Newcomers to NoHo’s restaurant scene continue the march south on Lankershim Boulevard, expanding the neighborhood of fun eateries currently clustered on Magnolia Boulevard. The latest is Urban Skillet, taking up residence between Hartsook and Hesby streets on Lankershim.

Boasting Asian fusion cuisine and a contemporary art-loft look, Urban Skillet held its soft opening on November 28, dishing up burgers, sandwiches, burritos and barbecue plates—many with a Korean twist but also borrowing from a range of cuisines … Asian and otherwise.

The intriguing order-at-the-counter lunch and dinner menu includes a kimchee burger with American cheese, grilled onions and Shanghai sauce; the Pattaya chicken sandwich with basil, mint, cilantro, veggies and peanut sauce; the amusingly-titled Carne Asia-da Burrito stuffed with top sirloin, kimchee fried rice, avocado wasabi cole slaw and other goodies; and simple smoked ribs or chicken plates with choice of sides. In vegetarian dishes, the jackfruit (a relative of the breadfruit, native to South and Southeast Asia) stands in for the usual tofu.

The Sauce now regrets failing to sample the skillet fries with American cheese, onions and a choice of Shanghai, Manila or Seoul sauce. But we did taste the lightly spicy Bulgogi cheese steak with Korean barbecue beef, green peppers, provolone, mushrooms and onions. Though the barbecue was not as fall-off-the-bone tender as that found in my favorite Koreatown haunts, the sandwich still does an admirable job of fusing Seoul with Philly.

One more multicultural twist: Urban Skillet uses only halal meats, so the restaurant offers observers of Islamic dietary laws a chance to get a taste of SoCal’s Asian fusion explosion.

5660 Lankershim Blvd., 818-579-4000