Follow the River North

Bit late on this one, but that’s okay, because Korea’s American BBQ Week 2016 actually spans two weeks, which means there’s still some time left.

Until September 11, 15 American-style barbecue restaurants in Korea (that’s right — it’s not just Seoul this time, although barely) will be offering a special American barbecue plate. The offer comes with a discount on the house brew and a mousepad featuring a drawing by webtoon artists Jo Gyeong-gyu, who specializes in food drawings.

Participating restaurants include:

• Linus Barbecue, in Itaewon
• Rusty’s Smokehouse, in Itaewon
• Rusty’s Rib House, in Hapjeong
• Locos BBQ, in Itaewon, Busan Centum City and Pangyo
• Manimal Smokehouse, in Itaewon (I’m not sure if the Power Plant location is participating or not)
• BBQooks, in Gangnam
• Burger B, in Hongdae, Myeongdong, Time Square, Coex, Gwanghwamun and Seosomun
• Sweet Oak, in Wonju
• Stereo Kitchen, in Seongnam
• Aboutjins, in Gwanghwamun
• Austin, in Hongdae and Gangnam
• All That Meat, in Gangnam
• Kinders, in Itaewon

There are a couple of other places listed (Smokehouse and Picnic, in case you’re curious), but I cannot find a single thing about them, including location, in either English or Korean (possibly because of the very generic names), so we’ll leave it at this for now.

I actually didn’t realize there were so many American barbecue places in Seoul, so maybe this week would be a good time to try out a new one. I know we all love our Linus and Manimal, and American barbecue is a particularly territorial art (I’m from Texas — I know), but you never know. Maybe one of the lesser known places on this list could hit that smoky, meaty craving right in the nose without an hour-long wait at the door.

As per usual, this restaurant week promotion is poorly advertised and lacking in any official detailed information, so I can’t tell you what the American barbecue plate is or how much it costs.