Restaurant Review:

Fortunately I didn’t have my heart set on sushi when I walked into Hashigo Korean Kitchen.

I was driving down Bristol Street and saw the familiar name. Immediately I flashed back to one of my favorite sushi bars in Huntington Beach.

Owned by the same people, same name, but my thoughts of popping in and getting some fresh sashimi and exotic rolls wasn’t going to happen.

This is Korean-based, and I remembered the conversation I had with one of the sushi chefs at the Huntington Beach location. He told me that the two had the same name, but much different menus.

This is the idea of owner Jimmy Suh, who wanted to bring a Korean fusion restaurant to Orange County. It was put in a great spot. It is next to two of the more popular establishments with the party crowd, Anjin and Oki Doki.

I was eager to try a cuisine I don’t sample nearly enough.

There was a slight disappointment when there were only four specialty sushi rolls on the menu, but one of the them was pretty intriguing. The Spam musubi roll has seared Spam and pickled radish with an eel sauce. The pickled radish has some spice to it, but the sweetness of the eel sauce balances it out quite nicely.

Eel sauce is used on two other rolls, the volcano roll, which is a California roll topped with baked scallops, and the crunchy roll — shrimp tempura and imitation crab avocado.

Instead of those, I went with a couple of the eight appetizers the restaurant offers. The first was the yaki mandoo. This is similar to the Chinese pot stickers, though a little smaller and crunchier. The fried chicken dumplings have a nice flavor, and once the initial crunch occurs a soft flavorful inside awaits.

There is a sweet and spicy carrot sauce that is there for dipping, but the sauce is difficult to negotiate with the dumpling and really isn’t necessary. The appetizer stands on its own.

The Korean barbecue tacos are one of the more popular appetizers, and the three corn tortillas come filled with either bul go gi (marinated beef) or kal bi (marinated short ribs). I prefer the short ribs; they seemed to work better with the filling of cabbage, onion, Kimchi and salsa.

My favorite appetizer was the shrimps in a blanket. The tempura shrimp and asparagus spears were wrapped in an egg casing and then drizzled on top was a sweet soy sauce reduction.

The flavors of the shrimp and asparagus have long been known to intertwine well, but what I really enjoyed was the reduction sauce. It gave the dish a unique taste that I would make sure I ordered again.

The waitress, who was good at deciphering menu items, suggested one of the Korean barbecue skillets. There is a kal bi, bul go gi, marinated pork and a roasted garlic chicken.

My adventurous nature would only stretch so far, and I went with the chicken. The dish comes out hot and steamy, sizzling in a mini-iron skillet. Thumbnail pieces of garlic were all over the skillet and my anticipation of the dish grew even more as I could hardly wait for the steam to dissipate before I dug in to the meal.

The generous amounts of garlic were matched only by similar portions of onions and slices of shiitake mushrooms. The soy-butter glaze was mostly at the bottom, but once I figured that out and mixed the dish I was pleased.

This was a dish better shared or eaten by one’s self, since the garlic is pungent and anyone not partaking was going to be assaulted later. I happily munched away in solitude knowing there would be no victims.

The other entrees that are available are the barbecue combination boxes or the famous tofu stews.

If you are going to get rice and noodle dishes I would strongly suggest the omelette fried rice. There is a kimchi fried rice, but I’m not a fan of the pickled cabbage so I can’t recommend it.

I can heartily suggest Hashigo, however. It is a an eclectic little joint that makes Costa Mesa that much more culturally hip.

Hashigo Korean Kitchen

ADDRESS: 3033 Bristol St., Costa Mesa

PHONE: (714) 557-4911

WEBSITE: www.hashigorestaurants.com

CUISINE: Korean

SPECIALTY DISH: Korean barbecue skillets

ALCOHOL SERVED: Wine, beer, sake

ENTRÉE PRICE RANGE: $4.95 to $12.95

FAMILY FRIENDLY: No

CREDIT CARDS ACCEPTED: American Express, MasterCard and Visa

RATING: *** 1/2

JOHN REGER reviews local restaurants and may be contacted at Nolimepublishing@aol.com or P.O. Box 2984, Seal Beach, CA 90740.