South Korea

AFI Fest 2012: Who Will Win the Oscar for Best Foreign-Language Film?

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 >>

Jamie Oliver to Produce Chef Race: U.K. vs. U.S TV Show

Well, Jamie Oliver is back filming in L.A., and this time he's not hanging around school cafeterias. Instead, he's serving as the executive producer on a new show on BBC America called Chef Race: U.K. vs. U.S., which premieres with two back-to-back episodes on Tuesday, Oct. 2. The show will pit tw ... More >>

Paul Mingyu Sang, South Korean Exchange Student, Suffocates in Sand-Pit Collapse at College Beach Party

A 19-year-old foreign-exchange student at a small Christian college in Santa Clarita reportedly suffered a tragic death at a SoCal beach on Wednesday, when a hole he was digging in the sand collapsed around him. South Korea native Mingyu Sang, whose American name was Paul, dug the hole while attend ... More >>

K-Town by K-Town: A Jokbal Platter Seoul Train Partying in Rounds

Coverage of the delicious side of Koreatown has expanded past the well-tread over the years. We've learned about chic naengmyon (kudzu noodles in chilled beef broth) and gamjatang (pork neck soup). If we want Korean-style barbecue, we can distinguish places by cuts of meat and quality of banchan. Ev ... More >>

Korean Dog Meat Tradition in Summer Sees L.A. Protest

The controversy over Korean dog meat eating has come to Los Angeles. A group called In Defense of Animals embarked on an "International Day Of Action For South Korean Dogs And Cats" at the Korean Embassy in Washington, D.C. and at the Korean consulate in Los Angeles. Their beef?

Short Attention Span Dinner Theater: Your Week in Food, 7/16 - 7/20

In which we highlight the past week in food, either at home or abroad. "Summer drinking is an endurance sport, after all, requiring stamina to get to sundown without collapsing in a heap on the passenger seat." Summer Drinks, Part II: The Americano. "There is so much wrong with this casting dec ... 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 >>

Spicy Food Fight: Fukuburger vs. Kalbi Burger

Though it may be more anecdotal than anything else, there is a popular theory that during South Korea's recession in the mid-to-late 2000's the country's young unemployed masses became especially enamored with a dish called buldak, or "fire chicken," a sauce-covered stir fry that was prepared so hot ... More >>

The Wednesday Edition: A Roundup of Newspaper Food Stories

You can't replace the feeling of lounging on the couch with a scrunched-up newspaper. But with the web, at least you don't need to worry about getting ink on your hands and bagel. Here's a roundup of some food-related stories from our country's newspapers this week. Lucky for us, it's mostly free. F ... More >>

The Wednesday Edition: A Roundup of Food Newspaper Stories

You can't replace the feeling of lounging on the couch with a scrunched-up newspaper. But with the web, at least you don't need to worry about getting ink on your hands and bagel. Here's a roundup of some food-related stories from our country's newspapers this week. Lucky for us, it's mostly free. F ... More >>

World Cup of Baking Winners Announced in Paris

No culinary fragrance can compete with that of freshly baked bread. You can be comforted, exalted, seduced, relieved, or stimulated by nutty yeast tones gently wafting toward you. Or maybe you're just hungry. The Coupe du Monde de la Boulangerie, or World Baking Cup, is an event that will make every ... More >>

K-pop Till You Drop: The Skinny on the Korean Boy and Girl Groups That Get Major Play in Koreatown

Story by Tiffanie Lee K-pop has become a worldwide phenomenon, and one of its great hubs is Los Angeles. Walk into any Koreatown club, dive, noraebang (karaoke bar) or, hell, even a bakery, and you'll hear the genre's famous slick jams and infectious dance beats. Importing elements of American R&B ... More >>

Jonathan Gold's 60 Korean Dishes Every Angeleno Should Know

See Also: A Google map for all 60 of the Korean dishes Jonathan Gold says every Angeleno should know, read "5 Koreatown Restaurants Open 24 Hours: Hangover Soup," learn about "5 Koreatown Beer Joints: Hite Requirement," or just look at more of Anne Fishbein's beautiful Koreatown food photography. I ... More >>

The Yellow Sea Review

Korea's submission for the Foreign-Language Oscar is an ultraviolent illegal-immigrant gangster flick

A-Frame: 99 Essential Restaurants 2011

Korea's submission for the Foreign-Language Oscar is an ultraviolent illegal-immigrant gangster flick

Best D.I.Y. Pig Foot Feast: Jangchung-Dong Wong Jokbal's Jokbal

A. FrougBraised pig's foot at Jongchung-Dong Wong Jokbal​ Glistening under soy-glazed skin, slices exposing alternating layers of rosy meat, creamy fat and opaque gelatin, pig's foot at Koreatown's Jangchung-Dong Wong Jokbal arrives to the table on a silver platter, looking like a prop from th ... More >>

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

​ Our continuing series of Venn Food Diagrams has explored American regional and a smattering of international cuisines in no particular order or with any sense of geographic or cultural continuity. We're taking another random trip from the land of tater tot hot dish to the land of kimchi hot ... More >>

Jonathan Gold Reviews Iota

​ Our continuing series of Venn Food Diagrams has explored American regional and a smattering of international cuisines in no particular order or with any sense of geographic or cultural continuity. We're taking another random trip from the land of tater tot hot dish to the land of kimchi hot ... More >>

Jonathan Gold Reviews Palsaik Samgyeopsal

​ Our continuing series of Venn Food Diagrams has explored American regional and a smattering of international cuisines in no particular order or with any sense of geographic or cultural continuity. We're taking another random trip from the land of tater tot hot dish to the land of kimchi hot ... More >>

