East Asia

Tsujita Annex: Now Open with All-Day Ramen, Umbrellas Awesome Signage

With the dollar-yen exchange rate so good right now, you may be reading this in a Tokyo tsukemen shop. Lucky you. But if you're still in L.A., you might instead consider heading over to Little Osaka, where the beautiful noodle palace of Tsujita L.A. has recently expanded across the street. Lucky us. ... More >>

Dogs on a Plane

Tony, Bau Bau, Barry and Grace are wheeled through customs at the Tom Bradley Terminal at LAX last Monday. Barking in their crates, the four rescued retrievers are wheeled outside, where volunteers welcome them with food and water after a twenty-one hour flight from Taipei, Taiwan. They're accomp ... More >>

Comrade Kim Goes Flying Is the First Fiction Film Shot in North Korea and Co-Produced with the West. How Did It Happen?

By Doug Cummings Comrade Kim Goes Flying is one of the most unique and entertaining features at this year's Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival. The first fiction feature shot in North Korea and co-produced by both Western and North Korean companies, it sidesteps current political tensions to o ... More >>

What's In Season at the Farmers Market: Loquats The Fruit Hunters, a Rare Fruit Documentary

There are a few people who would argue against calling loquats the first stone fruit of the season. It does have giant pit-like seeds -- anywhere from one to 10 -- enveloped in juicy, peach-colored flesh with a thin, slightly fuzzy and edible skin. Sound familiar? Plant classification is an exacti ... More >>

Japanese Flower Arranging: Live Onstage!

See also: *Takashi Murakami's New Culver City Show *5 Artsy Things to Do in L.A. This Week *5 Dance Shows to See in L.A. This Week The North American Sogetsu Seminar is like the Olympics of flower arranging (though, of course, only for North America). Held once every four years in a different North ... More >>

New Wine Region to Watch: China

In less than two decades, wine has gone from sideshow to main attraction at dinner parties in China. According to a The Wall Street Journal article, "China as a Vast Wine Market," wine sales grew by 20% between 2011 and 2012 -- to about $41 billion. Meanwhile, as highlighted by PRI's The World, a ... More >>

More Events: Fried Chicken Night, Bibigo Anniversary, Dish Crawl Grilled Cheese & Beer Night

Ad Hoc Fried Chicken Night For one night, Bouchon Bistro is hosting a buttermilk fried chicken dinner complete with baby gem lettuce salad, pommes allemand and Parker House rolls. The buttermilk fried chicken is based on the popular ad hoc recipe. WHAT: Ad Hoc Fried Chicken Night WHEN: Monday, Apri ... More >>

Tsujita L.A.: 99 Essential Restaurants 2013

Oguri's Body Weather

Daikokuya Little Tokyo Celebrates 11 Years With $5 Ramen

As Daikokuya prepares to celebrate 11 years of delivering steaming bowls of tonkotsu ramen to the slurping masses, it has been amazing to watch the rest of Los Angeles catch up. There are ramen shops in Torrance for the noodle-obsessed, in West L.A. for those who follow best-of lists, and all over L ... More >>

Ikemen Ramen Opens Today in Little Tokyo

Little Tokyo's array of ramen eateries attests to the dish's versatility -- and booming popularity. There's Daikokuya's rich pork broth. Shin-Sen-Gumi's thin, Hakata-style noodles. The blended soy-pork broth of Men Oh Tokushima. Orochon's super spicy "Special #2." Possibly two dozen types at Mr. Ram ... More >>

Video: Merry White on the History of Coffee in America

Calling all coffee geeks! Today from Smithsonian Magazine comes a video featuring Merry White, author of Coffee Life In Japan, on the history of coffee consumption in America. There's also some cool science in there, as well as smart people saying smart things about our favorite caffeinated beverage ... More >>

