More than Just Food: Giti Thai and Guisados by Nia

Living in Los Angeles, I feel like I’m constantly surrounded by food from different cultures. Because of this, it can be easy to enjoy different cuisines without really thinking about where they come from, who is preparing them, or how they change when they enter different communities. After our class trip to Boyle Heights and my own visit to Giti Thai, I started thinking more about these questions. Giti Thai and Guisados are very different restaurants, but both show how food can represent culture and community. At the same time, comparing them raises questions about authenticity, cultural exchange, and who gets to represent another culture’s food.

I visited Giti Thai with my Dad, and I ordered the Pad Thai while he got the Tom Kha Coconut Milk soup. We also shared vegetable egg rolls. I liked my Pad Thai, but I immediately noticed that it wasn’t the same as the Pad Thai I have had at more traditional Thai restaurants. The flavor was different from what I was used to one thing they added was green onions and I’ve never had that on pad thai before. This made me wonder if some of the food at Giti Thai has been adapted for the community it serves. The portions were pretty decent, especially my dad’s soup, which was a good size. The prices weren’t bad unless you add meat to your dish wich adds about $7 depending on the meat. The most popular dishes at Giti Thai is their ones with oxtail which is a perfect example of fusion foods. 

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  Vegetable Egg Rolls

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  Pad Thai

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  Tom Kha Coconut Milk Soup

The thing that makes Giti Thai interesting is that it’s Black-owned Thai restaurant located in View Park-Windsor Hills, an area with a strong Black history and community. The restaurant came from a collaboration between Jerome Tarver and Giti Rezaian. This makes Giti Thai an example of how food can move beyond the community or culture where it originated and become part of another community.

My experience made me think about Dakota Kim’s article, “We’re Having the Wrong Conversation About Food and Cultural Appropriation.” Kim argues that discussions about cultural appropriation should not happen “in a vacuum” without considering the racial, cultural, and economic power structures surrounding food. I think this is important when looking at Giti Thai. It would be easy to say that a Black-owned restaurant serving Thai food is automatically appropriation, but I don’t think the issue is that simple. Instead, Giti Thai shows how cultures can interact through food. Even though my Pad Thai tasted different from versions I have had at more traditional Thai restaurants, that doesn’t necessarily make it bad or completely inauthentic. It shows how food can change when it enters a different community. 

Guisados in Boyle Heights gave me a different perspective on culture and food. Guisados is a family-owned business founded by the De La Torre family, and its food is connected to Mexican home cooking and family traditions. What stood out to me is how they wanted to give the feeling of at home meals to anyone who came into the restaurant. When we wer there Armando Jr. told us guisados are something your mother makes on Monday and you have the leftovers for the next few days which adds to the flavor and experience you get while eating it.

This difference also connects to Kat Chow and Maria Godoy’s NPR article, “When Chefs Become Famous Cooking Other Cultures’ Food.” The article questions what happens when people gain recognition and success from cooking food belonging to a culture other than their own. This made me think about the difference between Guisados and Giti Thai. At Guisados, Mexican food is being represented through a Mexican American family business, while Giti Thai involves people from different cultural backgrounds coming together around Thai cuisine. I don’t think someone necessarily has to belong to a culture to cook or appreciate its food, but I do think respect, knowledge, and recognition of where that food comes from are important.

Overall visiting these restaurants made me realize that there isn’t one simple definition of “authentic” food. Guisados shows how food can preserve family and cultural traditions, while Giti Thai shows how food can travel, adapt, and bring different communities together. Both are part of what makes Los Angeles food culture so interesting. Globalization doesn’t just mean having access to food from around the world it also means that cultures are constantly interacting and influencing one another. The more important question might not be whether food changes, but how and why it changes, who benefits from those changes, and whether the culture behind the food is still being respected.

Works Cited

Chow, Kat, and Maria Godoy. “When Chefs Become Famous Cooking Other Cultures’ Food.” NPR, 22 Mar. 2016.

Kim, Dakota. “We’re Having the Wrong Conversation About Food and Cultural Appropriation.” Paste Magazine, 6 June 2017.

Two Cultures Walk Into a Tortilla (by Parsa)

Have you ever wondered what happens when a Mexican taco meets the flavors of another culture? My story started from Guisados in Boyle Heights. The variety of tacos was my favorite part of our visit.

The smell of warm corn tortillas and savory stewed meat made me excited. Some had meat, while others had beans or vegetables, with toppings such as avocado, cheese, and pickled onions. They were served on small corn tortillas, yet each looked different. Two tacos that were new to me were the cactus taco and the beans and cheese taco. The cactus had a mild, slightly tangy flavor and a tender texture, which made it stand out. In the beans and cheese taco, the beans had an earthy flavor and a creamy texture, while the cheese added a salty taste. Unlike Guisados, Kogi brings a different kind of variety by putting Korean barbecue in a Mexican taco. Comparing the two shows how Latino cuisine in Los Angeles can stay connected to Mexican traditions while also changing through encounters with other immigrant cultures. I would say, Kogi reflects cultural fusion by combining Korean flavors with Mexican tacos. Guisados emphasizes cultural preservation through its stewed style cooking and corn tortillas, continuing Mexican cooking traditions in Los Angeles.

At Kogi’s, I ordered Korean BBQ short rib and spicy pork tacos. The spicy pork was my favorite because it had just the right amount of spice, with barbecue flavor, sauce, and onion. The crunchy toppings contrasted with the soft tortilla. The truck’s sticker covered exterior gave it a casual street food atmosphere. Trying both showed my idea of what a taco could be, from Roy Choi’s Korean barbecue pork at Kogi to the cactus filling at Guisados.

Guisados and Kogi give me two ways to understand that idea. Guisados’s fillings reflected Mexican taco traditions and the tacos I tried in Boyle Heights showed variety within a familiar Mexican form, while Kogi combined Korean barbecue flavors with the Mexican taco format. Also, Kogi’s history shows how that form can carry Korean flavors across the city and beyond. This difference is why I find fusion a useful word for Kogi, it names both traditions instead of hiding either one. Roy Choi described his cooking by saying, “This is what Los Angeles tastes like” (quoted in Portnoy and Pilcher 20). Both deserve attention for the work and communities that shaped them.

Works Cited

Heldke, Lisa. “But Is It Authentic? Culinary Travel and the Search for the ‘Genuine Article.’” 

Portnoy, Sarah, and Jeffrey M. Pilcher. “Roy Choi, Ricardo Zárate, and Pacific Fusion Cuisine in Los Angeles.” 2015.

Vamos a comer fusion food! (Let’s eat fusion food!)

By: Daisy Montesinos

Hoy comeremos pan (today we will eat bread). It is a saying my mom would always say we visit the panderia. Each Latino community has their own panderia and Boyle Heights is no exception to them. Monarca Bakery reflects L.A. ‘s Latino culture but an upscale Mexican panderia. It is nestled in the heart of Boyle Heights, a centerpiece of Latino resistance and protests against gentrification. Monarca Bakery was not welcomed at its first opening, the owners had to win the Mexican clientele over due to its high prices (Esparza, Eater). As an avid concha eater, I can attest that the price at Monarca is rather high compared to other conchas at my local panaderies. But I give credit to the fact, they are actively aiming to cater to the tradition of panderias that many children of Latino immigrants, as myself, cherish so deeply. They welcomed me warmly and once I took a bite of their concha, I knew it tasted just like the ones from my home. I would kind of agree that the Monarca kind of feels more different though. They illustrate a modernization of a common Latino staple and aim to still attract Mexican clientele, while attracting a more robust audience. It has the Latino, particularly the Mexican, cuisine as its “a powerful metaphor for identity” of what a panderia typically is (Portnoy & Pilcher 2). I think Monarca is aiming to diversify, through modernizing, and can be viewed as authentically being a panaderia with an upscale twist. This creates a certain fusion of Latino panaderia cuisine aimed to cross classes and cater food diversification. 

