Phoenix Dining And Lounge in Santa Clara closed for renovations and reopened as O Mok Jo Mok (anyone knows what that means?), with an izakaya-style small plate menu that goes with the sojus. We were there early just for the food (and the Winter Olympics). Conclusion: grilled/ griddled food and sauce were great. Promising menu.
Chicken skewer- all thigh. Very juicy. Very tender. Well marinated.
River clam soup: the clam juices/ soup tastes a bit like water with a metallic tone, and wasn’t sweet. Came bubbling. It was alright.
Seafood pancake was done very well. Just enough flour and griddled to just the right texture. The accompanying vinegary soy sauce was tasty. People always seemed to give the seafood pancake from Jang Su Jang high marks but I’ve always found that middling, and this rendition was superior.
Grilled mackarel pike. Same with the chicken- grilled just right. A tad on the salty side but should go well with soju.
Kimchi fried rice. A little bit of kick from the kimchi with a cheesy undertone. But was told it was cooked with butter. It was done very well.
Tteokbokki/ spicy rice cake. Dependent on whether one likes the pungent gochujang. Generally not my thing. But that’s my issue, not the dish’s.
Jarn chi guk su: Thin wheat noodle in a clear broth with a bunch of veggies thrown in and tasted laid back and sleepy by itself. The yangnyeomjang, a spicy sauce with soy sauce as the base plus a little sesame oil and red pepper flakes, was great. Forgot to grab the sauce to go.
Grilled beef. Not bad. But not grilled as tender as the chicken.
Got comped this egg cake which was eggs with a little of carrot inside. A bit like a tamago. Pretty tender texture. Nice.
Overall, quite happy with the meal. Food was quite promising. Would go back some time and try more of the grilled/ griddled food items. They have silkworms but not sure if I have the desire/ courage to try that yet unless I got some alcohol in me. The three fishes are actually different fishes and the server showed me pics of each of them on his phone.
Menu:
