A Run-In With K-Food

Last Sunday my boyfriend ran the second half of the San Francisco Marathon. He did an awesome job (2:07:21), despite initially running with a pace group that ran faster than they had advertised.

My friend Susanne also ran. Her performance was doubly impressive because she single-handedly organized a fund-raising effort around her running. That is to say, she wanted to raise money for The Stop AIDS Project, and so she coordinated with them on her own so that she could get sponsors and stuff. (I think she'’s raised like $2000 so far, and she's still getting money from people.*) It just goes to show you that the actions of individuals can change the world.

Anyway, how does this all relate to food?... Well, after running one is supposed to eat a good deal of protein, I'm told. I guess this is because it's a good source of calories and your muscles are all in need of rebuilding and whatnot. So, post-marathon, Dave and I went for a protein-rich dinner of Korean food at Dong Baek at O'Farrell and Leavenworth.

We found the recommendation on Chowhound, and needless to say we were not let down. We ordered the kal bi and the doon tofu chi gae (Tofu soup). SOOOO GOOD! While I feel like the kal bi was quite tasty, but not overwhelmingly so, the sides it was served with were awesome. The soup, however, was just plain out-of-this-world. It was creamy silken tofu served in a exceptionally spicy beef stock with pieces of beef and whole oysters in it. The oysters were incredible, so flavorful and perfectly tender. There were also mushrooms, which, mingerspice, I will grudgingly admit that I found delicious, as well as a few other minor vegetable accents.

With the check they brought a complimentary cup of a sweet chilled ginger cinnamon drink which was tasty, despite knowing that is was mostly sugar and water.

I can't find any pictures of their food, but their VERY EXTENSIVE menu is here.

* You can still sponsor her. Go here for details.