I believe that Monarcha Bakery is aiming to re-purport the influences of a Mexican staple into food culture, modernizing it but not necessarily creating new nor cross cultural connections. Where we see more cross cultural exchange though is in fusion foods and is the best way to experience how influential Latino cuisine is.

Walking away from Boyle Heights and into a small corner tucked on the corner of 23rd street is a small restaurant that advertises “Indian & Mexican Fusion”. The term “fusion” is certainly overused and used to generalize a combination of foods, often disrespecting either culture represented (LA Times, Addison). But do not get discouraged or doubtful, because when you enter you are immediately hit with strong hints of basil, curry, and other spices that are so unfamiliar. The restaurant itself had a mi casa es tu casa (my house is your house) kind of vibe. The layout outside was similar to what my family’s carne asada looks like, and had a familial feeling of many childhood memories. I was immediately drawn into the Chicken Tikka Quesadilla and the Garlic Paan.  My quesadilla arrived with two salsas and oozing with cheese and a specific smell of basil. The Chicken Tikka Quesadilla was absolutely mouth watering, the chicken was so moist and the sauce was so rich, words cannot do it justice!  The salsas paired nicely with the quesadilla but I do have to admit as a green salsa critic, it did taste slightly acidic yet I did not mind so much since the Quesadilla was beautiful on its own. That is what makes it so influential to see how Cafe 23 was made based on the thought of combining Latino cuisine and Indian cuisine together. It never sought to be anything but itself and they saw the existing Latino cuisine in L.A. and to make new cultural connections. I feel that it makes the place authentically itself and it is something so much more that tries to use existing relations to make new cultural connections without a label (Heldke 393) Monarca illustrates the modernisation of a Latino cuisine and its influences in the L.A. culinary world, but Cafe 23, and many “fusion” foods, allow you to see how different but so wonderful Latino cuisine has affected the grander scheme of cuisine in LA. Without Latino cuisine influence, and neither Indian cuisine, Cafe 23 would not exist and it is great to see how you see both foods respectfully reflected in these dishes. “Fusion” foods are ways to see more of the complex cuisines at work and in my opinion, offer more food diversification. So next time you see fusion foods, think about the new cultural connections you can make and say “Hoy comeremos fusion foods”!

WORKS CITED

Addison, Bill. “Can We Let Go of the Term ‘Fusion Cooking’ Once and for All?” Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 27 Aug. 2022, http://www.latimes.com/food/newsletter/2022-08-27/tasting-notes-letting-go-of-term-fusion-tasting-notes.

Esparza, Bill. “A Factory Tour of La Monarca, LA’s Busiest and Most Prolific Panadería Chain.” Eater LA, 10 Dec. 2024, la.eater.com/2024/12/10/24313225/la-monarca-panaderia-los-angeles-mexican-bakery-factory-tour.

Heldke, Lisa, and Carolyn Korsmeyer. “But Is It Authentic? Culinary Travel and the Search for the ‘Genuine Article.’” The Taste Culture Reader Experiencing Food and Drink.

Portnoy, Sarah, and Jeffrey  M. Pilcher. “Roy Choi, Ricardo Zarate, & Pacific Fusion Cuisine in La.” Jan. 2015.

A Taste of Home in Koreatown by Elizabeth Fombona

The moment I stepped into Escala, the bright familiar colors of La Rana transported me from Koreatown back to my Colombian childhood. I chose to visit Escala, a Colombian-Korean fusion restaurant in Los Angeles’s Koreatown. The first thing that caught my attention at Escala was not the food; it was La Rana. As soon as I walked through the entrance, I looked to my left and immediately recognized the traditional Colombian game I had played as a child. Its bright yellow, blue, and red colors stood out like a small Colombian flag welcoming me into the restaurant; its worn-out wooden frame carried a feeling of nostalgia.

