I finally got to Bibille, a Korean Fusion “fast casual” place in Tarrytown on Thursday (they’re right across the street from the Music Hall). I had read about it several months ago, but never got there, and oddly it was never discussed on CH. Anyway, it was great. The reviews I’ve read on Yelp describe it as a Korean Chipotle, and I guess that fits. The main thing they offer is a fast food version of bibimbap. You get your choice of 3 rices or lettuce (I had the purple rice), your choice of meat/tofu/shitake mushrooms (I went with the mushrooms), any or all of 7 toppings - bean sprouts, cucumber, carrot, beets, omelet shreds, lettuce, red cabbage (I had all of them), then your choice of sauce (I had a combination of the Korean hot sauce and the house sauce). Then they add sesame oil and seeds. They charge $9.99 and it was enough for 2 meals. It’s served in a big cardboard bowl which travels well. The food was delicious, even the following day at room temperature. It’s not authentic bibimbap since the rice isn’t crispy and the egg is cooked, but I really enjoyed it.
They’re apparently also doing udon now, and I think wraps (and the paper menu said something about sushi rolls), but it seemed like everyone was getting the bibimbap bowl.
And a bonus, all 3 of the employees I spoke to were incredibly friendly and appreciative of my business. When I asked to get some extra sauce in the bowl before I packed up the leftovers, I was given a large container of sauce, and he put rubber bands around the bowl/cover to keep it closed (and put the sauce underneath to hold it in place). Not a big deal, but I thought it was really nice. They also do bubble tea and smoothies for $4.99 but I didn’t get one.
I didn’t take a picture of the menu but there’s a good one on Yelp (which I hope I won’t get into trouble for linking here). Here’s a picture of my meal.
Looks good. Thanks for the photo and link. I also read about this place but haven’t gotten there yet. Is this hot food (temperature, not spice) or more like a salad? Can you order 2 proteins instead of one? And most important, how is parking there? A lot of good restaurants in that 2 block area.
The rice and mushrooms were warm but the other ingredients were not. When I ate the leftovers the following day, I had refrigerated it but left it out for a couple of hours and ate at room temperature since I didn’t think the vegetables would have been great if I microwaved them.
You can order 2 proteins but the Yelp reviews seem to indicate that there is an extra charge. The menu didn’t say how much it was.
As for parking, it’s never fun in Tarrytown. I was there around 1pm on a Thursday and coming from the south on Route 9. I made a left a block before Main Street expecting to pull into a municipal lot, but instead found a free spot on the street right next to the metered lot. I’d actually been planning to get the food to go, but once I had a free spot I decided to stay.
I just had to check, yes, that was the location. BTW I had not read this previously, but the woman (Jill Rose) who owned Chiboust passed away last November. I knew she had been very sick, which was why she closed the restaurant.
Yes, it was very sad. She fought quite a fight. She was a very talented pastry chef and chef and I always enjoyed going to Chiboust. Jill would usually come and sit with us and chat for a bit. I miss her.
So I finally got back to Bibille last week and was disappointed to find that they’d raised their price by a dollar to $10.99. The food was still good, and while I thought portion was not as large as last time, looking at the photo I posted the first time it seemed about the same. I tried a taste of the chicken and tofu (before deciding on the shitake mushrooms again) and both were rather bland. I think the spicy pork seem to be what most Yelp reviews talk about, but I don’t eat that.
