LOCAL Houston | The City Guide FEBRUARY 2015

Local February 2015 final.qxp_002houston 1/26/15 1:57 PM Page 20 OPEN DAK & BOP Last year was the year for ramen. This year, it’s clear that fried chicken is the name of the game. And while you can get traditional fried chicken at any number of joints around town, the only place to get bona fide Korean fried chicken (besides the food court at H-Mart) is Dak & Bop. “Dak & Bop” is Korean for “chicken and rice.” The warm, convivial, high-ceilinged warehouse space – sandwiched between Bosta and Museum Park Cafe in the Museum District – is casual and fun. They have a great sound system, which had Red Hot Chili Peppers and other ’90’s hits playing during my first visit. When I went back, they were playing techno and house, which can get a bit loud, but that’s what makes the ambiance so great. This is a place to go with friends, order a bunch of appetizers and fried chicken, get a beer and cocktail (I recommend the Cool Cucumber or the Photography by Mai Pham CUISINE: Korean EXECUTIVE CHEF: JASON CHO www.facebook.com/dakandbop 1801 Binz St., Ste. 120 713.528.0280 Mon–Wed 5–10pm; Thu–Sat 5–12pm; Closed Sunday Fried Chicken Blackberry Chili Margarita) and grub on tasty, twicefried, crispy yet deliciously moist Korean fried chicken. The recipes for the sauces come from Mad for Chicken in NYC. The chicken is made with TLC by owner Jason Cho (yes, he’s the one in the kitchen making it all). I prefer the wings, but you can get a combo with drumsticks or strips, and choose from the soy garlic, hot ’n spicy or half and half (a mix of the two sauces, which is a mild spicy). Just know that the spicy is really spicy, and you’ll be fine. Seriously, it’s all good. Photography by Mai Pham SICHUAN NOODLES CUISINE: Noodle House 9889 Bellaire Blvd., #C205 832.831.3038 Sun – Thu 11am–9:30pm; Fri – Sat 11am–10pm If you love spice and noodles, there’s a new Chinese noodle house, Sichuan Noodles, that you have to visit. Tucked away in the back of the Dun Huang Plaza on Bellaire Blvd., the place is pristine and super-cute. (The floors are a shiny black granite tile with inlaid gold leaf motif.) It’s a hole-in-the-wall in the literal sense – just a long rectangular strip mall dining room with about 10 tables. Items are extremely reasonably priced and start at just $3 for something like their basic spicy cucumber, with their typical noodle dishes running around $6 or $7. The staff spoke minimal English, but were as helpful and as nice as can be. I was crying as I was eating a delicious bowl of Szechuan hot oil wontons, so an additional order of spicy noodles was just a little too much for me to handle. The pan fried rice noodles, which I spied at another table, looked excellent however, as did the individual- Spicy Tangy Noodle Hot Oil Wontons sized hot pots (there are nine to choose from) featuri

LOCAL Houston | The City Guide FEBRUARY 2015 | Page 20