I chose Escala because of its intriguing menu, which combines traditional Colombian cuisine with Korean flavors and embodies the cultural diversity of Los Angeles. I ordered the K-Town Rice con Pollo, a fusion dish that blends Korean kimchi fried rice with Colombian arroz con pollo, and the chicken bandeja, which came with chicken, rice, beans, an arepa, and an egg. Escala maintains its Colombian authenticity by continuing to serve traditional plates like the chicken bandeja, whose familiar ingredients preserve the flavors and customs of Colombian cuisine. At the same time, fusion dishes like the K-Town Rice con Pollo show how those traditions can evolve through contact with the Korean culture surrounding the restaurant. This balance is what makes Escala so unique: it does not abandon its Colombian roots but uses them as a foundation for creating something new. By contrasting these two dishes, I observed how Escala preserves recognizable Colombian cuisine while adapting it to its Koreatown setting. Especially when compared with Guisados in Boyle Heights, my experience at Escala demonstrated that Latino food in Los Angeles can maintain its authenticity while evolving through immigration, cross-cultural interactions, and the unique character of different neighborhoods.

Escala reminded me of Guisados since both restaurants use their physical space to convey cultural identity. The artwork and decorations on the walls make both spaces feel alive, personalized, and connected to their surroundings. However, each restaurant expresses this identity uniquely. Guisados felt more tied to the Mexican culture and community of Boyle Heights, while  Escala had a more bohemian vibe influenced by colorful street art, music, and a fusion of Colombian and Korean cultures. Escala’s décor mixes symbolism from both cultures, representing the owner’s heritage and the variety of Koreatown. Despite being a fusion restaurant, Escala still felt authentic to me. I was comfortable in both Escala and Guisados because of my Mexican and Colombian ancestry. Escala connected me to my Colombian identity with traditional meals like rice, beans, plantains, arepas, and chicken, while Guisados reminded me of my Mexican identity through its handmade tortillas and ties to Boyle Heights. This connection was strengthened when I saw La Rana, a traditional Colombian game I used to play when I was a little girl and often play when I visit my family in Bogotá, Colombia. This showed me that Escala retains customs that hold value and memories for Colombians in addition to drawing inspiration from Colombian-Korean culture for its fusion cuisine.

Escala’s authenticity can be seen in the cohesion of its traditional and fusion cuisine. With its rice, beans, arepa, egg, and chicken, the chicken bandeja preserves identifiable aspects of Colombian cooking. On the contrary, the K-Town Rice con Pollo blends Korean kimchi fried rice with Colombian arroz con pollo. Its Colombian roots are not lost in this fusion meal. Rather, it expands by adding in tastes from the Korean community. Customers can enjoy both a typical Colombian meal and a Colombian-Korean fusion at Escala, which makes it unique. Its menu shows that cultural innovation and preservation don’t have to be mutually exclusive. My experience relates to Jonathan Gold’s argument that foods may not always fit a narrow definition of authenticity but can still be “authentic representations of what Mexican food has evolved into over centuries of Mexican presence in Southern California.” Gold’s theory applies to Escala’s Colombian-Korean fusion even if he talks about Mexican food. Escala’s cuisine is a true representation of how Colombian food has evolved in Los Angeles, a city where immigrant cultures regularly interact and impact one another. The restaurant does not claim that its fusion dishes are unchanged recipes from Colombia.

As someone who is both Mexican and Colombian, visiting Escala reminded me that my identity is also made up of different cultures, memories, and traditions existing together. I entered expecting to compare two meals, but I left with a deeper appreciation for how food can preserve where we come from, connect us to who we are, and create something new without asking us to forget our roots.

Work Cited

Portnoy, Sarah. Food, Health, and Culture in Latino Los Angeles. Rowman & Littlefield, 2016.

“Escala K-Town.” Escala, www.escalaktown.com. Accessed 13 Oct. 2026.

From Boyle Heights to K-Town: Where Guisos Meet Galbi

By: Samantha Esquer

For this assignment, I chose to visit Escala in Koreatown, a restaurant that combines Colombian, Korean, and some American culinary influences. When I first entered, I immediately noticed the dim colored lighting, string lights, music-inspired decorations, and the Colombian and South Korean flags hanging next to each other. These details made the restaurant’s blended cultural identity clear before I even looked at the menu. After being seated, I asked the waiter which dish he recommended that would best represent the restaurant’s Korean and Colombian influences. He pointed me toward the Bandeja K-Town, a Colombian platter served with Korean barbecue short ribs.

