Arriving at the corner of Berendo and 6th, I didn't recognize any signage to indicate that I had arrived at Dan Sung Sa, a popular pub in Koreatown. But when I noticed a Korean guy lustily puking his guts out near his car, I knew I was in the right place. Though busy, we were seated in a few minutes with a great view of the food station in the center. All told, it was a pretty good haul considering that no one in the party could read a lick of Korean.

I have to admit that it was intimidating. I didn't do any homework prior to my arrival, so the Korean-only menu was a surprise. But with the aid of a kind waiter, we managed to scarf down lots of great pub food to go with our soju and beer.

The most obvious way to start (well, other than alcohol) was to procure some skewered items of the grill. Sitting at the bar in the center, we were able to watch the volume with which these orders got placed. The chicken and the mushrooms were both great, and I have to admit that I liked the grilled hot dog also.

Other items approachable to the western palate were the chicken wings. Fresh out of the fryer, these puppies were great. It was served with minced cabbage that was hardly touched. Wings, baby!

Steering toward more Korean dishes, we also got an order of kim mari, a dumbbell-looking piece of dough connected with rice noodles wrapped in seaweed. The whole thing was topped with the same sauce that laced the minced cabbage; this dish had a lot of interplay of textures and flavors and was quite delicious. I was actually curious if they did more dumpling-esque preparations, but as you might have surmised, my Korean-reading skills are lacking.

My favorite of the evening, though, were the pork spare ribs. I have to admit that their amorphous quality had me fearful that they were actually chicken feet (which ended being our crazy-what-the-hell order at the end). But the pork was delicious, with a nice sauce that just bordered on being too cloyingly sweet, but was all around finger-smacking good.

All the while, Korean songs filled the air and while I know my friends had a What-Did-You-Get-Us-Into moment, I was certainly at peace there. Maybe it was all the beer and soju that caused me to be unable to hold the camera steady -- all I know is that someone better not be puking on my car.