True Blood Part 2: 8th Street Soondae

In my second Korean bloods sausage excursion I hit up 8th Street Soondae, alternatively titled, according to the menu, 8Ga Soon Dae, 8th Korean Sausage Restaurant and Korean Sweet Rice Blood 8th Sausage Restaurant; there is no English on the storefront, but it is in the corner of a strip mall on the north west corner of Hoover and 8th Street.

The menu is nearly identical to that of Western Soondae, which I reviewed last week. I again had the soon dae plate with sausage and "assort pork intestin." The dish was two dollars more expensive than Western ($11.99 vs. $9.99) but had a bit more of the pork stomach.

I definitely preferred the plate at Western Soondae. The sausage at 8th Street was nearly the same in flavor and appearance but was drier then the very moist Western sausage. I missed the moistness of the sausage innards and the soft but stretchy quality in the casing at Western, which made it taste freshly made. The sausage is also served with the same accompaniments used at Western: pork stomach, tongue and liver. The tongue, which I really enjoyed at Western Soondae was also much too dry at 8th street. The liver was equally dried out at both establishments and the stomach seemed fine at both.

Soondae is fairly bland so condiments are important. Both restaurants served salt with them as well as a fish sauce and chili condiment, but the sauce at Western was a bit more funky and had more character, making it a better foil to the strong offal flavors in the dish.

The winner of this soondae match was Western. Thanks to the Chowhounds who pointed me to the two contenders. Oh and there are a few others out there I will be trying, but for now, I'm going to take a break and let the iron content of my blood ease back down a bit.

8th Street Soondae
2703 W. 8th Street, #D
Los Angeles, CA 90005
(213) 487-0038