When the platter came out, I was surprised by how large it was and how many different foods were included. It came with galbi, chicharrón, Colombian chorizo, sweet plantains, avocado, tomato and onion salad, coconut rice, beans, an arepa, and a sunny-side-up egg. Most of these foods come from a traditional Colombian bandeja paisa, but the addition of Korean galbi connected the dish to Koreatown. I also ordered loaded yucca fries with pulled pork and asked the waiter if I could have a sauce to dip them in. He surprised me with an orange-looking sauce and explained that it was Escala’s signature kimchi aioli. Even this small part of my meal showed how Escala mixes Korean flavors with Colombian and Latino ingredients. On its website, Escala describes the restaurant as a reflection of its owner’s life: “Seoul Born, Bogotá Raised, L.A. Grown, Brooklyn Aged” (“Escala”).

I would describe Escala as Korean-Colombian fusion, but I think cross-cultural adaptation is more specific. The Bandeja K-Town does not completely change or abandon the original Colombian platter. Instead, it keeps its Colombian foundation while adapting it to the restaurant’s location in Koreatown. Portnoy and Pilcher explain that mixed cuisines in Los Angeles have developed because immigrant communities live near one another and exchange ingredients, cooking methods, and knowledge. Escala represents this type of globalization on a local level because two cuisines from different countries come together in one Los Angeles neighborhood.

Escala’s food and atmosphere were different from what I experienced at Guisados in Boyle Heights. At Guisados, our class sampled small tacos filled with Mexican home-style stews, including chicharrón and cochinita pibil. The tacos were served on handmade corn tortillas with toppings such as avocado, pickled onions, chiles, black beans, and queso fresco. Escala’s Bandeja K-Town was much larger and placed many foods together on a metal platter. Both meals included chicharrón, avocado, and pickled onions, but Escala served these ingredients alongside Colombian chorizo and Korean galbi. Guisados felt like a modern neighborhood taquería where most of the attention was on the tacos. Escala’s flags, lighting, decorations, and music made its Korean-Colombian identity a larger part of the experience.

Although Guisados seemed more traditional than Escala, it has also adapted to attract a broader audience. Portnoy explains that cofounder Armando de la Torre based the restaurant on memories of his mother’s cooking and named it after Mexican home-style stews called guisos. The fresh masa and slow-cooked fillings represent recognizable Mexican traditions. However, as Armando explained during our visit, Guisados takes stews from different regions of Mexico, places them in small tacos, and offers them together as a sampler. Its modern artwork, social-media marketing, and sampler format have helped attract customers from beyond Boyle Heights (Portnoy 50–52). Guisados adapts the way Mexican home cooking is presented, while Escala more directly combines two different culinary traditions.

Escala also illustrates how Los Angeles has always been an immigration economy. Immigrants bring their food traditions to Los Angeles, but they also adjust them based on their surroundings and interactions with other communities. The Bandeja K-Town shows this process because it combines a Colombian meal with a Korean ingredient that reflects its Koreatown location. Escala also brings customers from different cultural and economic backgrounds into the same space, creating what Portnoy and Pilcher call the “cross-class encounters of the Los Angeles streets.” Their reading explains that cultural mixing does not happen automatically; it depends on the creativity and labor of the people preparing the food. Escala and Guisados show that Latino cuisine can preserve familiar traditions while still changing through immigration, neighborhoods, and cultural exchange.

Works Cited

“Escala.” Escala K-Town, escalaktown.com. Accessed 28 Sept. 2026.

Portnoy, Sarah. Food, Health, and Culture in Latino Los Angeles. Rowman & Littlefield, 2016.

Portnoy, Sarah, and Jeffrey M. Pilcher. “Roy Choi, Ricardo Zárate, and Pacific Fusion Cuisine in Los Angeles.” Global Latin America: Into the Twenty-First Century, edited by Matthew C. Gutmann and Jeffrey Lesser, University of California Press, 2016, pp. 146–62.

