Michael Jackson Ribs

Did you know Michael Jackson had a restaurant in Korea??? Well, at least the expats think he does. We were told about "Michael Jackson Ribs" by another Chevron person who has spent a wonderful 2 years in Okpo. We decided to check it out last Saturday and see what all the fuss is about. Obviously, they serve ribs here. The nickname Michael Jackson Ribs came about because the restaurant provides a glove for you to eat with. I never could figure out if this was because of the temperature or the level of "spicey". I think the answer is both. Here is our crew:

Tom - on rotation, so he goes home every 6 weeks to see the family

Mitch - His wife is coming over in September

Dale - His wife is coming over in Sept or Oct

Lindsay - Here with her husband, who was in Houston with Rob on a business trip

Allison - Here with her husband, who was in Houston with Lindsay's Husband.

As you can see, all of the lonely people gather together each weekend just to get each other out of the apartment for dinner, hiking, etc.

Now...the owner of the restaurant comes to our table and mumbles off some Korean at 100 miles per hour. we all look at her confused and say "Ribs?". Finally she says "Regular, Spicey or Salty". Every man begins with "I'll take spicey". But she cuts in and says "Spicey is veeery spicey". So we start to rethink the situation. Maybe she knows what she is talking about??? These Koreans don't play around with the level of spice - this stuff gets HOT. Luckily, we find someone at the next table over (small town) that we know from another project. I ask him -- what do you order? He says half regular and half spicey -- and this came from a table of all men. So we decide on 3 regular and 2 spicey orders. Then, the gloves come out. We get a bucket with gloves and the guys think they are funny, of course. Here, the ribs have been laid out to cook on our little coal pit in the middle of the table. "Korea Style"

Lindsay and I give them a thumbs up... Can we get these with every meal??

Yum, these were great! All gone now... check out the abundant amount of side dishes. I wasn't doing so well with the metal chopsticks this night. Talk about frustration. Typical side dishes include: kimchi (rotten...I mean...fermented cabbage), a bowl of onions, a bowl of garlic pieces, a bowl of skinny green beans easily mistaken for St. Augustine grass, a bowl of seaweed, a bowl of green jalapeno shaped peppers that turned out to be hot this night. Most of the time, the peppers are not hot and you dip them in chili paste. Unfortunately for Dale and Mitch --- they learned the hard way that some actually are hot like a jalapeno!

And, finally, this little joint is a piece of outdoors brought inside. Check out the flooring! Rocks!

The best part was that we fed 5 people ribs and had numerous cold beverages and the bill was under $50. We will be returning soon!