The Best Of B3 In A2

We can all agree on one thing: bi bim bop starts with a B. After that, everything's an option in both the spelling and configuration of Korea's signature dish.

Bi bim bop (alias B3) has taken Ann Arbor by storm. More than a dozen restaurants offer one or more versions of the rice bowl topped with vegetables and meat or tofu and anointed with a sunny-side up egg and lashings of incendiary sauce. The offerings are as varied as the menu spellings.

To make it, start with a large silver metal bowl, or better, a heavy stone bowl (dolsot bi bim bop.) Put in a good amount of rice. Add vegetables, bulgogi beef (marinated or sweet), chicken or tofu, top with a fried egg, sesame seed and julienne nori.

Stir and snarf.

In the best places, you'll also find a good selection of ban chan, delectable side dishes, or at least kim chee, devilishly hot pickled cabbage, as well as miso soup.

"The Korean letter B isn't voiced like the English B is. The sound is between B and P," says Jiyoung Lee, a Korean native and administrator for U-M's Center for Korean Studies. Sometimes they're used interchangeably when Korean is transliterated.

No matter how you spell it, it's addictive, especially the sauce, kochujang. One quickly progresses from "Ack!" to "Ahhhh" and from "I'll stop now and take the rest home" to the click of chopsticks in an empty bowl. Gochujang is composed of hot pepper, sweet rice powder, sugar and sesame oil. 

People who identify themselves as Koreans number 5,249 out of a total Washtenaw County population of  350,000, according to the 2007 US Census Bureau American Community Survey. That's 18% of the area's Asian population, but only 1.6% of the total county population.

So, why has Ann Arbor become ground zero for this simple Asian dish? Fast, cheap and healthier than a burger and fries seems to be the leading answer.  Any deeper than that and local fans and chefs are at a loss to explain its popularity. One thing is clear, however, you don't have to be Korean to love B3. The presence of three B3 restaurants near South U alone points to a wider fan base. Most Korean restaurants are, as you might expect, family-run - with attendant pluses and minuses of same.

It's the only dish in the Deuce with its own fan club, Ann Arbor Bi Bim Bap (A2B3). On Thursdays before noon, Ann Arbor tech types and others gather at Eastern Accents, the downtown Asian bakery and snackette, to swap stories and eat B3. Moderator Ed Vielmetti has been at it since 2005. He spells it "bap."

Vielmetti's favorite B3 spot was Steve's Lunch on South U – gone but not forgotten by legions of B3 fans. Steve's was ground zero for many B3 aficionados, starting in the 1980s. Some find the B3 at its replacement, Rich JC, just okay. Jiyoung Lee likes its generous quantities of vegetables, although she says it isn't authentic.

Another seminal spot was Kana, Ann Arbor's first Korean restaurant, located near U Hospital on East Huron Street.  It moved downtown and later morphed into Pacific Rim by Kana. Pacific Rim, however, recently jettisoned lunch service and along with it, bi bim bop, although diners may find a gussied-up version as a $25 dinner special. Usually B3 rings the register at $8 or so, a buck or two more if you get the stone bowl version.
 
What makes a great bowl of bi bim bop? Your reviewer prefers stone bowls, for the distinctive crispy rice crust that forms when the dish is baked. It's a dangerous preference. Heating the stone bowl sufficiently to create the crust makes eating it risky. You might touch the bowl – ouch. Not simply hot – blazing hot. Or you may singe your mouth on the contents – easily done when you're impatient to dig in.

What else? The rice itself. It should be freshly prepared in a perfect world. Sticky rice, medium or long-grain, is trad, say local experts. The sunny-side-up egg should not be scrambled unless you request it that way.

"Koreans usually have sticky rice. Other nations have more separate grains.  B3 wouldn't go with that type of rice. The best way to have the egg is with crispy skin on the bottom. It has to be fried in oil and it has to be runny," says Michael Yi, local real estate investor and Ann Arbor Spark's Korean cultural ambassador.

The vegetables should vary in color and texture – some cooked, others not. Platycodon, a ginseng relative, is an authentic, if chewy, addition. Usual suspects include shredded carrot, spinach, zucchini, cucumber and lettuce. Bean sprouts are often mung beans, but soy beans (larger and yellow) are authentic.

"Stir – don't nibble from each pile in turn. Mix it all together – that's how it's typically eaten," says Jiyoung Lee. "I've noticed some people here eat without mixing – I've never seen that in Korea. 99.99% of Koreans mix it up."