How Chinese Animation Reveals the Country's Turbulent History

From China to Pompeii: Your Weekly Movie To-Do List

Our weekly list of special event movies to see this week: Friday, Oct. 12 Dying to take that long-overdue visit to the Getty Villa? The museum's outdoor film series, presented in conjunction with its exhibition "The Last Days of Pompeii: Decadence, Apocalypse, Resurrection," might just be the great ... More >>

Men Oh Tokushima Ramen Opens Today in Little Tokyo

It's October on the calendar and thus theoretically great ramen weather. Alas, theory hasn't quite met thermometer just yet, but when it does, it might be a good time to welcome the belated fall season with a nice bowl of noodles from a new ramen joint (yes, another one): Japanese chain Men Oh Toku ... More >>

Tokyo nights

Five Artsy Things to Do This Week, Including Vindictive Office Supplies

This week, a bathroom in Tokyo becomes an artist's laboratory, a manmade geyser spews in a new video and hosiery makes paintings as awkward and ambivalent as human bodies. 5. Nailing it Chicago artist Dzine grew up in an underground nail salon. His mother, a first-generation Puerto Rican immigrant ... More >>

52: House Wonton Soup at China Café

Leading up to this year's Best of L.A. issue (due out Oct. 4), we'll be counting down, in no particular order, 100 of our favorite dishes. 52: House Wonton Soup at China Café. In a city so stocked with brilliant Chinese food, it might to seem a bit strange to point out a '20s-era lunch counter hi ... More >>

Abercrombie Offends Asians Again as Hollister Models Clown Koreans Via Twitter

First of all, why any self-respecting Asian American (or anyone else, for that matter), would wear anything Abercrombie after it used racist Chinese imagery on its t-shirts 10 years ago (and after repeated allegations of discriminatory hiring practices) is really way beyond our own small brain. We ... More >>

Peking Tavern: Northern Chinese Gastropub To Open in Downtown L.A.

For those who have been complaining about the lack of Chinese food west of the San Gabriel Valley, a new contender is coming to town. A Northern Chinese Gastropub, fronted by one chef from Northern China and another from Hong Kong, will be opening on 8th and Spring by the end of the year. Called Pe ... More >>

Kula Sushi: Conveyor-Belt Sushi in Little Tokyo

Conveyor-belt sushi restaurants, or kaiten-zushi as they're known in Japan, are big business these days. You might not think so when plates of sushi are priced at just $2 each, as they are at Little Tokyo's Kula Sushi, the newest and most ambitious kaiten joint to hit the L.A. scene. But arrive on a ... More >>

68: Lamb Pie at Beijing Pie House

Leading up to this year's Best of L.A. issue (due out Oct. 4), we'll be counting down, in no particular order, 100 of our favorite dishes. 68: Lamb Pie at Beijing Pie House. See those xian biang, those hefty, puck-sized, round meat pies known as a popular roadside snack in northern China? They mig ... More >>

Gyoza Eating Contest Returns to Little Tokyo: Grab Your Chopsticks Loosen Your Belt

Think you could eat 264 gyoza in ten minutes? That's the record the world's best competitive eaters will have to beat to snatch the title from 2011 champion Pat Bertoletti at this year's Day-Lee Foods World Gyoza Eating Championship in Little Tokyo. Two of the biggest superstars in the competitive ... More >>

Nisei Week Karate Exhibition

Ni Hao, Stowaway Kitten From China, Ready For Hollywood Closeup

Los Angeles really is the vanguard of the American Dream, a place where the son of a Nazi can become governor of California, and a utopia where our virtual Ellis Island is a rocket ship of upward mobility. Unless, of course, you're Mexican, in which case you'd have better odds of making it if you ... More >>

Japan Tsunami Debris Headed Our Way, L.A. Sailing Expedition Reports

Yes, the debris from Japan's March, 2011 tsunami is coming to L.A. And a locally based ocean explorer says he knows exactly want's headed our way: An 8 feet by 5 feet fishing boat, an inflated truck tire, about 200 pounds of tangled fishing net, 6 large fishing buoys and several buckets and crates. ... More >>

Seoul Sausage Update: The Great Food Truck Race, Their New Restaurant Buying Equipment with Bed Bath & Beyond Coupons

The last time we talked with the Seoul Sausage guys about their new venture it was late April and owners Ted and Yong Kim and Chef Chris Oh, were busily building out their new brick and mortar space on Mississippi just off Sawtelle in Little Osaka. Then, shortly after their announcement, the trio v ... More >>

Marijuana Juarez Boxing Match Pits Latinos Against Asians in Girl-Fight Race War

Boxing has been upstaged by the hotter, younger sport known as mixed martial arts. But it's not down for the count yet. Some savvy marketers have turned an upcoming L.A. bout between two chicks into a race war pitting a "Mexican beauty" against an "Asian queen" in a match being called "Fists of Hop ... More >>

Ramen Red Alert!: Menya-Iroha Coming to Gardena, Kotoya to West L.A.

If the recent boom of Japan-imported ramen chains in Southern California is the cross-cultural cousin of the 60's British Invasion -- which feels like a fair comparison lately -- then round up the screaming fangirls, because the Beatles have just landed in Los Angeles and Gardena's Murakai Market is ... More >>

Status Report: Lamb Burger at Shaanxi Gourmet

Recently, we told you about the lamb sandwich ('Fried With Meat') at Beijing Restaurant. Our original plan was to compare it with another lamb sandwich, namely the lamb burger at Shaanxi Gourmet in Rosemead. At least that was the plan. On three visits, we were told they no longer served them. We ... More >>

Top 5 Anime Series You Need to Watch Before Anime Expo

See also: Coverage from Anime Expo 2011 Anime Expo will take over downtown Los Angeles once again beginning on June 29. For four days, anime fans, often dressed in elaborate costumes, will gather at the Los Angeles Convention Center to check out the latest shows from Japan, take in a few concerts a ... More >>

Jason Loose of Thousand Oaks Worshipped in China for Sharing French Fries With Bum (PHOTOS)

A recent Arizona State University graduate who grew up in Thousand Oaks -- and is now working abroad in the Jiangsu province of China -- has been dubbed "Brother Fries" by the locals. Jason Loose, in his early 20s, was photographed on a Nanjing street corner while sharing his McDonald's French frie ... More >>

Off the Menu: Mustard Cabbage at Beijing Restaurant

Trying to find a particular Chinese regional or local specialty can be quite an adventure, even among the hundreds of restaurants in the San Gabriel Valley. The search for these items, be it Datong-style braised rabbit heads or Tianjin-style earhole cakes, can produce tales worthy of an explorer. ... More >>

Gottsui: A Review A Brief History of Okonomiyaki

That new metro stop whose opening you've been awaiting: not complete. Those suspension-shredding chuckholes on your street: not filled. But there is still good news. It's not as hard to find good Japanese okonomiyaki in Los Angeles these days as it once was. Even a hardened cynic must admit that's s ... More >>

Eat This Now: Lamb Sandwich ("Fried with Meat") at Beijing Restaurant

While it isn't as prevalent as pork, lamb turns up quite often on Chinese restaurant menus in the San Gabriel Valley, where lamb dishes range from the seemingly omnipresent cumin lamb skewers to soups, stews and meat pies. There also are restaurants like China Islamic and Omar's, the Uighur place, ... More >>

Food News Roundup: Food Fraud, Defining "Gluten-Free" Starbucks as Third Largest U.S. Chain

Huffington Post: Olive oil, milk, honey, saffron, orange juice, coffee and apple juice are among the most-adulterated food products. With this kind of food fraud, even careful label-reading won't help. The Washington Post: What is truly "gluten-free?" The FDA has been trying to decide for seven yea ... More >>

L.A.'s Idea of Taiwanese Food vs What Taiwanese People Really Eat

Okay guys, let's start by saying that Taiwanese food is definitely not orange chicken or broccoli and beef. The Taiwanese grandmothers -- or "ah-mahs" -- of the San Gabriel Valley would shudder at that thought. And it's not the same thing as Chinese food -- no matter where you stand on the politic ... More >>