BBQ On a Taco. Yea or nay? (by Raquel)

Captured by writer Raquel Bell traveling to K-Pasa located 3958 W 6th St, Los Angeles, CA 90020 in K Town!

When you go to K-Town, expect a knockout of flavors! Among USC students, K-Town is known to be a top-flight hub when it comes to Los Angeles food and drink. Driving through, you immediately see its popularity manifested in packed restaurants block after block. With many Asian-owned businesses, it naturally draws a large Asian population, but you’ll also see tourists, as K-Town remains a place where trends manifest themselves. These trends are what reel you into the eccentric hub of K-Town and where the famous K-Pasa taqueria is located & on this trip to K-Town, the destination was in fact was K Pasa Taquería.

Straight up, I’m gonna tell you the food was good and the portions were generous—so generous that I left with leftovers. However, this is the Los Angeles standard. Especially with K-Town being so competitive, you have to bring it; that’s the law. I came in expecting fusion and left confirming that K Pasa Taquería is, in fact, a fusion spot. To me, it seems like a mainstream business trying to compete in the food market by developing a concept that is very niche. It seems like a Korean business is using Mexican cuisine to attract a broader audience of Korean food lovers, but at the expense of authentic Mexican cuisine. The KBBQ taco I tried tasted like a Mexican taco with BBQ sauce added. To me, it felt like taking an existing taco, adding Korean BBQ sauce, and marketing it as a new creation. The only fusion element I genuinely appreciated was the tenderness of the beef. Koreans are known for their BBQ, and the meat was excellent. However, does BBQ belong with salsa verde? Not really. But do KBBQ tacos sound cool? Yes.

The cooks and staff were all Latino when I visited, but the owner is Bryant Siono, a Korean music producer who founded the taquería in 2020. In the NPR article “When Chefs Become Famous Cooking Other Cultures’ Food,” it states, “For some nonwhite Americans, the idea of eating ‘ethnic cuisine’ not cooked by someone of that ethnicity can feel like a form of cultural theft.” This raises an interesting question: Can cultural theft apply to Siono, a non-Mexican businessman using Mexican cuisine as part of a strategic restaurant concept? Or is this simply what Dr. Portnoy and Pilcher describe in Pacific Fusion Cuisine in Los Angeles as the transculturation of food?

To understand whether K Pasa represents cultural theft or cultural exchange, it helps to compare it with a place that approaches Mexican food differently: Guisados in Boyle Heights.

Guisados Tacos 9/23/2026

Visiting Guisados was a completely different experience. During our class trip, we met the owner’s son, who was very nice and welcoming. He catered to our group and handed out tacos and drinks, giving us a chance to see the food firsthand. Unlike K Pasa, which used tablets for customers to place their orders, Guisados offered a more personal experience. K Pasa’s reliance on technology created a sense of detachment by reducing human interaction, potentially eliminating jobs, and making the dining experience feel more transactional than personal. In contrast, Guisados paired its exceptional hospitality with tacos that were just as memorable. Each taco was packed with flavor, featuring tender meats, rich sauces, and fresh ingredients that complemented one another beautifully. What stood out was how the food spoke for itself without needing a fusion concept to attract attention.

At K Pasa, the appeal is partly the idea of Korean barbecue meeting Mexican tacos. It sounds cool and gives customers something different to try. But personally I don’t want BBQ on my tacos. Like I said previously of course the taco was good, meat was tender but their BBQ to me seemed out of place. Guisados, on the other hand, highlights Mexican cooking through its flavors and preparation by staying true to themsevles. I appreciate how the owner draws inspiration from tacos across Mexico and incorporates the tradition of stews into the menu. This approach makes the tacos not only flavorful but also culturally meaningful, with each one reflecting a piece of Mexican culinary history and its own story. 