There is no single winner in the A2 bi bim bop sweepstakes. Many candidates have much to recommend them, but a few versions are sub-optimal. Below, a highly personal but not comprehensive round-up:
 
Arirang
3135 Oak Valley Drive (Outback/Godaiko shopping center)
734-222-5959

Best dining room - airy, immaculate, huge windows – and good service. The stone bowl bi bim bop is one of the best – screaming hot when delivered, its texture allows for easy access to the crisp rice nuggets.  Medium grain white rice, hot sauce not as sweet as some others with a good backburn, not overwhelming but a good scorching background vibe. Good ban chan including classic kim chee, sweet/sour vegetables, cold spicy tofu and more. Endless barley tea – and that, too, tastes better than other local examples. The egg could be better – nice soft yolk and obviously a jumbo but the edges were plastic. Heat rating: Three-to-four Kleenex.

Be Won
3574 Plymouth Road (In the Busch's strip center near US-23)
734-332-1004

Sincere service and an impressive array of ban chan, including seaweed salad and Korean pancakes. Choose sizzling-bowl B3 over regular. Purple-tinged brown rice crust is not as crisp as other venues, but it's easier to pry loose from the grip of the stone bowl. Best-looking B3. A perfect fried egg. Hot sauce sneaks up with a pleasantly warm after-burn. Civilized dining room in a strip mall store front. Heat rating: Three Kleenex.

Bell's Diner
2167 West Stadium Blvd.
734-995-0226   

Just passable. Scrambled egg strips and indifferent presentation outweigh pretty good hot sauce. Popular with many Ann Arborites. Heat rating: Three Kleenex.

The Coffee Break
1327 South University near Washtenaw
734-761-1327

A long-time Crump fave, it's fighting to keep preferred status in light of research for this story. Kim chee and bean sprout salad are minimalist ban chan. Quantity is not a criteria for goodness, but servings are generous. Good miso soup and your own hot sauce and sesame oil dispensers give the place an edge. A hole-in-the-wall, like so many of its brethren. Heat rating: Four Kleenex.

Eastern Accents
214 S. Fourth Ave
734-332-8782

Hot sauce is flavorful but not superhot. Ordinary rice. Lots of spinach, caramelized onions really set the mix apart. Silver bowl, no kim chee, no ban chan. The egg was a disaster – brown and plastic-y, the yolk barely qualified as soft. Downgrade for the egg, upgrade for the onions. Many Ann Arborites' fave B3 – including erstwhile Ann Arbor News restaurant reviewer Susan Isaacs Nisbett, who has an excellent palate. It's painful to disagree with so many aficionados. Heat rating: One Kleenex.

Maru
414 E. William St. at Thompson
734-761-1977

Delicious miso soup with soft tofu cubes. Best variety of vegetables, egg a little too crispy for me but a good runny yolk, plentiful ban chan, loads of crispy rice, excellent hot sauce, another new fave rave. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts, as with any excellent B3. Decor features pictures of dolls doing Korean cultural things, the wait staff is above average, the outdoor seating sub-optimal. Heat rating: Three Kleenex.

Rod's Diner
812 South State Street
734-769-5650

Notable for Rod's un-traditional but fantastic short-grain rice. Wish I could have sampled other B3s with this rice. Black sesame seeds another nice addition, but no ban chan, no kim chee, mildest hot sauce, miso soup in a foam bowl without tofu cubes. Points for funky Campus Corner ambience and frosty desserts. Heat rating: Half a Kleenex.

Seoul Garden
3125 Boardwalk
734-997-2121

A civilized dining room, lively lunch crowd. Dolsot or regular, the B3 is some of the best in town. It's a challenge to harvest the crisp rice from the sides of the stone bowl – sticks like glue. Plentiful ban chan including potato salad, hot sauce with real presence, good service, pleasing accoutrements (no foam soup bowls here.) Heat rating: Four Kleenex.

Teriyaki Time
314 Detroit St
734-929-2272

New and surprisingly agreeable, considering its compact site on busy Fifth Avenue. Includes a flower-filled patio across from the Farmers Market, once DeLong's BBQ and earlier yet, a gas station. Fresh bean sprouts, fresh spinach, outstanding hot sauce, medium grain rice, kim chee mixed in – in all, a delicious example of the breed and a new favorite despite the lack of rice crust in the stone bowl. No ban chan, Miso soup is OK, good barley tea. On Wednesdays, B3 is on special for $5.50 between 11am and 3 pm. Heat rating: Three Kleenex.

Other spots that served the three Bs but weren't sampled: Broadway Café and Jumbo Steak Hoagie, Panda , University Café and, of course, Kosmo Deli in Kerrytown.