Chinatown emerging as L.A.'s hottest restaurant destination

Few upcoming restaurants have gotten quite so much play as Catfe, which is hoping to become the first American equivalent of the cat cafes in Japan. Who but the squeamish and the allergic could possibly object to a room where it is possible to...

We are here once again at the Far East Plaza, the modest Chinatown mall that is home to the recently reviewed Howlin’ Ray’s, Pok Pok Phat Thai and Chego, among other players in the current food movement. We are in Unit 120, the self-described...

Perhaps you are in the Far East Plaza, and the line outside Pok Pok Phat Thai is too long, and you are in the mood neither for vegan maple-Oreo ice cream at Scoops nor Ooey Gooey Fries at Chego. You could walk across the street for a plate of duck...

Is it possible to become converted in a single bite? Because with a single fried chicken wing at the original Portland Pok Pok in 2007, I dropped my prejudices about non-European cooking in Oregon, the crossover potential of extreme Asian funk,...

L.A. dining culture thrives on plurality. Restaurants in the region’s many rooted immigrant communities cook remarkable foods to please their own populaces. Second-generation chefs graft traditions and innovations in singular ways, often returning...