Kori

253 Church St/ bet. Franklin & Leonard St, 212-334-4598

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Cost per person: $15 (lunch)
"YGWYPF" factor: 8.5/10 (you get what you pay for)
Food: 8.5/10
Ambiance: 9/10

Great place for a nice lunch, if you are in the area! I have not really hit the nerves when it comes to Korean cuisine, and I feel I am still scratching the surface - far away from the hole in the walls. Still, Kori was one satisfying lunch, and the lofty ambiance of Tribeca spaces is a relief from the cramped accomodations of many a Midtown / Chinatown fare. Note that I had been to a lunch here, so the space may have appeared a lot more on the "vast and calm" side than what you would expect for dinners here.

As for our orders - the Pa-jun Scallio Pancake (vegetable or Seafood-shrimp, Squid) and Mandu Steamed or Pan-fried Dumplings (vegetable or Meat) were nice, tasteful, and well sized (read: small). For entrees, between the 4 of us, there were orders of Dolsot Bibim-bop Assorted Vegetables, Meats, and Fried Egg In Sizzling Ceramic Pot, and Bulgogi (sliced Beef) Lunch Box, both of which were excellent dishes. My dish, the bibim-bop, comes in a hot, heavy stone pot (pictured), a sizzling combination of veggies and meats over a bed of rice, with an egg dropped on the top. A sauce on the side allows you to choose the degree of spiciness - the entire contents, in my case - and you mix it all up before you eat. With the many different things that go into this dish, every scoop brings a different taste to the mouth, and it keeps things interesting till the last spoonful.
One entree per person is good, since serving sizes at this place is closer to normal human proportions.