IT’S GOOD TO remember now and then that Sun Nong Dan’s initial focus was seolleongtang (the restaurant spells it “sulung tang” on the menu), a silvery-milky beef broth known as a curative and designed to be seasoned to taste at the table. But then word spread about the galbi jjim — a crimson mass of short ribs, gochugaru-flecked potatoes and chewy rice cakes that can easily feed four — and the cheese option. A server brings the stew in a stone pot on a wooden platter, sprinkles over a few fistfuls of white shreds, pulls out what is essentially a welding blowtorch and takes aim until the cheese melts. The staffer performs this task with the straightest face; everyone else in the restaurant gapes. Sun Nong Dan, first housed in a strip mall on Sixth Street in Koreatown, now has four locations across the region. The ubiquity of the flambé moment has all but transcended Instagram. I love the original but note the outposts stay busy; the galbi jjim in takeout form doesn’t come with cheese, and no one wants to miss out.

• 3470 W. 6th St., #7, Los Angeles, (213) 365-0303; 710 S. Western Ave., Los Angeles, (213) 365-0303; 18902-A E. Gale Ave., Rowland Heights, (626) 581-2233; 1927 E. Las Tunas Drive, Suite J & K, San Gabriel, (626) 286-1234; sunnongdan.net

A mozzarella-topped hot pot of galbi jjim is torched tableside at Sun Nong Dan.