Miga soft-opens in Center City
The Korean restaurant has a novel tabletop-cooking system.
Miga, a moderately upscale Japanese-Korean mix, is in the soft-opening phase at 211 S. 15th St. in the former ¡Pasión! space and directly across from the new Max Brenner chocolateria.
Owner Sam Cho has assorted business interests in Center City, mostly as a silent partner. (He owns a piece of Alfa on Walnut Street, for example).
Miga's big draw, aside from the stylish, white-tablecloth atmospherics left over from ¡Pasión, is the neatness of tabletop barbecue, which starts today. Cho has obtained electric, smokeless barbecue grills on which servers will cook meats to order. Not all tables are so equipped; Cho's assistant Kim Gould tells me that they're trying the grills in one dining room under the eyes of city health officials to see if additional ventilation is required.
Gould also stresses that this cooking is not fusion but "authentic Korean food like you'd find in Korea." That is, a spell-checker's nightmare: bulgogi, manduguk, chigae, jap che, naeng myun. Dinner entrees for now run pretty much from $10 to $19. Lunch dishes top out at $15.
For the next few weeks, there's a temporary menu. Miga awaits sushi and its liquor license. It's now giving away cocktails made with soju, the firewater made of distilled rice.
It's open for lunch and dinner Mondays through Saturdays. Phone is 215-732-1616.