Tags
Boise ID, dining, ethnic cuisine, food, K-Fusion BBQ, Korean food, local dining, neighborhood business
Have you noticed how restaurants come and go? They seem to have lives—like pets and people. Some live until they’re bent and wrinkled, others come and go almost before they’ve had a chance to squeeze through puberty. Even more fascinating is how certain restaurant locations seem to predispose longevity. We’ve all seen the perpetually changing cafes. You know: the funky little place down the street that instead of a mild facelift every few years, endures a complete identity makeover, morphing from Mexican cuisine, to Cajun, to hip pizzeria.
Well, there’s a tiny slot squeezed between Ves’s Broadway Bar and Jiffy Clean Laundry that has endured its share of seesaw makeovers. I first became aware of this doomed location back in 2010 when the joint morphed from the sad, smokey, iconic Kim’s Chinese Restaurant, to the fresh-faced Jeffrie’s Next Door. Chef Jeffrey jumped into this little opportunity to operate his own establishment after years of slaving for The Man. Jeffrey scrubbed, painted, purchased and proudly opened his modest but hip little eatery to mild fanfare and decent reviews. An unfortunate disagreement with his landlord ended his short reign. The site sat empty for a while. Then the Saladman moved in. Having spent years serving truck fare, this guy was relieved to have his feet on solid ground. I ate there once, assuming from the name that it might be light, figure-friendly food. It was not and I never went back. Next time I glanced over at this building—which I drive by quite routinely—I noticed a bright new sign beckoning hopefully from the dismal strip of old storefronts. Since the Saladman is still in business in another part of town, I can only surmise that tenant or location issues figured into his departure from my neighborhood.
K-Fusion Korean BBQ & Grill is generating lots of Facebook buzz. I walked over for a test run last week. Arriving at the tail end of the lunch rush, the place was fairly busy and quite loud. The room’s long, narrow dimensions leave few options for feasibly creating intimate spaces. A long, padded bench runs along one wall with deuce tables lined up in front of it. The chairs backs define the aisle from front door to kitchen. Tables for four line the opposite wall. The decor is black and subtle grey Asian chic.
Having little experience with Korean cuisine, I opted for the Spicy Pork Lunch Box which included the signature Korean stone grilled barbecued pork in spicy red sauce served over rice. This was delicious. The finely chopped tidbits of meat were succulent and fork-tender. My tray of food included a salad of fresh tender greens, drizzled with a light, poppy-seed vinaigrette that had the perfect blend of tart-sweet plus a small sampling of pickled veggie medley, or what I think of as Kimchee. As if all that wasn’t enough to send me home waddling, there was also a generous serving of Japchae which consists of glass noodles mixed with thinly sliced onions, carrots, mushrooms, eggs, and spinach, lightly sautéed in sesame oil and garlic. Little triangles of grilled Korean style savory pancakes, called Pajeon, were artfully drizzled with tangy teriyaki and mayo. All this delicious food for under $10. Yum!
I hope to enjoy many more meals at K-Fusion before its doomed location lures it, too, out of my ‘hood. K-Fusion proudly serves local and pasture-raised meat and has gluten-free and vegetarian items on the menu.
K-Fusion Korean BBQ & Grill 1716 S Broadway Boise ID 83706 208 336-5959 kfusion@k-fusion.com Monday – Saturday:Lunch 11:30 am-02:30 pm Dinner 5:00 pm-9:00 pm Closed Sundays, Christmas & New Year’s Day
allesistgut said:
That sounds so delicious. And not only since soon is lunch time here in Germany I’m really hungry now. I’m glad you have such a restaurant with good food in your neighborhood. 😀 Have a happy day!
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rangewriter said:
Danke schoen, aber, Ich denke du auch hast sehr gutes essen nach Hause. I hope that sort of made sense. 😉
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allesistgut said:
Yes, you’re right. 😉
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rangewriter said:
😉
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Bryan Hemming said:
Sounds good. Though Spanish food is great, we don’t get much variety here in my corner of Andalucia. A couple kebab places have opened but, having travelled extensively over most of Turkey in the 1980s, I know my kebabs, and these places don’t know their döner from their şiş.
The Chinese restaurant in the pueblo is awful. One thing I miss about London is its great Chinese and Indian restaurants. You’ve made me hungry!
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rangewriter said:
I haven’t yet been to Spain, but there is a lot of Basque food here in Boise and I think many of their dishes are reminiscent of Spanish cuisine. Yumm! But I do love diversity. It is a relatively new feature here. Back in the 70’s, Italian American, Chinese American, and Mexican American, were the ethnic choices, all heavy on the “American.” I love exploring new cuisines and the recent influx of immigrants from all parts of the world and Indian tech workers has broadened the Boise palate considerably.
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Bryan Hemming said:
Basque food is very good indeed. We have a couple of Basque tapas bars here, and one is very good. But in places like Bibao nearly all the food is excellent.
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reneejohnsonwrites said:
What a nice bit of Korean culture to have in your city. We have a Thai restaurant which is very good and a bit unusual for our area too.
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rangewriter said:
Oh, I love Thai food. We are lucky to have several of those.
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Snoring Dog Studio said:
Yippeee! In my neighborhood! Can’t way to try it. Thanks for the tip, Linda!
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rangewriter said:
We should meet for lunch or dinner some time!
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Snoring Dog Studio said:
I’m all for that, Linda!
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rangewriter said:
Give me a call sometime when you have time for a lunch break, SDS.
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btg5885 said:
Linda, what is the key to success – location, location, location. With that said you do need to have a good food to bring people back. I have witnessed that successful local restaurants survive long term only if the children of the owners take over or they sell it to someone with vested interest in its success – a chef, e.g. This one sounds good. Take care and enjoy. BTG
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rangewriter said:
Yes, location will be a challenge of this place, I fear. Parking may stymy some patrons and I fear they will encounter problems with their neighbor/landlord who has been instrumental in driving out 2 other businesses from this spot in the past 3 years.
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btg5885 said:
It is funny how many overlook that simple fact. I have stopped going to some places because you can never find a parking place. So, it becomes not worth it and you go someplace else.
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rangewriter said:
So true. Lucky for me, this place is only 2 blocks away. But that doesn’t do me any good if they can’t stay in business.
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Otto von Münchow said:
Sounds like an excellent place for a lunch. And I do love Korean food, so this post made me all hungry. I hope the place will survive – for your delight.
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rangewriter said:
Me too!
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deansgreatwahoo said:
Nice review, Rangewriter. Glad someone else is keeping up with all the changes at what I still have a tendency to think of as Kim’s. Was pulling for Jeffrey and was surprised and disappointed when he left.
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rangewriter said:
I was disappointed with Jeffrey’s departure, too, Wahoo. I suspect there’s something fishy going on with the bar next door.
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George Weaver said:
A great review, Linda. I hope it helps the new guy to hang on in your hood. Operating a restaurant seems a hard way to make a living to me! The lunch sounded yummy. Enjoy a few of those before the door slams shut again! 🙂
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rangewriter said:
Yes, the food biz is a hard biz. Never ending and rarely profitable, especially for those not protected by a chain. I’ll do my best to keep them in business.
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sybil said:
I’m sure the new business I thrilled to have such a glowing review. Wow, 10 bucks. You’d pay a lot more than that in Canada !
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rangewriter said:
It is a bargain, here too!
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