Best Restaurants 2011: Dining Deals at Korean Tofu House

We highlight 15 affordable meals in this month’s Best Restaurants cover story. Here’s a peak at one of my favorite dishes in the section, a wonderfully authentic silken tofu stew from Korean Tofu House in the University District.

$13
Korean Tofu House
University District
True value: Not only do you get exceptionally generous portions, but every meal comes with side dishes. You will not leave hungry.
While most diehard kimchi-heads will claim that the only reliably good Korean restaurants are either to the north or south of Seattle, Korean Tofu House in the U District is a happy, and welcome, exception. Dinner options arrive with a fleet of expertly prepared banchan (side dishes)—chilled bean sprouts fragrant with the taste of sesame oil, neat wedges of savory chive and jalapeño pancake, marinated fish cake, kimchi and sweet, glazed potatoes—all free. For the main event, offerings such as spicy seafood soup with shrimp, oysters and clams, beef bone broth, house-made dumplings and more hover around the $8 range. All come bubbling hot, brought to your table by a server who’ll gladly crack an egg into the tofu soup.
What we ordered: Beef bone broth ($8.99) + soda ($1) + tax/tip = $13 per person

Hungry? Get the dish on 14 other true value meals.