Opening a KOREAN BBQ RESTAURANT in HOUSTON UPDATE & ULTIMATE Korean Seafood Noodles + WAGYU BRISKET

Good morning, leaving Houston today, going back to Dallas. But before we do, so you guys know I've been working on a couple restaurant projects. One is a ramen shop in New York City. This thing has been delayed time and time again, but finally, I think we're about to open, I think in September. And that's why I gotta go back to New York at some point and check it out. And the one in Houston is moving faster than expected. So I think they said it may be open in October, but we're gonna go check it out today. I'm gonna check out the progress, how things are going, talk to the chef a little bit. But before that, I gotta eat something. There's the restaurant. Oh, oh yeah. A lot of red chairs here. So this habit's not ours. This is Rousseau's New York Pizzeria. We're getting New York pizza next door. How are you doing, buddy? It's Jason, he's one of the partners here. Dude, we made a lot of progress. Yes, sir. When do you think we're gonna be done? It would be ideal if we could be open for business by September. By September? Oh, I was thinking even October, really? So this is the bar area. Every single one of these is where our table will be. There's 39 of them. It's gonna be sectioned off. We have some private rooms for our chefs. Oh, do we? Really? So that's what this elevated floor will be. Oh. Up here, there's gonna be staircase up here. Oh, okay. So this is all private rooms. You come this way, that's another private room. This is gonna be a private room with like a... Oh, okay, okay. Nice. More tables here. This is the outdoor area. What's up, buddy? What's up? He's the head chef here. Hello. So you've been here for like the last, what, four months? Yeah, six months, actually. Did you get us our beef? No. Oh, yeah, I saw it on here. What did you do with our beef? So I saw the outdoor area, Jason. That's awesome. Yeah, so we got that. Look right here. Yeah. That's gonna be the dry age room. Oh. Are people able to walk up and look at it? They are, right? Okay, great. Oh, this is the hallway to the restrooms, basically. Okay. So we got individual stalls, this one. Whoa, this gentleman's on stilts. So this one does well. We're thinking Dallas, right? Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, just all the major markets in Texas. I think this is really exciting. So I'm starting off the highway that says something about peach ice cream. I want a peach ice cream. So apparently it's at this thing called Cooper Farms. Oh, this is like a whole country store deal. Let's see. Yeah, I'll take the ice cream. Can I get a craft soda fountain thing, too? Do I just bring that over here? Oh, this is so many choices. Strawberry cream soda, red cola, Texas root beer. I'll do a coconut cream soda. This is the size of a large peach ice cream. Large peach. Tex, this is the biggest ice cream I've ever held in my hand. I was thinking large would be maybe like that. This is ginormous. This is delicious. Oh yeah, this is fresh peach ice cream. This thing tastes like that thing. Not a wall, like an orchard. It tastes like a fresh peach orchard. Creamy and refreshing. That is so good. Oh, that was worth it. I've seen this sign like twice. And the last couple of times I just saw it at night so I couldn't come here. How good is this ice cream? If you're driving from Dallas to Houston or vice versa, come get that. People are really nice, too. I think this giant thing of ice cream was like $5. Now, if you've ever been to like an ice cream shop, you know like two scoops is like $5, $6. Well, the coconut cream soda is so good, too. There it is, Cooper Farms. Good place. Definitely gonna be overloaded on sugar today. It went from no rain to this in like a matter of minutes. I feel like I've been just driving through little thunderstorm systems on my way to Dallas. This is the biggest one. Good morning. Got back last night and pretty much collapsed right away. Bright and early this morning. I'm going to a place that a friend of mine recommended. He says this is his favorite barbecue place in Texas because not only do they smoke a brisket, they smoke a wagyu brisket. That's why bright and early, it's about 9.30 right now. Heading to Fort Worth. It's like a 40 minute, it's really far. If this was just a regular brisket, I wouldn't drive this far for it. Actually, yeah, I wouldn't. Okay, so looks like American wagyu, that's what they're using here. Ooh, feasts five to seven people. Pound of brisket, have a pound of sausage. You have the wagyu brisket? Yeah, I'll do a half pound of that. Can I do like a two meat plate? Sausage, wagyu brisket, and wagyu burn-in. Mac and cheese, okay. You know what, I'll take the cheesy grits. All right, so this is the meat plate. It's definitely the least amount of barbecue I've ever ordered in Texas. Usually I'm walking out with like a massive plate for five or six for one. I might need to go somewhere else after this. Got the brisket, got the burnt ends, which look very candy. Chipotle mac and cheese, I got some bacon and grits, some of their sausage, and this is all wagyu. So you can see. And the brisket, they told me they smoke it for about 12 hours, it's, ooh, wow, that thing is just all ready to fall apart. And this is not a fatty part of the brisket. This looks like the lean part of the