Fusion Asian Grill

Following my last final a few weeks ago, i decided to hit up a new “Asian” (Korean) restaurant in Provo that I heard about from Josh. Josh had mentioned going there and being stoked that there was a combination of two favorites: stone bowl bibimbap and spicy grilled pork.

I’ve been a faithful Sam Hawk customer for nearly 7 years now, some of their food is just plain addictive. This “Fusion Asian Grill” was started by a former employee of Sam Hawk (I suspected as much, and it was confirmed when I entered the restaurant). What follows is my initial impression of the place.

It’s located at 1700 N and State St (500 w) in Provo, UT. As you can see, the look and feel is a bit different than Sam Hawk. Not sure how else to describe it:

Most interesting to me, atmosphere-wise, was that they had installed a projector on the ceiling and were playing Korean dramas on the wall– they even had speakers mounted to the wall for surround sound. This is a step further than the typical LCD / Plasma display you might find at other places. The drawback is that, at least during the day (and probably at night with lights on in the restaurant, you don’t get as much contrast in the picture– it’s harder to see what’s playing. Cool idea, though. And definitely fun to just hear some Korean and refresh my memory on some things.

A quick look at the menu revealed a lot of similarities with Sam Hawk as far as menu choices go, and then a few differences. In addition to the usual Korean fare, they had some sort of Japanese beef on there, as well as “Jajangmyun”– a noodle dish with a black bean sauce on it that’s Chinese in origin (at least, the places you ate it in Korea were usually the basic Chinese food places). Also, they had a few things on a “dessert” menu of sorts– mostly fruit, from what I recall. Oh, and you pay extra if you want an extra dish of rice– something that’s common in Korea but Sam Hawk has never done.

Naturally I ordered the spicy grilled pork stone bowl, Josh had my interest piqued. Here are the side dishes they brought out:

The Kimchi was a mix between the traditional and another type (that I never really liked). Nothing outstanding, but then I prefer kimchi to be a bit more fermented and tangy rather than fresh. Then there were the somewhat standard potatoes and sprouts, and a dish I’d never had before– it was pieces of lettuce (Romaine, I think) that were sort of marinated in vinegar and had a little red pepper on them– tasty.

On to the main course. I don’t know if the spicy grilled pork that topped the other ingredients of the stone bowl was the same variety that they serve alone as “Spicy Grilled Pork” on the menu, because it was in a sauce of sorts, so as to mix with all the other ingredients more I suppose (rice, egg, sprouts, shredded carrots, dried seaweed, etc). I spent some time mixing it together and letting the rice get a bit fried– it takes a bit of work to get it mixed and then it’s really hot to the touch. The store owner — the lady who used to run sam hawk and who knows me from there — asked in passing how it was. She used the phrase “먹을 만 í•´ìš”?” which, as I understand it, basically means its good enough to eat but nothing particularly special / delicious. I replied that I hadn’t tasted it yet. Hehe.

Spicy grilled pork is where ALL other Korean restaurants I’ve been to in Utah fail. It’s the acid test for me, because it’s what I like most. Anyone can make some decent bulkogi or kalbi (the type of Korean BBQ that’s more on the sweet side), though some do better than others. E Jo in Salt Lake has the nastiest spicy grilled pork I’ve ever tasted– like someone dumped a bucket of salt on it and threw some red pepper in just to make it burn rather than flavor it. Note that I tried E Jo’s stuff at least 3 times hoping that somehow it was just a horrible fluke that it was so gross. Another place in Salt Lake had just passable spicy grilled pork (I think the place was called 고려대 or Korea House or something like that– it’s been a few years.)

Fusion Asian Grill? I had hopes that since the owner came from Sam Hawk that the flavor would resemble it too. I was disappointed. The flavor wasn’t bad, but it was just as the owner had jokingly suggested, ironically– edible. Not gross like E Jo but certainly nothing I’d go back for, it seemed kinda generic. Too bad.

I am not sure what the secret to their recipes are at Sam Hawk, and I know some Koreans who criticize Sam Hawk for not using higher quality meat, but the flavoring of their sauces that they marinate and cook their spicy dishes in is just unbeatable– both the spicy grilled pork and the spicy chicken (which have distinctly different but delicious flavors).

That’s not to say everything there is sub-par. I haven’t tried their kalbi (not a huge fan of Sam Hawk’s), and I’m curious about there Japanese beef dishes. If I lived in Provo I think I would have tried a few other things there by now just to see if there was another dish that I’d love to come back for. In the future I’ll probably give it another whirl, but when I want spicy, I already know I’ll be headed back to Sam Hawk.

A nice touch at the end was this cinnamon drink which waitress referred to as “dejert” (or dessert). I haven’t had this since Korea, and I don’t recall the name of it– but I enjoyed it. (It’s served cold with a couple pine nuts in it, as you can see).

Overall it was a fun visit just to check out a new Korean restaurant– I enjoyed the atmosphere created by the Korean drama they played and the look of the restaurant in general. The food was decent but nothing to scream about, and the service was good. Maybe worth trying another couple things on the menu (maybe the jajangmyun if you’re into that sort of stuff, hehe), but I don’t see myself being a “regular” there like I’ve been at Sam Hawk 😉

(Gosh, I called up a few weeks back to make some reservations at Sam Hawk a few weeks ago on our way down to Moab and the Korean waitress that answered the phone said “oh, is this Mike?” Yes, they know me by name, hehehe.)

Up next: Cake made by the devil herself…