Jongro BBQ

Koreatown's best rooms are rarely at street level. Jongro is up a flight on West 32nd Street, a big, smoky, cheerful hall of tabletop grills that has been one of the block's busiest since it opened in 2015. It is loud, the ventilation hoods hum, and the meat is the point.

Order the beef platter to share — brisket, skirt steak, ribeye, marinated chuck and kalbi, the soy-and-sugar marinated short rib — and let the servers handle the grill. The banchan come fast: kimchi, sliced jalapeños, a steamed egg cooked in its clay pot, a stew to cut the richness. Pork belly and a round of soju fill in the rest. Come with friends and an appetite; there is no dainty way through it.