South Korea

Koreatown's Beer Belly Throws a Three-Day Beer Party

When beer bars and gastropubs started sprouting up en masse across Los Angeles a few years ago, not many could have predicted the rise of Beer Belly. Hidden off of Western near the Titantic-themed Cafe Jack and a two-story Kentucky Fried Chicken, the tiny former noodle house -- which is brightly pa ... More >>

The 10 Best Restaurants in Silver Lake: A Neighborhood Grub Crawl

Ah, Silver Lake. Home of hipsters, celebrities and -- not very many good restaurants. Or, more accurately, a whole lot of pretty bad restaurants. But while Silver Lake hasn't had the food boom you might expect, given the price of housing in the neighborhood (seriously, a tiny Spanish bungalow with a ... More >>

Where The Chefs Eat: 6 Favorites from Plan Check Kitchen Bar's Ernesto Uchimura

Where the Chefs Eat is an ongoing series in which we ask a local chef to give us his or her favorite dining options. This week, we check in with Ernesto Uchimura, chef at Plan Check Kitchen Bar. At Plan Check, chef Ernesto Uchimura offers up comfort food in the form of burgers, pastrami, and one ... More >>

Antonio Villaraigosa Withdraws From Consideration For Cabinet Post

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announced this evening that he will serve out the last five months of his term, closing the door on speculation that he would be appointed to a position in the Obama cabinet."I am flattered and humbled by the speculation that has included my name for a possible Cabinet sec ... More >>

Cookbook Review: How to Boil an Egg A Lemon Ricotta Pancake Recipe By Way Of London & Paris

In this new year of chef cookbooks and kitchen resolutions, sometimes you simply want to fine tune the basics: the perfect pork chop, the creamiest ice cream, How to Boil an Egg. In her latest book, Rose Carrarini, owner of Paris' Rose Bakery, reminds us just how much of a culinary chameleon the egg ... More >>

Top 10 Old-School K-Pop Groups

By Michelle Woo Before there was SNSD, 2NE1, Big Bang, and Wonder Girls, there was S.E.S., g.o.d., and H.O.T. Familiar with these names? You must be an O.G. K-pop fan. See also: *K-pop Till You Drop: The Skinny on the Korean Boy and Girl Groups That Get Major Play in Koreatown *Our review of 2NE1 ... More >>

Mara Salvatrucha, Koreatown Gang, Is Now An International Crime Syndicate

Mara Salvatrucha, the Salvadoran American group that got its start in the heart of L.A.'s Koreatown, has been designated by federal authorities as an international criminal organization, a first for a street gang. MS-13, as it's also known, "is being targeted for its involvement in serious transnat ... More >>

6 Great Food Museums: Food as Art, Or Not

Last week, the Carpigiani Gelato Museum opened in Anzola dell'Emilia, Italy, just outside Bologna; the first in the world, it says, to "delve into the history, culture, and technology of artisan gelato." Inside, you'll learn about the history of the frozen treat, from an 11th century recipe for pom ... More >>

Byung-Hun Lee Is a Big Deal in South Korea. But Not in the U.S. Yet.

I was told I was going to meet the Korean Brad Pitt. With that in mind, I walk into the Los Angeles office of CJ Entertainment, the largest entertainment company in South Korea, where I am introduced to Byung-Hun Lee. He currently stars in The Prince and the Pauper-type period piece, Masquerade, w ... More >>

Kang Ho Dong Baekjeong Is the Restaurant Koreatown Didn't Know It Needed

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 >>

14 Lifeguards Fired for Filming 'Gangnam Style' Spoof Video at El Monte City Pool

El Monte city officials got more bad press this past weekend for firing 14 fun-lovin' lifeguards from their posts at the local Aquatic Center than for any other scandal in the city's history -- including, debatably, that time ex-City Manager James Mussenden got caught trolling for hookers along Holt ... More >>

Cloud Atlas Review: The Wachowskis and Tom Tykwer bring their adaptation of David Mitchell's novel to Toronto

One man's ambitious, iconoclastic, like-nothing-ever-before-seen passion project is another man's Battlefield Earth, and so it goes that for some of us who saw the film's world premiere in Toronto last night, Cloud Atlas -- written and directed by Tom Tykwer and Andy and Lana Wachowski from David Mi ... More >>

Mara Salvatrucha Gang Turf Targeted in Spate of Deadly Koreatown Area Shootings

Updated at the bottom with a report stating there's a gang truce. First posted at 7:07 a.m. Monday. A spate of gang-related shootings have broken out in and around Koreatown in recent months, most happening in a neighborhood known as the epicenter of the global El Salvadoran Mara Salvatrucha gang. ... More >>

Five Quite Good K-hop Albums

See also: *K-pop Till You Drop: The Skinny on Korean Boy and Girl Groups" *Reviewed: Drunken Tiger at the Jungle Concert In L.A., 12-02-11 This just in: the best South Korean music to get international play is not K-pop. Sorry. Much like J-pop, and their American cousins, y'know, girl bands and bo ... More >>

Music Picks: Regina Carter, Madness, Melvins, Grace Woodroofe

Also, Neon Indian, Moab, Damien Jurado and others

5 Koreatown Restaurants Open 24 Hours: Hangover Soup

There is a segment of the population whose late-night cravings consist not of bacon and eggs or burgers and fries, but of sizzling grilled short ribs and flaming hot soups and comforting porridge. That segment of the population is the one you'll find after last call in Koreatown. There are so many ... More >>

Occupy L.A: As City Debates Cost of Occupation, Port Spends Nearly $200,000 on Party

