Gaonnuri-- 1250 32nd St: Broadway Penthouse, 39th floor, NY

The name Gaonnuri represents the restaurants' placement in what they believe is the center of the world, both physically and figuratively.  The building has pretty tough looking security and the fastest elevator I've ever been in.  I step in, and 6 seconds later, BOOM!  I'm in a beautiful, dark restaurant where wine bottles stack a wall, separating the restaurant/bar from the private party area.  We sit down at a booth and I see the beautiful view of NYC from the tall windows.  Great location for a restaurant!  To start, my mom and I order the  Modeum Jeon, which is a Korean pancake sampler with four different kinds:  vegetable, fish, kimchi, and beef.  The vegetable is okay, the fish is extremely tender and delicious, the kimchi has a nice kick, and the beef is very unique-- it is thinly sliced beef molded together and formed into a pancake.  I definitely enjoyed trying it.  Then we have the Squid Bokkeum which is sautéed squid with vegetables in a spicy sauce.  It was actually too spicy-- you have to wait 2 minutes after one bite to cool down, and the dish itself is drowned in sauce, so you have to hunt for the squid, which isn't so tender after all.  But still, all spice appeals to my tastebuds :-)  Then we order the Japchae, which is stir-fried glass noodles with shredded beef and vegetables. The Japchae is amazing-- the noodles are perfectly seasoned and the beef very tender.  Definitely helps cool down the squid.  To finish, we order the Black Cod Jorim, braised black cod sautéed in spicy sauce, sitting over a rectangular block of braised radish.  Thankfully, this dish isn't spicy at all, but actually quite sweet.  The fish is not flaky enough, but the radishes are nice and tender.  The sliced tofu in the sauce was the best part.  But, nothing really impressed me about this dish.  Overall, I give Gaonnuri 3 1/2 pineapples. Not 4.  Deal with it.  

See ya,

-tdg