Koreatown’s considerable bustle may orbit around the cramped little block of 32nd between 5th and 6th Avenues, but I’m starting to think that its true culinary center of gravity might actually reside three blocks directly north of there on 35th Street. Our long-time favorite classic Korean restaurant, Han Bat, sits on the block, as do Hyo Dong Gak, the on-again-off-again Hang Suh Garden, and perhaps the most inventive restaurant in the neighborhood, Cho Dang Gol.

While Cho Dang Gol does offer traditional favorites like Gob Dol Bi Bim Bap, Jap Chae, and Bul Ko Ki, the majority of the restaurant’s menu features creative glosses on Kangwon provincial countryside cooking, most of which include at least a smidgen of freshly-prepared tofu (doo boo). If you’re a tofu-phobe, Chef Kim Bong Ok is convinced that she can change your mind, and to be quite honest, she is probably right. At the very least, you’ll walk away with a new understanding that the rubbery blocks on sale in the supermarket are nothing like fresh handmade bean curd. The difference is stark– much like the comparison between a loaf of bagged bread and a crusty, just-baked loaf from an artisan baker. The texture of Cho Dang Gol’s firm tofu is dense but still pliant, just like a chilled terrine might be, and its taste?– sweet, a little nutty, and just vaguely minerally.

Such a flavor profile is a perfect match for spicy heat, as borne out by the Mo Doo Boo Ojing Oh Bok Um ($17.95), a squid, onion, and thick rice noodle dish that is served with four generous wedges of the restaurant’s signature tofu. The peppery red sauce on the dish packs a decent amount of fiery heat, especially on the sautéed onions, but it is never overpowering. For $5.95, you can order extra tofu, and after quickly running out of my own bean curd during my meal this weekend, I’ll attest to the wisdom of ordering extra– especially if you’re sharing dishes, as HungryMan and I were with our old friends KTMS and Tigger.

HungryMan and KTMS shared one of Cho Dang Gol’s Special Casseroles, the Son Bol Go Ki Jun Gol ($34.95, intended for two people). All Special Casseroles are prepared table-side by the waitstaff, a process that can take ten minutes or more. Even more impressive than watching the cooking is the kitchen staff’s attention to timing– all of our dishes were finished within 30 seconds of one another and delivered to the table at the same time– no easy feat when half of the mains are bubbling away in the dining room, out of the chef’s reach. Both KTMS and HungryMan enjoyed this reinterpretation of Bul Go Ki, but both also commented that the beef broth in their casserole was a bit too sweet, perhaps from too much rice wine. That said, HungryMan loved the double-noodle idea of combining rice cakes (essentially disc-shaped rice noodles) with the curly ramen-style noodles in the dish. The starchiness of the ramen, in particular, worked beautifully with the thinly sliced sirloin.

Tigger’s Buh Sut Gob Dol ($14.95), made up of steamed rice generously topped with a mushroom and beef stew, arrived in an intensely hot black stone bowl that was nearly as hot when we left the restaurant as when it left the kitchen– all the better to generate a crunchy, crispy crust of rice on the bottom. And while the rice itself was just right, this dish left us all a little cold in other ways. First was the cardinal sin of putting surimi where crabmeat was promised. We don’t mind crab-stick, as long as it is sold to us as such. Second was the heaviness of the mushroom and beef stew– if there is one dish on the menu that could really improve with the substitution of tofu for beef, it is this one, especially in a restaurant that makes such divine bean curd.

All of us were impressed with Cho Dang Gol’s special appetizer, the Gak Saek Jun ($18.95), which consisted of two pancakes each of four varieties: leek and green vegetables, spicy kimchi and pork, tofu with egg and pork, and soybean with vegetables. Our two favorites were the kimchi patty and the leek patty, both of which were not only gratifyingly warm and savory, but also quite clearly original. The spicy kimchi pancake (Boo Choo Pa Jun), especially, had us seriously considering ordering another round of appetizers.

But we never would have been able to finish them all without neglecting Cho Dang Gol’s superb banchan (little dishes of condiments and small snacks). The very lightly-fried zucchini and cucumber banchan slices was easily one of the best things we ate that night. I’d pay for that little dish alone. But the other banchan were nearly as good: sweet wedges of gently-spiced and pickled daikon, salty beans with tiny dried fish (which made us all want beer), crimson wedges of braised mackerel in kochujang sauce, and of course, homemade kimchi, which was at once briny and tart, hitting exactly the right proportion of each. I’d love to see a tofu dish as part of the banchan, a little teaser to entice the bean curd wary, and perhaps to make the point that Cho Dang Gol is not a typical Korean restaurant that survives on the strength of its Bi Bim Bap. If you want the greatest hits of Korean cuisine, go next door or even down to Koreatown’s main drag three blocks south, but if you want a taste of innovation, it’s here. Just look for the doo boo.

Cho Dang Gol, 55 West 35th Street (near 6th Avenue), 212-695-8222