Moet & ChandonDrink up, City Hall.​As the skies of tolerance for Occupy L.A. are getting gloomy (both Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and city Councilman Bill Rosendahl have expressed that there are limits to how long demonstrators can camp out next to City Hall), our own tolerance for bullshit gro ... More >>

Jonathan Gold Reviews Wako Donkasu

Top 5 Westwood Dishes UCLA Grads Will Miss

Flickr/Kyle StricklandIn-N-Out Double-Double​ With the mass exodus of thousands of UCLA graduates from their picturesque Westwood neighborhood -- picturesque if you've always envisioned a neighborhood where you'd search 30 minutes for a parking space before giving up, or if you've dreamed all ... More >>

The New KFC: Korean Fried Chicken

Anne Fishbeinthe invisible restaurant critic​ Dear Mr. Gold: You seem to be writing about a lot of Korean restaurants recently. The new KFC is Korean Fried Chicken. I've tried BonChon and Kyochon. While both are good, I have to give the edge to Kyochon, although BonChon gets points for easy pa ... More >>

LA Street Food Fest: Photo Gallery

Carmageddon? Where? The traffic-nightmare-that-never-was (westside to Pasadena in under 30 minutes!!!) may have kept cars off the road and eaters from attending LA Street Food Fest, but their loss was our gain. With few lines, we managed to sample from EVERY vendor at the festival. Yes, every v ... More >>

Jonathan Gold Reviews Eighth Street Soondae

Mugung-what?

Sunset Strip Follies

30 Burgers in 30 Days: Kimchi & Cultural Fusion at Kalbi Burger (Day 2)

What hath Kogi wrought -- aside from a million imitations of its Korean fusion taco? How about a worldwide phenomenon pairing two of L.A.'s most ubiquitous immigrant cuisines with the accessibility of fast-food. Yet, the Korean fusion trend hasn't made its way to that other American classic: the b ... More >>

10 Things You May Not Know About Korean Food a Recipe

B. Hansenpork with kimchi at Yongsusan​ Did you know that L.A.-style galbi is famous in South Korea? If the answer is no, then bone up (what better term) on this and other little known facts about Korean cuisine with a 10-point guide that will make you sound like an expert. 1. L.A.-style g ... More >>

Desperate Housemaids

Two films, two tempted husbands, 50 years of Korean cultural change

Getting Past the Pain: Feuilleté Chocolate at Paris Baguette

D. GonzalezFeuilleté Chocolate at Paris Baguette Cafe​ There are ways to grab someone's attention. "Chocolate. " See how well that works. Okay, now try, "Chocolate and flaky pastry." Even better right? It is this phenomenon that has made pain au chocolat one of the most well-known French ... More >>

Best BYOB Burger Joint: The Fix Burger

thefixburger.com​Sometimes we build an entire outfit around a new pair of shoes, and in the same vein, occasionally we end up pairing a meal with a beverage, instead of the other way around. If that six-pack of microbrew is burning a hole in your fridge, consider carrying it down to The Fix Bu ... More >>

Baek Hwa Jung: Kogi's Choice

Roy Choi's favorite Korean cafe

School Food Blooming Roll, a Korean Chain, Now Stateside at MaDang Courtyard

Esther HahnSchool Food's Kimchi Noodles, "Jjol Jjol Myun"​ Restaurant openings in Koreatown seem to follow a distinct pattern: first, grow into a popular, multi-location chain in Korea, then open an outpost in L.A. That has been the case for the successful restaurants Yu Chun Chic, Chil Bo My ... More >>

Saturday Is Yu-Na Kim Day In L.A. Yay!

​Sometimes we're critical of the Los Angeles City Council for dragging its feet on tough issues while giving itself almost Bell-like salaries and falling over itself to pass lame rules like is cat-declawing prohibition. Well, gosh darn it, this council finally got something right: It's "Yu-Na ... More >>

Squid Ink Food Fight: Korean Sushi, Rice, Salad Bowl: Hwe Dup (Mmmmm) Bap

Eating in Koreatown is like being an inventor in the second half of the 18th century: it's nearly impossible to put forth any effort at all without stumbling onto something exciting. Located in a fairly central and accessible region of our city, this fascinating pocket is densely populated and loade ... More >>

This Week in Media WTFBBQ: This Internet's Dead Anyway

Maybe it's because of the looming Memorial holiday, but social media was kind of dead this week. Seasoned party crashers ourselves, we decided to see what the real media kids were up to. It turns out like everyone else in America they too were having a BBQ... a WTFBBQ. Here are our findings, separa ... More >>

In the Midnight Hour: Late-Night Goat Supper at Bulrocho

Dispensing chile-red comfort in a bowl of Koreatown goat soup

Por Es Suelo Pachamama: The DAME Remix

One of the best pieces I've seen in ages is the Por Es Suelo Pachamama wall on Virgil that went up earlier this year. You can see posts on it here and here. In the second link there's some footage of DAME working on his section of the wall (Retna did much of the rest alsong with AWR and Werc). H ... More >>

Put Your Bra Back On!

How Cirque du Soleil made Vegas a family town

Star Power

Ahn Trio shines under the night sky

Hen Party

Sacrificial poultry and heavenly hangover relief

East Versus West

Fifteen years later, L.A. is still divided between served and servers

Diavolo Dance Theater

5 Wonderful Things

Saving Dugongs

The U.S. military faces a battle of another kind in Japan

Heading Toward 2006

American soccer’s future. Plus, the final: Germany vs. Brazil

Patriot Games

Notes on the Taco Gap

Running on Empty

George W. Bush’s plea for votes — and brain cells

Heart and Seoul

Strange and wondrous kimchi in Koreatown

Sampling L.A.'s newest restaurants