**** 3.5 stars ****
The number of Korean inspired mobile vendors is doing well to keep up with the Halal trucks, both providing a surprising amount of virtually the same things to people in quantities large enough to keep customers coming back. These trucks rely on a person's desire to simply get full more than creativity, although they do have the benefit of using several hundred year old proven recipes for doing so. The newest addition to the Korean lineup is Korengy, a barely marked orange creamsicle colored truck that caught my attention on my last visit to Franklin Square. There is virtually no signage on it, but since I've tried pretty much every truck in DC I can quickly spot one that's unfamiliar to me, so I decided to have a look and hoped they would bring a little variety.
Unfortunately, there are really only 2 things to choose from here, offered in a couple different ways. You've got either bibimbap or japchae, with bulgogi or chicken, served normal style or spicy. I hadn't had japchae (made with sweet potato noodles) in a really long time, so it was an easy choice over the relatively pedestrian looking bibimbap. Theirs is served in a fairly large plastic bowl, with a side of rice to go with the noodles, the meat (I chose bulgogi) and a few vegetables tossed in (mushroom and broccoli). Everything on the menu is $8, which makes it a little easier for indecisive people, and they actually do a decent job describing what each dish is, although that still didn't stop people from asking them repeatedly (food truck customers will never cease to amaze me with their ignorance / laziness).
The comparisons to Yellow Vendor are inevitable, as they should be since this place basically knocked them off, so I'll base everything in that context. From the standpoint of the seasoning, I find Yellow Vendor's meat to be much spicier than Korengy, which is exactly what I'm going for when I eat Korean like this. The flavor was still very good with Korengy's, so if you want to taste somewhat spicy Korean without a pretty solid burn then I recommend going here. I do give Korengy some props for offering japchae, which you cannot get at Yellow Vendor, because the sweet potato noodles do a fantastic job of balancing out the heat from the spices. The contrast of flavors really is nice. I do wish they would cut back a little on the rice and give me more of something else, but I know all of my Asian friends would say that's a bit sacrilegious. The last point of contention is the "other" stuff that comes with your meal. It was really nice to see fresh vegetables offered here, although there really could have been more (again, instead of rice, which I find unnecessary), but I still prefer the "salad" that comes with Yellow Vendor's orders, mainly because I loved their vinegar dressing so much, and it does a fantastic job of cutting through the heat from the seasoning.
Overall this is a really nice truck if you're going for simplicity. The wait is also pretty much nonexistent here, as I got my food almost 10 minutes before the rest of my coworkers who were at various other trucks. They are cash only, and will probably stay that way, but with nice even prices on everything at least you don't have to worry about a bunch of change.