The Must-Eat List: Miega Korean BBQ

Dol Sot Bibimbap

The chef who loves it | Greenhouse Tavern's Jonathon Sawyer

Hot pot | The dish ($11.95) — a heap of short-grain rice, pickled carrots, fish sauce-soaked daikon, kimchee, sprouts, a raw egg yolk and galbi-style beef short rib — is served in a hot earthenware bowl. "[The rice] forms this wonderful golden crispy bond at the bottom while staying fluffy on top."

Side bets | Sawyer loves to complement the bowl with banchan, small helpings of Korean sides such as mung bean sprouts, pickled veggies or sauces. "Everyone's meal, no matter what you order, starts out with this series of banchans that they refill," says Sawyer. "Sometimes they add new vegetable components throughout the meal, so you get fermented pickles and three different kimchee."

Mix master| Traditionally, the ingredients are stirred before eating, but Sawyer likes to savor each bit first. But as the supply of meat dwindles, he mixes things up. "That's when I start chopping everything up and adding all the condiments and the banchans to the earthenware pot and really mixing it up to be more of a broken rice dish," he says.

Glory days| The ethnic flavors at Miega bring Sawyer back to being a young chef in New York City, hitting up restaurants in Koreatown on 32nd Street after hours. "It was a whole new experience to go there and have banchan, have unfiltered soju [Korean liquor] or grill your own short ribs on the grill right in front of you," says Sawyer.

Miega Korean BBQ, 3820 Superior Ave., Cleveland, 216-432-9200, miegabbq.com