Naengdong samgyeopsal, or thinly sliced frozen pork belly, is all the rage in South Korea — and now Angelenos can recreate the same dining experience at K-Team BBQ. The casual, no-reservation Koreatown barbecue restaurant is a venture from the owner and director of operations behind the iconic Park’s BBQ, located across the street. While K-Team uses similarly high-quality banchan and serves several types of beef, the house specialty remains the naengdong samgyeopsal, shortened to “naeng-sam” on the menu. Orange-and-white tiled tables and a bumping K-pop soundtrack add to the upbeat ambience where groups of friends and colleagues clink glasses of beer, soju and hard liquor around rectangular cast-iron grills. You can also score Park’s Korean-style beef tartare without the pomp and circumstance of K-Team’s older, more refined sibling. Talk about the best of both worlds.
Unlike Park’s, K-Team isn’t conducive to large parties. Most tables are big enough for six guests at best; parties larger than that have to split up.
The valet parking lot usually fills up on weekend evenings, so plan ahead with extra time if you’re coming at a peak dinner hour.
The Park’s BBQ crew has opened a place that reflects the latest Korean barbecue sensibilities with a strip mall spot right across the street. Dubbed K-TEAM, the restaurant is a rowdy late-night destination where soju, beer, and pork belly abound. There are no combos here. Nothing except a few banchan is included with meat orders. But those keen on the details will experience Korean barbecue as it’s often experienced in Seoul: various cuts of un-marinated pork like jowl, thinly-cut frozen pork belly that homesick Korean Americans find nostalgic, and a fantastic griddled kimchi rice to end meals. K-TEAM doesn’t hold back with its realistic Korean barbecue experience, and fans of the tabletop medium will relish this new grillhouse. — Matthew Kang, lead editor