’s not clear what Bon Ga “Garden Restaurant” means—it clearly isn’t vegetarian, nor does it have a garden. Tucked away in an unassuming shopping center in an area with so many borderline-health-code-violation restaurants, it’s refreshingly clean and tidy. Service is push-button—no joke, you actually have a call button at your table, allowing the whole place to run with only a couple of waitpeople, whom we suppose to be related, give that the restaurant’s family-owned, with the chef a frail-looking, middle-aged woman with a warm smile and a deft hand at seasoning.

While the barbecue at Bon Ga isn’t a bad way to go, it’s the other dishes that really get your juices flowing. The banchan side dishes are one of the better sets in town. Bibimbap is flawless, with fresh and pickled vegetables and well-marinated meat coming together to form a sweet, savory, filling, but still light and perfectly sized for lunch. Get it in the super-heated stone bowl so you can mix in the crusty cooked rice, adding another dimension of texture. Tofu stews are another specialty, with fresh-cracked egg adding extra body to a haunting, spicy broth. The standout here is freshly rolled beef soup dumplings that taste hand-made and deeply meaty. After all that, you can go on ahead and have some barbecue, if you must.