Over a decade ago, former Westword food editor Mark Antonation began his food-writing career by eating his way up Federal Boulevard. Now, we’re turning our attention to another vibrant culinary corridor.
The four-plus-mile stretch of Havana Street between Dartmouth and Sixth Avenue in Aurora is home to the most diverse array of international cuisine available in the metro area. From restaurants and markets to take-and-go shops and stands, food lovers of nearly any ethnicity or interest can find a place that will remind them of home or open new culinary doors. In Eat Up Havana, Antony Bruno will visit them all, one by one, week by week.
Previous stops:
- Old Town Hot Pot
- Leezakaya
- Chutney Indian Cuisine
- El Tequileno
- Milkroll
- Shin Myung Gwan Korean BBQ
- Watan Restaurant & Bakery
- Las Fajitas
- Mr. Tang
- Nana’s Dim Sum & Dumplings
- Yemen Grill
Next up: Tofu House
While named after a style of tofu, this Korean BBQ restaurant remains a carnivore-heavy experience, and that’s not a bad thing.
For a restaurant billed as Tofu House, there is an awful lot of meat on the menu here: pork belly, pork shoulder, pork cutlet, beef short ribs (galbi), sliced beef (bulgogi), wagyu beef and beef loin, as well as fish, shrimp and other seafood all appear as options in multiple variations of combos and choices.
Clearly, this is not a vegetarian restaurant.
All the meaty ingredients are hallmarks of Korean BBQ, a festival of carnivorous umami flavors blended with just the right balance of sweet, bitter, spicy and fermented accompaniments that have made the cuisine such a popular staple. If you’re a fan of this cuisine, or just curious to try it, you’ll likely not walk away disappointed.
The Meat
For the newcomer, the menu can feel a little confusing and intimidating, with so many options made more overwhelming with the addition of multiple photos, fonts and font sizes, dishes with both numbered and lettered shortcuts, descriptions written in both Korean hangul and English, and just a lot of… stuff to wade through.
But focusing on the combo options (always the best bet for a first-timer) reveals a pretty standard formula: choice of meat, tofu stew, rice, fried fish and side dishes (banchan). Some are designed for single diners, others for a couple, and the price is the first thing that sets the two apart.
Unlike other Korean BBQ places, there are no built-in grills at the table here. Most of the dishes come out fully cooked (there is an option for a larger-group cook-your-own-meat style of preparation, however). The dishes come out to your table on a rolling cart along with the banchan, and the additional combo items, mostly notably the stone pot rice and tofu soup.
The Heat
The rice is cooked in a heated stone pot, hence the name “stone pot rice.” While some such pots feature a metal exterior, all will be lined with stone on the inside. This stone retains quite a bit of heat, which creates a crispy layer of crunchy rice on the exterior of the otherwise fluffy steamed interior, making for a delightful contrast of textures.
Add the bits of BBQ meat, banchan and even the tofu soup if you like to the rice bowl as you’re eating, and you’ve got yourself a pleasant little experience going. The rice keeps all the food warm, absorbs the various flavors, and just makes it easier to deal with the multiple dishes spread around the table when you’re compiling your personal bowl.
About that tofu: It’s going to be hard to walk out of a place called Tofu House without a little tofu in your meal, which in the combos takes the form of a spicy tofu soup. Relax, it’s not that spicy. But it is hot, as in temperature hot.
As if to make sure you realize just how hot this soup is, it comes out at a literal boil, with bubbles and steam and sizzling to warn all your senses that this is a molten bowl of flesh-searing liquid that you may want to let settle down a bit before trying.
The History
Officially, the restaurant’s name is Sokongdong Tofu House 1962, with the date referring not to how long the establishment has been around (this location opened in 2014) but to the founding of the Sokongdong franchise.
Details are a bit hard to come by, but based on the storyboards at the entrance, Sokongdong Tofu House began in the neighborhood of the same name in Seoul Korea in 1962 with the development of what’s called Sokongdong tofu: the soft, non-pressed type used nearly exclusively across the menu that’s perfect for the many soup preparations. Outside of the standard tofu soup served with the combo meals, there are a dozen other options if tofu soup is more your speed. But again, nearly all include meat.
The Sokongdong Tofu House franchise has since spread worldwide. You can find Sokongdong (or Sogongdong) Tofu Houses in Georgia, New Jersey, Oregon, Texas, Los Angeles and other states. But it doesn’t seem, or feel, like a typical “chain.” A quick look at the other locations shows that they have different menus, dishes and presumably owners.
Thankfully, we have our own Tofu House in Aurora, and for that, we can celebrate both the tofu and the meats that come with it.
Tofu House is located at 2353 South Havana Street Unit D1 in Aurora; it’s open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, closed Mondays. For more information, visit tofuhouse1962co.com.