One of LA’s Favorite Korean Barbecue Restaurants Opens its First PNW Location in Lynnwood

Baekjeong Korean Barbecue, a restaurant that’s been hailed as Los Angeles’ best KBBQ chain, opened its first West Coast location outside of Southern California in Lynnwood’s Alderwood Mall on September 19. The restaurant, the chain’s eighth, was originally planned to open in July, but the opening was delayed substantially.

Each metal-topped table at Baekjeong’s Lynnwood location is outfitted with its own overhead hood, which funnels the meat fumes up to the high ceiling above then out of the restaurant. Most of the airy, modern space looks like it just as easily be located in LA, or Seoul, as in the outskirts of Seattle.

Baekjeong Korean Barbecue

Baekjeong Korean Barbecue

While Baekjeong doesn’t offer the expensive luxury meats (like A5 Japanese wagyu) that some other KBBQ restaurants in the area, like Capitol Hill’s Meet Korean Barbecue, specialize in, all the meat at the Baekjeong is USDA Prime or better. Options include whole boneless ribeye steaks, boneless short ribs, thin-sliced pork belly, outside skirt steak, thin-sliced brisket, and pork jowl. Baekjeong also serves organ meats like beef mountain tripe, beef large intestine, and beef abomasum, sometimes served marinated a couple of different ways.

The restaurant chain was originally started in 2003 by a Korean professional-wrestler-turned reality-show-star, then was brought to Los Angeles in 2012 by Michael Chon and the Kijung Hospitality Group, where it gained a loyal following. It was listed among revered Los Angeles food writer Jonathan Gold’s 101 Best Restaurant list for the Los Angeles Times in 2015. The chain is now in a period of growth on the West Coast, with a ninth location opening in San Jose this fall.

Baekjeong Korean Barbecue

Baekjeong Korean Barbecue

Though Baekjeong’s main focus is Korean barbecue, cooked by diners at their tables, the restaurant is also serving some ready-to-eat lunch and dinner options. Dinner dishes include various hot and cold noodle bowls, mixed seafood soondubu stew, beef brisket and tofu stew, mountain tripe fried rice, stir-fried squid with noodles, and a few types of bibimbap.

The lunch menu includes some more surprising options, with a grilled cheese sandwich stuffed with beef bulgogi, what looks like a straight-up cheeseburger, and bento-style boxes with rice and a few side dishes.

Baekjeong Korean Barbecue

Baekjeong Korean Barbecue is located at 3000 184th Street Southwest, Suite 922, in Lynnwood’s Alderwood Mall. It’s open 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 11:30 a.m. to midnight Friday, 11 a.m. to midnight Saturday, and 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday.