A Korean Afraid to go to Korean Restaurants

There's no denying my ethnicity. It's blatantly obvious that I'm Asian... and being where I'm from, it's safe to assume I'm Korean. That being said, I can't speak Korean and I don't have much Korean friends. I'm very heavily drenched in American culture. I know more about IHOP pancakes than Korean kimchi. I can tell you how many calories goes to into a Burger King value meal for the Whopper but I couldn't even tell you what nengmyun is exactly. My playlist on my windows media player consists of Nirvana and Avenged Sevenfold and the occasional Japanese Rock but has only a few songs by Korean Artists.

So when I go into a Korean ANYTHING, I feel like I am stepping into a foreign world. It's like if you're Italian and travel to Italy. I'm sure you wouldn't feel exactly at home if you were raised in America all your life. From what I've heard, being an American Italian is quite different from being an Italy-raised Italian. Correct me if I'm wrong.

I have plans today to take my... boyfriend(?) to a Korean restaurant for dinner. I'm extremely nervous. Where will I go? What will I order? Do I order in Korean or act like an American ordering foreign foods?

I always thought it was amusing to hear people pronounce foreign words that have been brought here. Like how TaeKwonDo is "Tah-ee-kwon-doe" as opposed to "Tay-kwon-doe" (without the sound made from the 'y' in 'tay'). Or how Karate is "car-aht-ee" as opposed to "Car-aht-eh". Bring it a little closer to home: Pasta Fagioli is "Pasta 'fag-ee-ohl-ee" as opposed to "Pasta fajool". I could go on forever.

But my point is, I know I won't be pronouncing them wrong but it'll be odd to go into a Korean restaurant, act like an American, and then make it obvious that you know Korean. I'm sure anyone reading 'mool nengmyun' will take a second to try and pronounce that. I, myself, would read the Korean instead and pronounce that as opposed to the Anglicized version.

Also, let's forget about where and how but remember WHAT. It's not too odd to see someone eating an Ice Cream in Winter time, or to see someone having soup in the summer, but we can generally agree that Ice Cream is a delicacy for the hotter days and soup is for the colder. What if I go into these restaurants and order a meal that's for the winter? I only know of hot Korean dishes so I'm not sure what I'd order... and my boyfriend(?) is also picky on his food so I have to choose from what he WOULD eat. In general, I'm avoiding all-veggie dishes because he's a bit carnivorous.

I wish I could get some advice on this but the dinner's tonight and I'll have not one moment's opportunity to check replies... so the best thing I could ask for anyone at the moment is to wish me luck. I'm fine makin myself look a bit foolish at restaurants but it'll be a shame to bring him and look like a fool too.