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This venue is closed.

The first you notice when you step into this old-school K-town joint is not the time-warp décor—sticky linoleum floors, beat-up wood tables—but the sweet, heady smell of smoke. Like a trusted dining pal, this aroma guides you to the best part of Woo Chon's menu: barbecue. Not that you'll go wrong elsewhere. Each of the half-dozen bibimbop options certainly hit the spot, as do the myriad innards-packed stews and spicy soups. Still, missing the grilled marinated meats would be like going to Gray's Papaya and just getting a juice. No sooner has your waiter flipped on the fire under your tabletop grill than he lays on it thin slices of beef, which, when they've become browned and impossibly tender, get stuffed into lettuce leaves, dabbed with salty fermented soybean paste, and crammed into happy mouths. By the end of the gorging, your copper grill is blackened with charred beef juices, your table is littered with empty plates, and your clothes reek of everything you've just devoured. — JJ Goode

Galbi (marinated prime rib), $25; sachul tang (spicy lamb soup with sesame), $18; kimchi jigae (kimchi and pork stew), $12