Review: From Bibimbap to Smashburgers, Anything Goes at Motte in Highlandtown

The inside of Motte, the Korean-American restaurant and bar that opened in January next to Monument City Brewing Co. in Highlandtown, looks like the steampunk loft apartment you’ve been dreaming of since you saw Poor Things.

There’s a massive crystal chandelier—thrifted from Second Chance—above the hostess station, a metal boiler-room door the size of a shipping crate installed high on a brick wall, stacks of firewood for the wood stove by the sofa, floor-to-ceiling brickwork, and retro lighting suspended from the high wooden rafters. (The location was formerly The Boiler Room and originally a tree-milling factory.) Which is to say, it would be worth eating and drinking here even if the food and drink were ordinary. That they are not turns Motte into a destination spot.

Husband-and-wife team Gloria Hwang and James Park did not mean to open a 195-seat restaurant when the building suddenly came into their hands last year. The owners of OneDo Coffee Roasters, a marvelous coffeehouse in Canton, were planning to open a cocktail bar. But the location had been a restaurant and featured a huge pizza oven in the kitchen, so they opened Motte, with help from Hwang’s cousin, Seo Jun-ho, who runs two restaurants in Seoul. There is, though, a sizable bar in the restaurant’s center and an excellent and inventive cocktail program fueling Motte’s engines.

The menu is eclectic, insofar as it has Korean dishes made from Hwang’s mother’s recipes, plus pizza to utilize that pizza oven, and burgers and sandwiches to cater to the neighbors and the crowd that often spills over from the brewery next-door. There is bibimbap and Korean fried chicken, smashburgers and pepperoni pizza, a dedicated kids’ menu, and a cocktail list that would lure even the fussiest cocktailians.

The best dishes on the menu are the Korean recipes, particularly the spicy chicken tteokbokki, made with the rice cakes and savory chunks of chicken and spiced and painted by the marvelous gochujang that’s made in-house; and the bowl of bibimbap, here assembled with perfectly cooked warm rice and pockets of sautéed spinach, julienned carrots, lettuce, mushrooms, cucumbers, a terrific rendition of (optional) bulgogi, and topped with the traditional fried egg. The bibimbap comes with a small tray of tiny jars of gochujang, kimchi, and pickled radish, which is both beautiful and comforting. It’s reminiscent of the banchan that precedes traditional Korean meals and underscores the care the kitchen takes with small things.

Other superlative dishes are a pair of appetizers: a dish of lightly fried tofu simply dressed with ginger-soy, radish, and scallions; and a trio of crispy shrimp balls atop spicy mayo sauce. Then there is the fried chicken, a Korean staple, which at Motte comes three ways: as a whole Cornish hen with pickles and fries; in a dish with chunks of fried chicken, sweet-and-sour sauce, and lettuce; and in a sandwich with slaw, more pickles, and hot honey.

For those who prefer Western food with their cocktails, there’s an admirable smashburger, topped with melted cheddar, lettuce, and tomato, which is, however, best accompanied with teriyaki fries—a blissful golden pile laced with teriyaki sauce, Thai chiles, and Korean red chiles, plus a side of roasted garlic-sesame aioli. And the pizza is pretty great too, mostly because you can order it not only with the expected pepperoni or mozzarella,  tomato, and basil, but with bulgogi or shrimp and chile. Another plus is that there is an actual kids’ menu, albeit a simple one with a cheeseburger, chicken tenders, and cheese flatbread (there is also that tofu, which was what my kids devoured in restaurants when they were young).

Then there’s that creative cocktail program, which features drinks with things like kimchi brine, thyme syrup, hibiscus liqueur, and honeydew shrub paired with both booze and non-alcoholic spirits. The Three Kingdoms, a play on an Old-Fashioned, showcases wheated bourbon, soju, barley tea, toasted rice syrup, and Angostura bitters; and the Dalgona Martini is made with vodka, soju, oolong syrup, espresso liqueur, and dalgona coffee foam—dalgona, as fans of Squid Game will know, is an addictive Korean candy made from honeycombed toffee.

Much of Motte is still a work in progress, with specials, like a plate of deftly pleated dumplings whose appearance was heralded via Instagram, and events, like a recent open mic night, that may or may not become permanent. Also, because Hwang’s cousin, who had been doing the cooking, went back to Korea and a return visit was canceled after his visa was denied, Park had to take over the cooking, though he trained not as a chef but as an architect.

“I wasn’t anticipating opening this big restaurant, because I’d never done it before,” says Hwang, sitting on the comfy sofa near the woodstove one afternoon.

In the days before Motte opened, she was at the location so much she sometimes slept on the sofa. Even now, some seven months later, she and her husband spend all their days at the restaurant, a commitment that might mean more nights on that sofa but certainly contributes to the excellence of the restaurant.

“People are supporting us a lot; they’re very community-based,” says Hwang. “Baltimore is an amazing city.”

MOTTE: 2206 Boston St., 410-775-4094. HOURS: Tues.-Thurs., Sun., 5.-10 p.m.; Fri.-Sat. noon-11 p.m. PRICES: Appetizers: $6-18; pizza and sandwiches $15-20; Korean dishes: $20-35; kids’ menu: $10-15. AMBIANCE: Boiler-room chic.