Mirak 미락

🇰🇷 SOUTH KOREA / FREE FRIDAY FAVORITES: Tucked away off Western Avenue south of Koreatown, the siren songs of black goat stew are calling.

🇰🇷 SOUTH KOREA
📍 1134 S. Western Avenue,
Harvard Heights, Central Los Angeles
🅿️ Small plaza parking
🥤 Beer, soju, makgeolli

📸 All photos by Jared Cohee
for Eat the World Los Angeles

FREE FRIDAY FAVORITES is a series of articles that revisit choice restaurants featured on eattheworldla.com over the years. These will never be behind the paywall, but will update information as necessary and always be about meals that are worth returning for again.
📆 Original Article 10 November 2022

It happens to everyone around this time. The temperatures dip close to Celsius single digits, there may be a spit of rain or even a real downpour. Hoodies are out, and soup cravings are inevitable. You can always rely on Koreatown and similar Korean neighborhoods throughout the Southland to best satisfy these insatiable demands for soups and stews. They serve them year round, but in winter you are most likely to find that red "busier than usual" marker on Google Maps when you look up the address.

On a recent rainy evening, the siren song delivered by Korean black goats was calling from Western Avenue just south of the K-town border, tucked into the back corner of a small plaza. With only Hangul characters lit up on a yellow sign between an insurance agency and a nail salon, those that can read Korean will see the three characters that translate to black goat: 흑염소.

Inside the restaurant, the familiar smell of goat meat floats everywhere, mixed with the spices and herbs bubbling in pots on every table. The reason to come here, and what is creating all that tantalizing aroma, is the black goat meat stew ($52.88, above), known as heugyeomso-jeongol (흑염소전골) and the first item on the menu. It is meant for two people, but could certainly be shared by three or even four if you want to order another preparation of goat or veer towards pork belly, mackerel, duck loin or more for “side” dishes.

But at least for your first visit, do not worry about anything but that black goat meat stew. Like most Korean meals, it arrives with a full complement of banchan to nibble on before and during your meal, as well as a special dipping mix (below) heavy on chili and spicy mustard. If you do not do it immediately, the staff will encourage you to mix this up very well before starting.

When the large pot arrives, a luscious green mountain made mostly of perilla leaves and scallions cover the orange-red stew underneath. All of the greenery is mixed down into the stew and the flame is set to high so that the pot starts to boil quite quickly. When this is eventually turned down by staff you will know it is time to eat and can start scooping portions into your personal bowl while the pot stays very hot.

The meat itself is not what makes these goats black, that of course is the hair that used to cover their bodies. These goats are native to the Korean peninsula and prized for their nutritional properties and health benefits. Women who are pregnant or have recently given birth and older folks that are recovering from surgery are said to benefit most from eating black goat. And as usual, men enjoy eating it for its other benefits.

That of course will not affect you while at the restaurant, they tend to leave the door open for ventilation and it stays chilly. Besides the lovely food, this might be the way Mirak seems most like tucking into a small family-run barbecue or stew restaurant in Seoul during colder months, where you never end up taking off your coats and everyone at the table shifts as close to the bubbling pot as possible.

Heugyeomso-jeongol can be dialed up to the spice level you desire, but does not need to be spicy to taste right. Even if you ask for it mild, the taste of each bite is an explosion of herbs and spice, it has never felt more healthy to eat large chunks of meat. Sipping on the broth fresh from the pot is an ultimate warming experience, but do not be afraid to come here during warmer months either as the stew is just as tasty.

As you start slowing down and the contents of your pot get lower, the staff will check in to see if you are ready for the next course. If you have been here before, you might have been looking forward to this ending the whole time, as it rivals the main event. The meats and greens (if there are any left) are placed in a bowl and put on the side, and a layer of rice is patted down tight into the pot to soak up the juices left at the bottom (below).

Let the pot sizzle and wait for someone to come back and start mixing everything together, as this is when the rice gets its most enticing. The kimchi and seaweed are perfect tastes for the final product, but it is the goat stew soaking in that actually makes this worth the price of admission, especially when the red-stained rice starts to get crispy on the bottom of the pot.

The fried rice course is also perfect for packing up and taking home leftovers if you cannot eat it all, which will most likely be the case. The restaurant will pack it all up for you, and do not forget to scrape in some of that dipping sauce as it goes well with everything. Fried rice is very accepting of the various banchan as well, and nothing should be left behind.

If there are more than two people in your group, it makes sense to get some other entrees to share, starting with the boiled black goat rib 흑염소 갈비수육 ($31.97, below). After the meat is scissored into bite-size pieces, it allows you to really savor the flavor of the meat on its own.

In addition to a few other options for black goat on the first page, there are also other meats that can round out your meal. Double-portion platters of pork belly and duck loin can also be cooked at the table, or kitchen-prepared dishes like grilled mackerel in soy bean paste stew and spicy pan-fried pork all work as complements.

While you may expect a sweet and spicy experience like tteokbokki when the stir-fried squid strips w/ hot spicy sauce 오징어볶음 ($24.99, below) hit the table, the dish is actually deeply smoky. The intensity of this flavor is a great addition to the goat-centered meal and pairs perfectly with their white rice.

There are many places in Koreatown and surrounding streets that make you feel like you are in one of Korea’s large cities, but this corner of a plaza just south in Harvard Heights goes one step further during colder months. In Los Angeles we may not reach winter chill levels like those in Seoul, but temperatures obviously work on a different scale here.

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