Fried Chicken Flowchart: Where to Go for Fried Chicken, American and Otherwise

In our last handy food flowchart, we tried to point you in the right direction for those times when you just need a bowl of phở to comfort your soul. Today, our flowchart helps you navigate the city when you're in search of another type of comforting soul food: fried chicken. And because sometim ... More >>

12 Best Highlights From FoodEx, Asia's Largest Food and Beverage Exhibition

Reporting from Tokyo, where just last week FoodEx, the largest food and beverage exhibition in Asia, welcomed more than 73,000 attendees over four days. Samples were flying off the tables, gobbled and chugged ravenously, as suppliers and distributors from around the world wooed potential clients. We ... More >>

Locals Unite for 1-Year Anniversary of Tsunami In Japan

It's been one year since the devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan. In recent weeks, restaurants around town offered sake specials, discounts, raised funds and much more. On March 10, public appreciation event Japan Endless Discovery at the Grove, organized by the Consulate-General of Japan in ... More >>

Sake Fuels Japan's Recovery A Few Local Events

This weekend marks the one-year anniversary of the March 11 catastrophic earthquake and tsunami that so terribly damaged Japan. Food-safety issues and scares -- particularly around the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactor -- remain in the news. Although Japan's traditional sake brewers were h ... More >>

Japan Airlines Teams Up With Yoshinoya: Beef Bowls at 40,000 Feet

Eikichi Matsuda opened Yoshinoya in 1899, in a fish market outside Edo Castle in Chuoku, Tokyo. Over the following century or so, the company expanded well beyond fish markets in Japan and, starting this month, its presence will extend to the skies. From now until May 31, Yoshinoya will offer its ... More >>

Tsunami Debris at L.A. Beaches? Don't Expect to Surf Into a House

Surfers call getting covered by a wave and riding inside its tube "getting shacked." That could have a whole new meaning is some of the debris from last year's disastrous tsunami in Japan -- houses, cars, boats and all -- hits our shores. Near the eve of the one-year anniversary of the disaster, t ... More >>

Spend Valentine's Day With Hello Kitty, at Hooters Japan

Headed to Japan this week? Hooters Tokyo location is offering a Valentine's Day special through next Tuesday: Two promotional ice cream desserts called the Volcano of Love and the Rock of Love, and the first 1,000 customers to order either will get a collector's edition pin of Hello Kitty as a Hoote ... More >>

China Debuts $44 Bottle of Pabst Blue Ribbon

Maybe we've watched Blue Velvet too many times, but to us there's something uniquely American about Pabst Blue Ribbon. Sure, it's been widely acknowledged from Williamsburg to Echo Park as the beer du jour of the hipster masses, but really, who doesn't appreciate a blue-collar beer once in a while, ... More >>

L.A.'s Idea of Japanese Food vs. What Japanese Really Eat

Our Venn Food Diagram series has studied the people of Thailand, Armenia, Vietnam and most recently California, comparing what they actually eat with what Angelenos believe they eat. In this edition, we turn our attention to Japan, looking past ramen and sushi to see what foods Angelenos have left t ... More >>

Saturday Event: Walk and Eat in Little Tokyo

Visit Little Tokyo, and -- even if you're a rabid manga fan or karaoke maniac -- your trip will likely involve food. Perhaps yakisoba, fried noodles topped with bright red ginger. Or okonomiyaki, a pancake cooked with a variety of savory ingredients. (The name literally means "what you want.") A ... More >>

True Religion, Gucci, Nike -- $4 Million of it -- Fake And Now Safe From Holiday Shoppers, Thanks to ICE Crackdown

CelebfashionLATrue Religion shorts? Lord have mercy.​We'll give you a peek into our last-minute Christmas shopping list: Fake True Religion jeans. Lots of them. (Note to self: Check Craigslist). Dang it: Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) today announced it has seized $4 million worth ... More >>

A Little Tokyo Christmas Goes to Vegas