brisket, but I've never seen lean brisket so readily fall apart before. Look at that, ugh. I'm a little confused by that bite. Usually, and you guys know this if you've been watching my videos, every place I go, when I bite into the lean part of a brisket, it's never been good. It's been dry and tough. This is 100% the most tender of all the lean briskets I've had. Usually these parts, for me, like when I was at Pecan Lodge, it's pretty much not edible. So dry and tough. This is ridiculously tender. And then the outside, the crusted edge side, this is where the magic happens. This is doing exactly what a wagyu beef should do. Go into your mouth and just disappear. What I don't really like about this is, not a lot of flavor. You see me dipping the brisket into the barbecue sauce? I feel like it needs more salt. Also, you don't get the huge taste of smoke that you will get at a lot of other places. There's a little bit of it, but not a lot. Mac and cheese is amazing. Nice chew with the noodles, super cheesy with a little bit of crunch on top. All right, this is the burnt end. So you do see this big old smoke ring on this. And you do see that this thing is candied. The lean parts, just like the brisket, breaks off super easily. I really like that. Not overly sweet, which I appreciate. This thing's flavor is much smokier. And also, this sauce, this is their house-made sauce. 100% actually the sauce. That thing is a tender. This reminds me, and I mean this in the best way possible, of a Slim Jim. That the spices in the sausage reminds me of a Slim Jim. Also the chew, too. This thing definitely has a nice chew to it. Overall, tenderness, I feel like, is the best characteristic of this barbecue. Even the most lean parts of the wagyu, so gentle. I'm done with my barbecue breakfast. Still hungry, so let's go eat some more stuff. Also, still can't get over the fact that this place is open at 7 a.m. and ready to just serve you whatever cuts of meat you're looking for. That is so amazing. You know how many times I wake up at like six, seven in the morning, wanting a nice juicy burger, or a steak, or just a nice slab of meat that's not bacon? I love Texas. Wow, hey, there's a Mitsuwa here. So this little cool little plaza by my house has got a revolving sushi bar. That's a good show, by the way. Ah, this place. This is what I want to try. Korean noodles, katsu, kuk, katsu? Korean noodles. And I'm especially attracted to this. Don't that look pretty? Also, look at this spicy beef. Kalkatsu looks good, too. Ooh, that looks good, too. Dried noodles? Oh, that looks even better. Might be staying here a while. All right, let's get those pretty looking dishes. King Rib Jump Ball, Jump Con. Beef katsu is their two most famous dishes. Mahogany Sander. Anybody ever use Sander before? If you didn't know, the reason why they use bronze in Asian Korea is so that they can detect poison. So only super important people got to use this. I ordered a lot. Yeah. Are we good? You think it's a lot? I don't know. You think I can eat it all? I think so. I can try? Yeah. So this is the stir-fry noodles. They put some cheese on top. There's slices of beef, zucchini, it looks like, scallions and onions. And they make all their noodles fresh in-house. I ordered a bunch, so I gotta start eating. Oh! Oh my gosh. The bell of the ball has appeared. Okay, I'm gonna have to get to work today. Legendary. Wow. One bite. You know they make it here and it's fresh. So chewy and elastic-y. Sauce clings to the noodles perfectly. Great flavor of spices. Not the typical gochujang spice you would expect in a lot of Korean dishes. And you can taste the wok heat on the noodles. Fatty beef is amazing. Melts in your mouth. Oh, this is a delicious bowl of noodles. Wow. I can't believe I never found this place before. 100%. 100% must try. Let me try the soup version of it. It's really, really, really hot. This is the soup version. Again, fatty beef. I think it's the same ingredients as the dry stir-fry noodles, but this time in some kind of broth. Oh, broth is thick. Oh, this is so good. How could I not have found this place before? People of Dallas, you gotta come here and try this. It's thick, that fermented bean flavor. Delicious, but not overpowering. So you're not getting too much of the funk. Noodles are sublime. I still like the stir-fry one better because the noodle tastes better with that sauce covering it. But this broth is amazing. Oh, this is so good. Oh my gosh, look at this. Bell of the freaking ball. Mound of sprouts. And it's a seafood giant with mussels and cabbage. And oh, there's noodles on the bottom of this too. Oh my goodness. The ribs, look at this. Giant beef rib soaked in this amazing spicy broth. Oh yes. This broth flavor is different than the last one. This one's pure seafood and heat. That's delicious. How did I move to Dallas for so long and not try this place? Wanna, here, bay, prawn in some of this. And you can take this meat off, even with a spoon. You see that? Oh, it's too good. It's too good. The problem with the noodles in the soup is that you have a time limit. You gotta eat it before it makes the noodles soggy. And it especially doesn't work in my favor when I'm trying to film a food show on top of that. But this is just out of this world. I can't believe how tender these ribs are. You see? Look at this. I'm basically finished