many second generation korean-americans have this misconception that dishes they grew up with such as jjajangmyuhn (black bean paste noodles) or jjambbong (spicy seafood soup noodles) are korean or at best "korean-chinese." well, they belong to the genre of chinese food that is most popular in korea, which is _northern_ chinese cuisine; but in the end they're pretty "sino" in _origin_. you can say this: there's quite a difference between _taiwanese_ jiajiangmien (the taiwanese version of the dish) and the kind beijingnese kind you find in these "korean-chinese" joints, but they share a common origin from some time in history.
anyway, this restaurant, which is really called "yeitnal jjajang" (old-fashioned jjajang), started in berkeley/oakland back when my wife and i lived there. we loved the origin location and were kind of sad when we moved out of berkeley back to the silicon valley, which is america's _real_ heartland. anyway, to our pleasant surprise, the owners of yeitnal jjang (aka zazang, aka zazang's) opened more locations. i believe they have their original location on the oakland/berkeley border, a location in s.f., a location in cupertino, and a location in santa clara in the el camino real neighbourhood that some young asian-americans have dubbed "k-town" (koreatown).
the cupertino location used to be a pizzeria and stands out from the others as they also serve pizza along side those beijingnese, "korean-chinese" favorites. they even make "kimchi pizza" (pizza with the famous, korean pickled cabbage) for you. the santa clara location does _not_ serve pizza though.
all the locations including this one have great, great, great service and great, great, great food. obviously, the jjajangmyuhn (black bean paste/sauce noodles) are great. the jjambbong (aka, jjambong, i.e. spicy, seafood noodle soup) is also great. well, this is a really gourmet place but more of a quick bite, but they have other great food.
this location as well as the cupertino one have nice outdoor seating, but i'd prefer not to mention that because i'm afraid you'll steal my favourite spot!
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