Revel in Fremont

By Iron Chef Leftover

Revel is the new “Korean Street Food” joint in Fremont from the folks that brought us the wonderful Joule in Wallingford. Since I am a big fan of Joule, I had to check out the spot.

Revel is located on the corner of 36th and Phinney, just up the block from Brouwer’s and Theo Chocolate. It is a wide-open space with about 15 tables and a counter that overlooks the open kitchen. I was there right before noon, so I had the choice of sitting anywhere – naturally I opted for the counter overlooking the kitchen.

The menu is pretty simple – small bites, salads, dumplings, noodle dishes and desserts – each with 3-4 choices, one of which was vegetarian, all of which are heavily Korean influenced. My only real criticism of the menu was the price. The salads and dumplings ranged in the 8-10 dollar range while the noodle bowls were 13-15, not exactly the kind of place you are going to hit for a regular lunch. Maybe it is me, but when I think street food, I think of an inexpensive and quality meal. They also have a full bar.

Being the sucker for dumplings that I am, I went with one order of the short rib dumplings and one order of the chorizo dumplings. The short rib was amazing – wonderfully flavorful and beefy, server with pickled shallots, which I could have eaten on their own. The wrappers however were falling apart and made them a bit of a mess to eat. The chorizo dumplings were excellent also, not overly spicy with a hint of smokiness. They did not suffer from the issue of falling apart that the short ribs did. Each plate was $9 for 5 dumplings.

The service was hard to judge, as there were only 3 other customers in the restaurant when I arrived, but was about 65% full when I left. Overall I really liked Revel, but I do question how many $24 lunches after tax and tip I can really afford. Revel is definitely a place I would recommend for dinner or possibly an occasional or special occasion lunch, despite being a bit spendy.