Washington, D.C. - December 01, 2006

Seoul Food

Mandu Restaurant Opens

When Mom works her magic in the kitchen, ginormous problems (heartbreak, credit card debt) seem to disappear.

If only your neighborhood eatery could borrow those family recipes and Mom’s magic wand.

That’s exactly what Danny Lee, formerly of the Oceanaire Seafood Room, and his family thought — so they did something about it. The result is Mandu, a new Korean restaurant and bar on 18th Street.

The chef is Danny’s own mother, Yesoon Lee, so you won’t see any high-concept or new-fangled fusion emerging from the open kitchen. The menu is authentically home-style Korean with faves like kalbi (marinated short ribs) and mandu (dumplings), with a focus on dishes not commonly found outside of Korean homes, such as dak-jeem (spicy simmered chicken) and kimchi bokum bap (cabbage fried rice).

Stop by the inviting bar for a sojutini cocktail, made with Korean juices. But be warned: The soju (a Korean spirit) can sneak up on you.

And even Mom doesn’t have a trick to get you out of that situation.

Mandu, 1805 18th Street NW, between S and Swann Streets (202-588-1540).