BENTO STOP (142 W. Clayton St., 706-850-0350): If you look at a chart of the third-most common language in each state, after English and Spanish, Georgia’s is Korean. The area around Duluth has Korean restaurants and shops of all kinds. But Athens, an hour away, has lagged historically. Yes, you could get a few standards, like bulgogi (beef barbecue), at Choo Choo Grill Express. There was a restaurant at the base of the building where Target is now that did some decent stews once upon a time. Fooks Foods has been going strong as a grocery for two decades. Iron Factory, now closed, broke ground for Korean barbecue in Athens, and D92 bettered it.
Now, as the Korean populations of Gwinnett, Fulton and DeKalb counties continue to grow, and their kids come to UGA, we finally seem to be entering a period of uptick, with bb.q Chicken opening soon downtown and Bento Stop having opened recently at the base of the West Washington parking deck. The latter, owned by the same people as Bubble Cafe, is a quick-service place for mostly Korean food, plus hot wings and french fries. Order at the counter or on a touchscreen nearby, and grab a seat at a light wood table. A bento box comes with your choice of protein (pretty decent beef bulgogi, teriyaki shrimp, hot and spicy tofu, spicy Korean barbecue chicken, teriyaki chicken or soy garlic chicken), fried or steamed rice, two fried pork dumplings and a side: surprisingly good kimchi (with some nice funk), seaweed salad, pickled radish or tteokbokki (a popular snack consisting of chewy cylindrical rice cakes tossed in a sauce that makes much use of gochujang red pepper paste). Bento Stop’s tteokbokki isn’t bad, but it doesn’t have a lot of heat and is a little on the sweet side. So is the “hot and spicy” tofu. The meats and the tofu are appropriately salty, but a lot of other things could use more oomph. The steamed dumplings don’t have as much flavor as the fried ones. The plain stir-fried noodles would be great for days when you need something light and easy on the stomach. The dipping sauces don’t do much, one mayo-based and sweet, the other a ponzu that could use more acid. This sounds negative, but some things are very good. I’d eat a beef bulgogi bento box for a quick meal any day. The Korean hot fried chicken, served over rice, has a pleasing texture and plenty of flavor. The kimchi fried rice may be best of all, a full styrofoam container of tangy fried rice thoroughly tossed with kimchi, plus sauteed carrot, onion and egg. It’s homey and warm and each bite has variety. The fried seaweed rolls are something I don’t think you can get anywhere else in Athens—sheets of nori rolled around glass noodles, then fried until crisp—and their weird texture (first crunchy, then slippery) keeps one coming back. Prices are decent ($8–12 for an entree), and food arrives quickly.
Bento Stop is open from 11:30 a.m.–9 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 11:30 a.m.–9:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
WINGSTER (521 Baxter St., 706-583-9611): Operating next to UGA’s high-rise dorms for years, Wingster is best known for delivering hot wings late at night to college kids. But over the past couple of years, it’s added quite an array of Korean options: Its own bento boxes, or dosirak, which come with protein, rice and a couple of little pan chan sides (sesame green beans, pasta salad); tteokbokki (transliterated as dukbokki in this case, but the same thing) with a variety of sauces (regular gochujang, rose, black bean, curry, spaghetti); udon noodle soup (comfortingly bland and quite good); kimbap, or kimbob, the Korean version of a maki sushi roll, more focused on vegetables and cooked proteins than the Japanese equivalent; a totally decent bibimbap, or rice bowl topped with veggies and/or meats and a nice fried egg; and Spam musubi, which is Hawaiian, not Korean, but is a neat option, consisting of a sort of rice sandwich that envelops a thick slice of Spam and a comparable slice of omelet-style egg, all wrapped in nori to hold it together. It doesn’t have much in the way of atmosphere, but the kimbob is fresh and good, with lovely, crunchy pickled radish and a tight wrap. The dukbokki is chonky. The Spam musubi is a lot of fun and appealing to children and adults alike. Also a sign outside promises bingsu, a shaved ice dessert, but it doesn’t seem to be available right now. Instead, you’ll find macarons and other desserts in a refrigerated case, none made on premises, plus a selection of instant noodles and snack foods.
Wingster keeps somewhat inconsistent hours, sometimes opening at noon and other weeks not opening until 2 p.m., but open for dinner and late night Wednesday through Monday. You can check its website for the full menu and current orders, plus place an order online.
Like what you just read? Support Flagpole by making a donation today. Every dollar you give helps fund our ongoing mission to provide Athens with quality, independent journalism.
