There isn’t much décor on the white brick walls of Handsome Rice, a new Korean fast-casual restaurant in Murray Hill. A solitary framed printout by the door announces that the marinated short rib, or galbi, is made with grain-finished Omaha Steaks beef that is aged for 21 days for “extra tender texture.” This is an important detail, a clue as to why you are here.

The sliced, boneless short rib takes a dip in a blend of onion, fresh garlic, soy sauce, Korean pear and a touch of sugar for 24 hours before it is grilled. It is finished under a torch, and garnished with smoke. Supple with sweet juices, it’s the kind of galbi you would expect at Korean barbecue restaurants a few avenues west in Manhattan’s Koreatown, not at a counter-style spot. And not for less than $15.

At Handsome Rice, which opened in November, the galbi comes in a Korean lunchbox, or dosirak. It is served over brooding purple rice, a mix of deeply tinted forbidden rice steamed with short-grain white rice. The combination is attractive, but that isn’t the only reason for the restaurant’s name.