(This venue is closed.) Toward the tail end of the three-course black-goat feast, you may wish that you'd paced yourself better.
To begin, go easy on the panchan. Though our large party particularly enjoyed the sweet black soy beans and the custard shown still-sizzling below, these small complimentary dishes aren't Banggane's strong suit. Instead, save all the room you can for the specialty of the house: Korean black goat, served three ways. (The goats, indigenous to Korea, are raised in New Jersey; "black" refers to the color of their hair, not their meat.) For the first course, a trayful of boiled meat is deboned in your presence and set into tabletop steamers. Cupping a lettuce leaf, you add a tidbit of goat and condiments as you please: scallion salad, garlic cloves, sliced chiles, a spicy bean paste shot with perilla seeds (shown not yet mixed), and fermented soy bean paste. Fold your wrap snugly and pop it in your mouth whole. Repeat.
When the pace of this gluttony slows down and before the steamers are bare, the servers remove the remaining meat. This a dismaying sight, but only until you realize that the meat is destined for a pot, simmering at tableside, and the second course: a hearty goat-and-vegetable soup, almost a stew, spicy but not overly so. The leavings of the soup pot are then used to prepare the third course (this is where you came in), a deceptively complex and very moist fried rice, shown portioned below. If, at this point, your dining companions are leaning back, groaning, more for you.
This three-in-one menu item is labeled "boiled black goat meat" ($32). Though the menu indicates that it's meant for one person, it can be shared by two or even three, depending on how much more you order. Also shown: a kimchee-and-dumpling casserole, just beginning to simmer ($33); seasoned black goat meat, an excellent stand-alone dish, lightly thatched with ginger ($18). For our part, we just couldn't get enough goat.
Banggane
165-19 Northern Blvd. (at 166th St.), Murray Hill, Queens
718-762-2799