Let me preface this post by saying that we love, love, love Hankook Taqueria and that we make our way there, often, when we’re looking for a quick bite on the West Side.  Heading to a matinee at the Fox on this Sunday, we decided to give chef Tomas Lee’s other restaurant, Takorea, a try.

We arrived shortly after they opened and were seated at a table in the bar area (off to the left from the front door, in the main photo above).  I believe there is also seating on the floor above, through steps to the right from the front door, as we saw several folks heading that way that came in after us.  To our left are the rolling patio doors that you see below.  I believe, on a less blustery day, that this entire area would be open.

We were in a bit of a hurry, as the show started at 1:00.  As we saw on arrival, they are “now serving brunch” on the weekends, so we looked through the menu quickly and were ready to place our order when the server returned with our drinks.  My beloved ordered her favorite dish from Hankook, the street tacos – one bulgogi and one chicken.

They were topped the same, with lettuce, green onion, green cabbage tossed in soy sesame vinaigrette and onions, cilantro, lime and jack cheese.  But there was a key difference here, in the tortillas.  Instead of the flour tortillas at Hankook, here they are made of blue corn.  It made a difference in the texture and the taste.  And they were a bit soggy.  I ordered from the brunch menu: shrimp and grits – which had a (disclosed) fried egg hiding underneath the grits.

I asked for the egg to be fried “well”, but that, apparently, got lost between the table and the kitchen.  The grits were fairly plain and the shrimp were very un-Korean, or -Mexican tasting.  It was a dish that could have come from the kitchen of most every brunch place in Atlanta.  I’ve eat at the Dunwoody Takorea on several occasions, and I’ve always enjoyed the food from there.  Maybe it was an off day, but I think, on this occasion, we would have been better off to stick with what we knew.