What: Soy garlic chicken
Where: BeeCh, Please, 67555 E. Palm Canyon Drive, No. A-105, Cathedral City
How much: $23.99
Contact: 760-202-0144; beechpleasecc.com
Why: It’s a flavor bomb.
Regular readers of Charles Drabkin’s Restaurant News Bites column know that Umami Seoul, a beloved Korean restaurant in Cathedral City, went through some changes over the summer. The owning family’s daughter took over operations, changed the menu to focus more on Korean fried chicken and beer—and smooshed together the words “beer” and “chicken” to invent a cheeky new restaurant name, BeeCh, Please.
While I am on the figurative fence about some of these changes, I can say that all of the food we had on our recent dinner visit was excellent—especially the Korean fried chicken.
The menu includes a variety of fare, including a dozen or so appetizers, ramen options (try the curry one!) and some Korean specialties, but the fried chicken is the star of the figurative show. The chicken, cut into bite-sized pieces, is fried (with some small cylindrical rice cakes) in one of several sauces; we tried both the soy garlic and “fire” options. The entrée also comes with salad, rice and pickled radish cubes. If you want to eat a bit healthier, you can also substitute in grilled chicken—but where’s the fun in that?
Both varieties were splendid. They can dial down the sweetness a notch or two on the soy garlic sauce, as far as I am concerned, and they could make the “fire” sauce a bit spicier—but I still enjoyed them immensely. The salad, which was delivered before the entrée, provided a nice contrast to the chicken, while the picked radish cubes were effective palate-cleansers.
One bit of advice: If you’re really craving crispiness, dine in rather than getting takeout. We got most of the fire chicken to-go, and it inevitably softened in the box—although it didn’t affect the tastiness.
Yes, the name BeeCh, Please, is a bit cheeky—but the food is seriously good.
