Carrollton has a new specialty Korean barbecue place to try for anyone who’s ever wanted to eat like the members of the popular and influential boy band BTS. Gopchang Story, which opened in November, specializes in the grilling of beef intestines, a beloved food that’s meant to be consumed with alcohol — a category Koreans call “anju.”
According to a 2019 Taste article, gopchang dates back to the Joseon dynasty, which began in the 1300s. Today, it’s a “cult food” in South Korea that’s beginning to gain a following in the United States, particularly among Asian diners.
Members of BTS, crowned the “Princes of Pop” by Time magazine in 2022, have championed gopchang during visits to the U.S. They said in a 2020 interview that their favorite restaurant is Ahgassi Gopchang in Los Angeles.
David Chung, general manager at Gopchang Story in Carrollton, says gopchang is “a normal thing” in Korea, and for the Korean, Vietnamese and Chinese customers who primarily patronize the restaurant, it’s a staple from home. In keeping with the anju custom, Gopchang Story offers 11 sojus — Korea’s national distilled spirit usually made from rice — along with six beers.
Gopchang Story owners Jinho Lee and Jiyeon Choi previously owned a nail salon in New Jersey, and decided to bring Gopchang Story, a South Korea-based franchise, with them when they moved to Texas last year. Choi says every time she visited the restaurant’s locations in New Jersey and New York, the taste “stayed in her soul.”
The couple are part of a cadre of out-of-state entrepreneurs moving to Carrollton to open Korean restaurants. Choi says she’s pleased to bring the restaurant to Carrollton, where there’s a market for Korean businesses.
Gopchang Story joins a cluster of boba tea and Korean dessert shops in a large shopping center anchored by a Fresh K Market off West Hebron Parkway. It’s the first Gopchang Story in Texas for the corporation, which has about 50 locations throughout the world.
The restaurant gets its meat from local sources, but the recipes, seasonings and sauces come from South Korea. Unlike at other gopchang restaurants, intestines are cleaned twice, cut in the kitchen and presented to the customer partially cooked before a server finishes them on a grill seasoned with fat. Chung says the restaurant’s method is “more pleasing to the eye.”
While the restaurant caters mostly to an Asian clientele, everyone is welcome to try it. Intestines are sprinkled with bamboo salt and yam powder before cooking, and they absorb sauces made with sesame and chile oils, garlic and jalapeño. The fatty large intestine and entrails may be more of an acquired taste, but the brothy beef heart and enjoyably chewy tripe and small intestines make tasty snacks for newcomers to the cuisine.
In addition to beef intestines, Gopchang also offers high-quality marinated short ribs, boneless chuck flap and thinly sliced brisket.
Gopchang Story is at 4070 State Highway 121, Suite 328, Carrollton. gopchangstory.com.
