Tofu House goes to college

This wasn’t intended to be a story about a robot.

When Tofu House opened a new location near SDSU this October, this Korean food fan was elated. Usually, I’m happy to leave college area restaurants to the students who frequent them, but there are only so many Korean restaurants outside the Convoy area, and this one instantly became the closest to my house by a good several miles. As a bonus: it’s got a much less crowded parking lot.

It wouldn’t be long before I showed up to the El Cajon Boulevard eatery with my wife. She wanted the chef’s special soft tofu stew (also known as soondubu jjigae), which comes loaded with kimchi and shellfish, including oysters, clams, scallops, and shrimp ($12). I would go for the meat party bibimbap. This rendition of the rice bowl features marinated ribeye bulgogi, short ribs, and spicy chicken.

Part of Tofu House’s allure, both dishes are served in steaming and sizzling stone bowls, hot enough to cook an egg, say one of the raw eggs set with your table for this purpose. I’ll have to admit now, I’ve ordered hot stone bowl dishes at the original Kearney Mesa Tofu House many times and never considered how perilous it must be for the servers to carry them from the kitchen to your table. Imagine carrying a potential second-degree burn on a small tray, through a crowded restaurant.

Which may be why Tofu House added a new member to its staff: the robot in question.

When our hot stone bowls emerged from the kitchen, they sat atop trays being carried by a four-foot robot. Though it has what appear to be a pair of square blue eyes, the robot has no nose or mouth, and neither arms nor legs. It’s really designed more like a vertical rack that can carry up to four food trays on a heavy, wheeled bass.

The robot rolled across the restaurant with our orders, broadcasting its own, jaunty soundtrack loud enough to call attention to itself. It (maybe she?) then said something unintelligible to me, possibly along the lines of “Be careful, it’s hot!”

You can’t really talk about robots these days without talking about how they’re going to displace us all, so it’s natural to be concerned this little tray robot has taken someone’s job. However, I would point out that the same gracious, human waitress both took our orders and transferred the still seriously hot bowls from the robot’s tray to our respective placemats. Ultimately, the robot simply relieved her of the part where scorching, gochujang spiced broth could spill out to scald her while she walks. Sounds like a win-win to me.

As does the arrival of craveable Korean food in another part of San Diego. Someday, I’d like to see good Korean fare within ten minutes of us all. Until then, I’ll gladly visit this place for the robot, beer or soju, and $20 combo meals featuring both a rice bowl and tofu stew. But take note: the robot doesn’t deliver to the trove of outdoor patio seating.