The comparison between Guisados and K Pasa also raises questions about authenticity and gentrification. In a competitive area like K-Town, restaurants need to stand out, and fusion can become a way to market food to a broader audience. But who benefits when cultural traditions become a business concept? K Pasa’s Korean-Mexican combination reflects the cultural exchange that makes Los Angeles unique, yet ownership and profit complicate the idea of cultural sharing. As Dr. Portnoy and Pilcher discuss in Pacific Fusion Cuisine in Los Angeles, food evolves as cultures interact and influence one another. However, this evolution should be rooted in a genuine appreciation for the communities and culinary traditions being represented, rather than driven solely by marketing strategies or trends. Fusion restaurants must be mindful that a trendy aesthetic should not come at the expense of cultural authenticity or turn cultural appropriation into a profitable business model. There is a meaningful difference between borrowing from another culture to attract customers and honoring that culture by understanding its history, traditions, and significance. Ultimately, successful fusion cuisine should do more than combine flavors; it should tell a story, acknowledge its cultural roots, and respect the communities that created those traditions. When done thoughtfully, fusion cuisine can serve as a bridge between cultures, encouraging people to appreciate and learn from one another rather than reducing cultural heritage to a trend.

But the question still remains about BBQ On a Taco. Yea or nay?

From Jalisco to K town

written by: Carrie Huang

Los Angeles is a city where cultures are constantly mixing, especially through food. However, globalization can happen in a lot of ways. Sometimes immigrants bring food from their home country and continue making it in a new place. Other times, different cultures come together and create something completely new. I saw both versions through my class trip to Mariscos Jalisco in Boyle Heights and my own visit to K Pasa Taqueria in Koreatown. Mariscos Jalisco focuses more on preserving a food tradition from Mexico, while K Pasa mixes Mexican food with Korean influences.

Our class went to Mariscos Jalisco together, which gave us the chance to experience Boyle Heights instead of only reading about it; the restaurant started as a food truck and has been serving the neighborhood since the early 2000s. Its famous shrimp taco comes from San Juan de los Lagos in Jalisco, Mexico. What stood out to me was that we were getting food from a truck right on the street in Boyle Heights, and it made the experience feel connected to the neighborhood’s everyday life. Eating there helped me see how food traditions can become part of a community, so it absolutely did not feel like a random trendy restaurant that could be placed anywhere in Los Angeles.

We were so lucky to get to try taco dorado de camarón, which is the fried shrimp taco that Mariscos Jalisco is known for. The taco had a corn tortilla filled with chopped and seasoned shrimp. The entire taco was folded and fried, so the shell was golden and extremely crispy. It was topped with a tomato based salsa, shredded cabbage, and slices of avocado. My favorite part was the contrast between the crunchy outside and the softer shrimp filling. The salsa also soaked into parts of the tortilla, making it crispy and juicy at the same time. The avocado helped balance the acidity of the salsa. 

Mariscos Jalisco connects to globalization through its owner, Raul Ortega, who immigrated from Jalisco to Los Angeles. His shrimp taco recipe comes from a friend’s family in his hometown, San Juan de los Lagos, and many of his early customers were also from Jalisco (Portnoy 82–83.) However, the restaurant did not intentionally or completely change the dish to appeal to non-Mexican customers. It seems more focused on continuing a tradition and sharing it with a new community. Even though its shrimp taco is now famous throughout Los Angeles, it is still super closely connected to the family’s background and the neighborhood of Boyle Heights. This shows that globalization does not always mean mixing different cultures together. It can also mean bringing one culture into a new location without losing its identity.

For the second part of the assignment, I visited K Pasa Taqueria in Koreatown. This restaurant showed a much more obvious form of fusion. Since Koreatown has both Korean and Latino communities, it makes sense that the food in the neighborhood would be influenced by both. At K Pasa, I ordered birria ramen and a Korean BBQ taco.

Birria is a traditional Mexican dish made with meat slowly cooked with spices, and it became popular in the U.S. through birria tacos served with broth for dipping. Instant noodles are also popular in Korea because they are easy to prepare.

The birria ramen came with ramen noodles, shredded birria beef, onions, cilantro, lime, and a dark red consommé. K Pasa using the birria consomme as the ramen broth. The noodles absorbed the rich and slightly spicy flavor of the birria. At the same time, the onions, cilantro, and lime kept the familiar flavors that normally come with Mexican birria. I could recognize both foods, but the final dish did not completely belong to either culture.