with all the noodles. Wow, I'm eating up a sweat. Stir-fried noodles, definitely my favorite. And what I really like about this place, and what's really impressive, they came over and asked for feedback. I told them that the beef ribs, flavors are really good, but it's a little tough. So right away, they took a piece back and they're gonna try to figure out how to make it better. And probably next time I come back, I think it's gonna be as tender as that Elvis song. You know, the one about tender stuff and loving tender stuff. I'm pretty sure he was talking about beef ribs. All right, my belly's full. I'm ready to go. Ready to go here. Wait, that's not the place. Oops. Ready to go to Boba Republic, get a tea. Believe it or not, I'm on my way to a brownie shop. But apparently this is like the best brownies in like anywhere. I mean, I love brownies. I don't eat it a lot because again, this whole like Asians don't like things that are too sweet, but I love a brownie. It's called Da Bomb Brownie. Da Bomb. Da Bomb Brownies. This is, oh, I see it open. Sorry. Look at that. Hi. Can I buy brownies here? Yep. Great. Well, I'll bring a tray out so you can take a look. Okay. In a minute. Interesting. The most popular ones are Snickers, just like the candy bar. Do it, I'll do that. Okay. Popsicot Pie, if you like the nuts. I'll do that. My favorite's the red velvet. I'll do that. Favorite. Yeah. I'll do a turtle too. Turtle? Yeah. I think it would have been cooler if he just came out with a trench coat. He's like, here's some brownies. I got some brownies right here. Cause you don't expect to drive into a neighborhood like this and buy anything to eat. So that probably would be, you know, a lot more fitting with the cladiston feel of this whole thing. All right. Thanks Earl. Oh, look at that smiley face there. One more stop before pretty much done for today. I bought some food to take home for tonight because I kind of want to just go home and not come back out again. I've been wanting to try this place called Uncle Uber and it's going to take me like 30 minutes to get home. So I kind of want to try a bite of this now before it gets cold. So I think this is Cajun fries or something. That's pretty disappointing. Fries are super soggy. Oh, this is a hefty burger though. Oh my goodness. Close to a pound of burger. Even though it's two quarter pound patties, these feel way bigger than quarter pound patties. This is so cool. I think these are Tetris shaped tater tots. Look at, there's the L, there's a little Z thingy. Yeah, Tetris shaped tater tots. That's so cool. Pringle's okay. I feel like it was a little dry. Tater tots, definitely way better than the french fries. This is the cheese stick. Look at this baby. I don't even know how to pick this up without hurting my arm. That's a hefty cheese stick. That's what you should be getting here. This cheese stick, it's got jalapeno ranch, so it's creamy and spicy. And the stick itself, so unbelievably tender. I added grilled jalapenos and habanero ranch. So you get the heat, you get that nice creaminess of the ranch. Get that with a side of tater tots. You know what might make this even better? Make sure to keep this in my camera bag now. Mix hot oil. Add a little bit to the cheese stick. Just go ahead and dip a tater tot in there. I promise, I'm not just saying this. Hot oil on cheese stick, please try that. Wow. Oh, the numbing peppercorn of this shines even more when it's put on something like this. That is so ridiculously good. I can't eat this all. This is supposed to be my dinner. I'm supposed to like save this. So I don't have to come out of the apartment later. And I got a salad. So I'm all prepped to kind of hibernate, watch a little TV and just not come out into the Texas sun. But seriously, try this. If you're eating cheesesteak or a burger or anything, I think this will make the burger much better. Anyway, if you want to pick it up, mikeshotoil.com, I'll put a link down below for you. We worked so hard on this. This tastes amazing. Oh, so before I go back, the bomb brownie. Let's try one of these. Snickers brownie. This is hefty. A lot of substance in here. Hmm, this is horrible. I can't believe I bought this. You guys know my name is Mike Chen. Now these things are going to have to make me introduce you to eventually double Chen. Okay, it's going to happen because I'm probably going to eat these in the next hour. Oh, I can't believe I bought these. I won't even be an hour. Like as soon as I get home, put on a pot of tea, these four is going to be gone. Like one, one would have been good. Like I would have just ate it. No more to tempt me unless I drive all the way over there again. But now I got four. I know I have no self-control. What was I even thinking? With that said, if you're not into stuff that's too sweet, brownies in general are not for you, but that's some amazing brownie. That's so good. Those different layers, just all doing their own individual thing. That's really good. Tastes almost like fudge. So yeah, next time you see me, it'll be Mike Chen and double Chen. All right, anyway, time to go home, hit the gym and make myself feel somewhat healthy and then, you know, finish a burger and a cheesesteak sandwich. As always, all the places I went to listed down below for you guys. Thank you all so much for watching. Until we eat again, see you later.