Cycle 15 – Item 112

26 (Fri) April 2024

So Yangnyeom Wang Galbi

3.5

at Cheonnyeon Galbi

-Changgok, Sujeong, Seongnam, Gyeonggi, Republic of Korea-

with the Family

DJ, though still only in 11th grade, is now cello first chair of the SIS strings orchestra (see most recently 15.044 Gold Set).  Which is remarkable because he never practices at home, at least not when I’m there, beyond the private tutor lessons that we’ve been shelling out for since 2020.

Scrambling to get ready for school in the morning, DJ couldn’t find his dress shoes and asked in desperation if he could borrow mine, even if too big, so I reached into the back of the closet and pulled out a very special pair of shoes.  The first pair of Prada shoes that I’d ever purchased, in 1997, while working as a paralegal at a law firm in San Francisco.  Cost around $450 (about $875 today), a staggering price for a pair of shoes back then, especially for a recent college graduate, still living paycheck to paycheck (monthly salary was under $2,000, before taxes) (rent was $400 per month) – these days, most Prada shoes cost in excess of the now staggering price point of $1,200; like other luxury brands, Prada always makes sure to price their products beyond the reasonable, if only to maintain a sense of absurd exclusivity.  I decline to speculate here how much that I’ve spent on Prada shoes over the years.  I wore the shoes on my wedding day in 2006.  Alas, as my feet continue to grow with age (technically not bigger, just wider and longer as the tendons and ligaments get loose and spread out), the shoes no longer fit.  Back in 1997, when I told one of the secretaries at the law firm how much I’d paid for the shoes, she looked at them for a while and concluded, “No shoes are worth $450, but they look like they cost $450.”  Now that I’ve handed them down to DJ – 27 years later – they’re totally worth whatever I paid for them.

On our prior visit to the restaurant, I’d documented the “self-fulfilling prophecy” of describing jumulleok in Cycle 1 as a dying dish (see 1.050 Grilled Beef Jumulleok), then neglecting to cover it again for 14 years until Cycle 15 (see 15.033 Jumulleok).  Now, nearly 3 months later, even this restaurant has dropped it from the menu.

Anyway, in light of the special occasion, we ordered the beef galbi.  Everybody at the table agreed that it was excellent – in my opinion, the best that I’ve had in recent memory (see for comparison 15.051 Yangnyeom Galbi).

(See also HANSIK)

(See also RESTAURANTS IN KOREA)