L30: Playground

Playground
1705 Buchanan St
(between Post St & Sutter St)
San Francisco, CA 94115

If you can ignore the Korean pop blasting in this bar, eating/drinking in almost darkness (you're lit by Xmas lights and a neon sign), and the sound of karaoke drifting up from below, Playground is one of the few (if not only) places you can get Korean bar food in San Francisco. Oh, how I miss Sur Si Rang and Koko House! We ordered a big bottle of Hite, fried chicken (yum!), rice/noodle stuffed sausages (a little bland), and potato croquettes (can't go wrong with tonkatsu sauce!). We also got pan chan, whereas most Korean bars that I've been to start you with peanuts or shrimp chips. They also sent out this canned corn and cheese thing that I've had at another establishment but can't remember right now. It was quite tasty, and I must say that in the last two days, J has eaten more cheese than I've ever seen him eat in his entire lifetime...without dying. Thank you, Lactaid!

Because this is the only Korean bar I know of that still exists in SF, I will definitely come back. However, I wish it served fried chicken gizzards (like at Sur Si Rang aka Red Monster) and oven-roasted chicken that you eat with salt & daikon (like at Koko House on Telegraph Ave. back in college).