BCD Tofu House in LA Koreatown: When You Really Miss Korean Food

2026-08-03 · Original (Korean)

This article was translated from the original Korean post with AI assistance. Read the original Korean post →

During my US trip, I visited BCD Tofu House in LA Koreatown with my friend's family. My friend had been eating American food every day and really wanted some Korean food for a change. I never thought I'd be going out for soondubu-jjigae (soft tofu stew) right in the middle of the US, but it seems to be a pretty desperate craving for people living abroad.

Restaurant exterior with a BCD Tofu House sign and a white tent under a blue sky.

Looking at the exterior, the mix of towering palm trees under the blue sky and Korean signage creates a strangely exotic scene. Seeing the familiar BCD logo under the English "24 Hours" sign made me feel inexplicably glad. It's a sign you see everywhere in Korea, but it hits completely differently under the California sun.

Inside, the fairly spacious restaurant was packed with people eating. The sight of staff in orange uniforms busily pushing carts around to serve food was no different from any busy restaurant back in Korea. A huge variety of people, from families to solo diners, were enjoying Korean food.

People sitting at tables eating inside a restaurant while a staff member in an orange uniform serves them.

As we sat down, I noticed they set things up for the kids first. A great thing about American restaurants is their excellent service for children, like always having these coloring activities ready. Korean restaurants should really take note of this culture of keeping kids entertained while the adults choose the menu and wait for the food. Assuming they could do it at current Korean prices, of course...

A children's coloring menu and four crayons placed on a dark-colored table. — A great thing about American restaurants is their excellent service for children, like always having these coloring activities ready.

Handing them crayons kept the kids quiet as they colored the back of the menu, making mealtime so much easier. The kids' menu is also pretty well put together and the children ate it right up, so definitely take advantage of it if you're visiting as a family. It's a precious tool for getting through a meal peacefully without any fussing.

Marinated beef galbi (short ribs) piled high with onions on a hot iron plate.

We decided to order several dishes to share. The LA galbi (BBQ short ribs) came out first, served over onions on a sizzling hot plate, and it looked pretty decent. But coming from Korea, I felt the meat was way overcooked. The other side dishes were definitely Korean, but they didn't give off that gourmet restaurant vibe, leaving my taste buds a bit disappointed. The reason I'm saying this is because the prices are absolutely astronomical.

Spicy stir-fried pork cooked in a red sauce served over thinly sliced onions on an iron plate.

The spicy pork bulgogi also came piled high on a hot plate, topped with green onions. It looked spicy and incredibly appetizing, but the seasoning overall left something to be desired for someone straight from the Korean mainland. It lacked that specific savory depth you get at Korean restaurants, and the marinade just tasted different from what I'm used to.

Thinly sliced grilled beef stir-fried with green onions and onions on an iron plate.

The soy-marinated beef bulgogi was also served with green onions and was decent enough as a side dish for rice. The meat dishes were generally inconsistent in flavor and lacked that smoky charcoal taste, which was a bit disappointing compared to the quality of BCD Tofu House in Korea. I suppose the taste is different because they cook to suit American palates.

A dining table set with various Korean dishes including grilled beef, spicy stir-fried pork, galbi (short ribs), fried dumplings, and grilled fish.

Once the grilled croaker and fried dumplings filled the table, it looked like an absolute feast. But when I looked at the menu and did the math, it felt about two to three times more expensive than in Korea. I know US prices are high, but trying to grab a simple meal of soft tofu stew made my thin wallet feel like it was crumbling to dust. In Korea, this is a place you go for a quick corporate lunch, but eating like that here would bankrupt you.

White rice in a stone pot, red sundubu-jjigae (soft tofu stew) with a raw egg, and grilled fish.

Finally, the main event arrived: the soondubu-jjigae and dolsot-bap (stone pot rice). They came out almost at the same time, though the side dishes arrived first. The freshly cooked white rice in the stone pot was perfectly fluffy and delicious enough to eat without any sides. The soft tofu stew was served in an earthenware pot, but the broth wasn't quite as deep or rich as what I'd eat in Korea.

Coming from Korea, I wondered if it was really worth paying so much to eat here, but my friend living in the US was absolutely thrilled. Seeing them scrape the bottom of the bowl for that hard-to-find taste of home made me think it was a good idea to come. I'd eat it because we're in the US, but I'd never eat it if we were in Korea.

There were a few disappointing aspects, but filling my stomach with Korean food after a while left me feeling comfortable. I'd only recommend it to homesick international students living abroad. Or, I'd recommend it to anyone curious about what the original BCD Tofu House vibe is like.