Welcome to episode two of Eating with John Chow (watch episode one here)! This time, we drove over to the Diamond Jamboree Plaza for some organic tofu.
BCD Tofu House is a Korean restaurant chain. Most of its locations are in Southern California, where it was founded. Since then, BCD has expanded into other markets like New York, New Jersey, Washington State, and Seoul Korea. There are now 15 total locations.
The BCD story started with Hee Sook Lee, a first-generation Korean immigrant. Her mother in-law owned a restaurant in Buk-Chang-Dong, the city in Korea after which the restaurant is named. Mrs. Lee opened the first BCD in 1996 in Garden Grove.
BCD dishes are focused around organic soon tofu. If you’re a health conscious person, BCD is a good choice for eating out. Tofu itself is a pretty bland food. However, it has the ability to absorb the flavor of whatever food you mix with it. BCD prepares their tufo dishes five different ways, and in heat levels ranging from mild to “Danger!â€
The tofu is accompanied by a variety of Korean side dishes and a bowl of rice that is cooked in its own burning hot clay pot. You can order additional side dishes to go with your Tofu. The Tufo itself is cooked in another clay pot, and then brought to you boiling hot, and most likely still cooking. It looked like a pot of molten lava if you order it at the spicy level or above. To kick the taste up a notch, you can crack a raw egg into the pot. The egg will cook itself in the broth, and it also helps to cool down the soup to the point where you’ll be able to eat it without burning your tongue.
Overall, I love BCD to the point where going for tofu is a weekly event. If there’s a BCD in your area, I highly recommend you try it out.