Iota: K-Town Teen Heaven

F. FriesemaJonagold apples​ Are you a teenage girl? Do you know a teenage girl? Because if so, Iota may be your favorite place in the universe, a barn-size K-town coffeehouse where K-pop booms from giant screens, the air is permeated with caffeine, the walls pop with color, the menu groans wit ... More >>

KCRW's Daily Global Street Food Photos: A Countdown, of Sorts

Indonesian street bike, via Marc on KCRW's Good Food blog.​Kind of like an advent calendar leading up to the big day, KCRW's Good Food blog will be posting a daily photo (or photos) of street food from around the world everyday now through May 1st, when the station's Global Street Food event h ... More >>

Sun Ha Jang: Addicted to Quack

Koreatown's pleasure palace of duck

30 Burgers in 30 Days: The Fix is In (Day 5)

The BYOB policy and high-quality, humanely-raised meats at The Fix Burger in Silver Lake, earned it "Best of LA" status in last year's mega-issue. This time, we visit The Fix with an eye toward comparing their classic burgers with their kimchi-laden Seoul burger, a concept we recently sampled at K ... More >>

Gaon: Suburban Korean

Where chef Simon King respects tradition

First Bite: Simon King Cooks Suburban Korean in Pasadena at Gaon

Jonagold apple, portion removed​Another suburban Korean restaurant? When you put it that way, I guess we are a little obsessed with the idea of gentrified Korean food. Everybody knows the cuisine is going to hit the mainstream at some point, but nobody has quite figured out what it is going to ... More >>

Macho Like Me

Jonagold apple, portion removed​Another suburban Korean restaurant? When you put it that way, I guess we are a little obsessed with the idea of gentrified Korean food. Everybody knows the cuisine is going to hit the mainstream at some point, but nobody has quite figured out what it is going to ... More >>

South Korea Kills 1.7 Million Animals to Stop Foot-And-Mouth Disease

South Korean officials are desperately trying to stop a recent outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease, killing over a million infected animals and vaccinating millions more. Despite its innocuous name, foot-and-mouth isn't a social faux pas, it's a devastating virus that infects cloven-hoofed animals ... More >>

Seoul Octopus Day The Relative Joys of Octopus Heads

JoongAng DailyOfficials at Seongdong District Office in Seoul at an "Octopus Tasting Event"​ How many angels can dance on the head of a pin? And how many octopus heads are probably as many as you should eat in a day? The answer to the first question, of course, belongs to the philosophers and ... More >>

Short Attention Span Dinner Theater: Your Week in Food, 10/18-10/22

In which we highlight the past week in food, either at home or abroad. "In further news, I had three octopus heads for lunch today in Koreatown. But they were little ones." Seoul Octopus Day The Relative Joys of Octopus Heads. "While the study may not lead to intensive family planning strat ... More >>

LAPD Considering Korean Dogs For K-9 Units: Two Cops Travelling To Asia To Check Them Out

Is the Korean Jindo headed to the LAPD?​With the economy as bad as it, it's more important than ever that our tax dollars go to buying American. Well, our friends over at the LAPD didn't seem to get that memo. They use the Austrian Glock pistol (not to mention the Italian Beretta), and some of ... More >>

Movie Review: Chosin

Is the Korean Jindo headed to the LAPD?​With the economy as bad as it, it's more important than ever that our tax dollars go to buying American. Well, our friends over at the LAPD didn't seem to get that memo. They use the Austrian Glock pistol (not to mention the Italian Beretta), and some of ... More >>

Best Bibimbap: Okay, Maybe Not the Best, or The Happiness of Cham

A. ScattergoodBibimbap at Chams​ Bibimbap was 2003's favorite Dish of the Future, an amalgam of meat, various vegetables and egg tossed together with hot rice and Korean chile paste, an infinitely adaptable formula killed by venal entrepreneurs, both in Los Angeles and in Seoul, who saw it as ... More >>

Worlds Apart

Federal law gives gay citizens with foreign partners tough choices: Leave the U.S.A. Lose your love. Break the law

You’re a Pig!

If you want to be, at Koreatown’s Don Dae Gam

Contemporary Korean Art Exhibit

If you want to be, at Koreatown’s Don Dae Gam

L.A. Koreans Spark Massive Lawsuit

Mad About the CowSpearheaded by about 50 of their fellow countrymen from the Los Angeles area, 1,020 Korean Americans have filed a $735 million lawsuit against Seoul TV broadcast company MBC. The suit claims that, by sounding a new alarm about mad cow disease and U.S. beef, which has been banned in ... More >>

Koreatown 1.0: A Food Diary

Sunday, bloody Sunday

Lawry's the Prime Rib: Give 'em Red Meat

A prime place for out-of-towners

Top 10 Dishes of 2007

Hummus replaced foie gras, Southern Thai was hot and cheese shredded

Hen Party

Sacrificial poultry and heavenly hangover relief

5 Wonderful Things

Sacrificial poultry and heavenly hangover relief

Koreatown's Top 40

Sacrificial poultry and heavenly hangover relief

It's Over!

The World Cup's Hollywood ending

Games Without Frontiers

The World Cup, week one

A Few Things You Should Know About the World Cup

The World Cup, week one

Eat, Like, a Pig

The World Cup, week one

Into the Melding Pot

Rich flavors from the old country

Korean Comfort Food

Gook Soo is more than just a noodle

Money No Enough

Asia's financial crisis has its filmmakers scrounging for dollars