LAGuide
13 LA Restaurants Offering Lunar New Years Specials
Welcome to the Year of the Rabbit. Let's eat.
Welcome to the Year of the Water Rabbit. On Sunday, January 22nd, we bid farewell to the ferocious Year of the Tiger and usher in a new era—one, with any luck, that's full of peace, serenity, and absolutely no drama on Twitter. Fingers crossed. Besides the many festivals and parades being held in Chinatown, Alhambra, Santa Monica, and beyond, here are the 13 LA restaurants offering Lunar New Year Specials in 2023.
THE SPOTS
Back for a limited time, Wanderlust's Oolong Pineapple Cake ice cream combines the smooth and milky flavor of Taiwanese jin xuan tea with sticky pineapple jam and bits of buttery pastry. Find the seasonal flavor in all six Wanderlust stores until the end of the month.
Imperial Chinese cuisine specialist Bistro Na's in Temple City is offering set menus for groups of two, four, six, or ten people this Lunar New Year for a meal that’s fit for royalty. Expect dishes like abalone over rice, braised sea cucumber, and beef tendons.
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Row DTLA’s Kato is hosting a nine-course Lunar New Year tasting menu from January 24th-28th. The $325 meal features a collaboration between the Taiwanese tasting menu restaurant and the chefs behind Bonnie's (Brooklyn) and Baan Tepa (Bangkok). Each ticket comes with a wine or non-alcoholic pairing.
For abundance, prosperity, and, uh, simply a ton of food, Hop Woo in Chinatown is offering two poon choy specials. The traditional Cantonese meal can be ordered with or without seafood and consists of enough braised pig feet, roast duck, black sea moss, shiitake mushroom, abalone, and tofu skin to feed six people. Order must be placed two days in advance.
From Thursday, January 19th to Saturday, January 21st, Chinatown teahouse, Steep is teaming up with Tiger and the Horse for a LNY dinner series. The Taiwanese pop-up will serve a full menu from 4-10pm alongside special Year of the Rabbit cocktails and mocktails from Steep.
Huntington Beach food hall Local Kitchens is ringing in the Lunar New Year with a festival on Saturday, January 21st. The event runs from 11am-1:30pm and includes live music, games, and food from Locali, Backyard Bowls, Chicas Tacos, and more. There will also be free beef dumplings for the first 100 customers ordering from Korean food pop-up Hanchic.
If starting the Year of the Rabbit with a sweet treat sounds like a good idea, Nong La is serving caramel flan at their La Brea and Sawtelle locations from January 16th-22nd. The classic recipe is based on a Vietnamese tradition, with the flan's round shape representing unity and togetherness.
Open Market's LNY dry-aged roast duck special is meant to be shared with family: full orders feed up to four people and include roasted duck breast, confit duck leg, and duck fat fried rice, along with fermented salsa, scallion salad, and flour tortillas fixings. Pickups are on Thursday, January 26th in Koreatown.
Historic Filipinotown's Woon's LNY party runs from Friday, January 20th through Sunday, January 22nd. The Chinese restaurant will be serving auspicious specials like stir-fried rice cakes, steamed chive moneybag dumplings, and black sesame rice balls. And for those feeling extra lucky, each party dining in will receive a red envelope filled with a special mystery prize.
Merois, The Pendry Hotel's upscale rooftop restaurant run by Wolfgang Puck, is hosting a lavish LNY prix-fixe dinner. Served under the stars (and perhaps some smog), the $165 meal will be offered on January 27th and 28th and includes dishes like king crab bao buns and braised short ribs.
During this festive time, San Marino dessert shop Go Cakes is offering a $88 housemade Lucky Mandarin Tree, or 大吉大利—a stack of 20 burnt-orange cream puffs decorated with chocolate leaves and golden coins to signify luck, wealth, and prosperity. Orders can be picked up from Friday, January 20th, to Tuesday, January 24th.
You'll find tea-smoked duck, spicy chili king crab noodles, and chicken jiaozi dumplings wrapped in golden turmeric wrappers at Ms. Chi Cafe's LNY celebration in Culver City. The family-style set menu costs $128 for two people and is available from January 18th-22nd.
photo credit: Combap Mart
Blossom Market Hall
Ring in the Lunar New Year with crackling desserts and… a new hat? Catch Combap Mart on Saturday, January 21st, at their pop-up at Blossom Market Hall in San Gabriel where they'll be selling a special Year of the Rabbit baseball cap alongside Loaf Language mochi krunchies (crispy treats that come in flavors like hojicha hot cocoa, ube Oreo, pandan coconut, and more).
