243 Elm Street (Somerville)
Our first BCC meeting where minutes were officially kept. We should begin by indicating the choice of Meju was predominantly related to its proximity to the Somerville Theater where the BCC was venturing apres eats to view Straight Outta Compton (yes, it’s good).
Meju (formerly Mickey Ds for all you Davis Square folk) was fairly empty when we arrived at 6:45 pm (yes, cutting it close to our 8 pm showtime), and the host’s exuberance as he sat us made us think we might be the first and only customers. But that (reassuringly) wasn’t the case, and by the time we were finishing our meals, the entire cool interior was packed.
This place has a good selection of cocktails (kind of a requirement in any Boston eatery these days), and the Citron Gin Sparkler was quite tasty. The Thai Basil Gimlet was a little herby, and some of us thought it tasted more like an appetizer than a drink.
We got our Korean food on, sharing the spicy pork bulgogi buns, beef galbi short ribs buns, and the shrimp steamed dumplings. The buns were all you’d want to imagine them to be–the short rib version, in particular, garnered praise from our table. We might skip the dumplings next time. Bibimbap (tofu and beef) was a hit, and the Mandoo soup is certainly something I’d go back for–plus, they ask you how you want it (love it when they do that!) Go ahead and fire it up. We found the heat the perfect level of excitation (a mild flush to the cheeks versus dripping with sweat).
The mushroom jabchae is perhaps the biggest loser on this night. We won’t go into detail as regards this denunciation.
Our waitress was friendly and attentive, as were the backwaiters and bussers. The only irritation came when we wanted more drinks…and were left wanting for quite some time. When they finally came we had to pound them to get to our movie. None of us shy away from that but we would have, on this occasion, preferred a gentler goodnight.
The Boston Cocktail Club 