K-BBQ TACO

The Korean BBQ taco was another clear example of fusion. It had Korean-style marinated beef served inside a Mexican corn tortilla with lettuce and salsa. The beef tasted smoky and slightly sweet, which made it different from a normal carne asada taco. However, the tortilla and salsa still made it feel like a taco and it also looks like one completely from the outside. I also realized that Korean and Mexican foods are not as different as they first seem. Both cuisines use marinated meat, spicy flavors, acidity, and their really special and distinct seasonings, so the combination actually worked naturally.

Mariscos Jalisco uses food to preserve a connection to Jalisco and K Pasa takes cultures that already exist together in Los Angeles and combines them. After visiting both places, this made me realize that food can carry memories of home, but also become something new as people share it and make it part of their lives in Los Angeles.

I Did Not Know a Taco Could Have a Passport

By: Maria Alejos

I did not know a taco could have a passport. At Guisados in Boyle Heights, it almost felt like they did. Each taco represented a different part of Mexico, which made me realize how much I had been putting under one label. Growing up eating Mexican food, I was familiar with the dishes my family made, but Guisados reminded me that there is so much more to Mexican cuisine. Even the handmade tortillas and the effort to avoid wasting ingredients felt familiar. It reminded me of my own household, where yesterday’s food is not automatically thrown away. Guisados showed me how a restaurant can introduce people to different food traditions while holding on to the values behind them.

That experience stayed with me when I visited Tirzah’s Mexi-Terranean in El Sereno, but for a different reason. Instead of introducing me to different regions of Mexican cuisine, Tirzah’s showed me what can happen when two cultural backgrounds come together through food. The restaurant is owned by Tirsa and Steve Farah, a Mexican-American and Egyptian-American couple who both attended culinary school. Their menu combines Mexican dishes with Steve’s Egyptian family recipes, including flavors and traditions he learned from his mother. As I learned about the restaurant, I realized the menu was not simply about combining two cuisines. It reflected the couple’s backgrounds, relationship, and the food they wanted to share with others. L.A. TACO describes the menu as being inspired by the food they enjoy at home.

I genuinely enjoyed eating at Tirzah’s. The food was delicious, and what stood out to me was how naturally the Mexican and Egyptian influences came together. Rather than feeling like two cuisines competing for attention, the dishes reflected how different traditions can complement each other while still retaining their identities. Learning about the family behind the food made the experience even more meaningful.

Comparing Tirzah’s with Guisados helped me understand why I have started questioning the word fusion. Before these visits, I probably would have described Tirzah’s as a fusion restaurant because it combines Mexican and Egyptian food. But Bill Addison’s article, “Can We Let Go of the Term ‘Fusion Cooking’ Once and for All?,” made me reconsider that label. Addison argues that the word can make culturally mixed food sound like an unusual experiment, even when it reflects the way people have grown up eating and cooking. That idea made sense to me when I thought about the Farah family. Their menu is not simply two cuisines placed next to each other to seem different; it reflects their lives. Calling it fusion does not fully capture that personal connection.

The reading by Portnoy and Pilcher made me think more about how food becomes popular and whose stories get told along the way. They explain that immigrant and ethnic entrepreneurs help shape food culture, while media, food critics, and consumers influence which foods receive attention. This made me realize how easy it is to focus on a dish because it seems new or different without understanding the people and traditions behind it. At Tirzah’s, learning about the Farah family’s backgrounds gave the food a different meaning. I was not just eating a combination of cuisines; I was experiencing something that reflected the family’s own lives and traditions.

Both Guisados and Tirzah’s introduced me to food beyond what I was already familiar with without making me feel that it had lost its cultural roots. Guisados helped me recognize the diversity within Mexican cuisine, while Tirzah’s showed me how different traditions can come together through a family’s experiences. These visits made me reconsider how I judge authenticity. Instead of asking whether a dish matches what I grew up eating, I now think about the people who prepare it, the story behind it, and what it means to them.

Maybe that is why I keep coming back to the idea of a taco having a passport. A passport does not erase where someone comes from; it records the places they have traveled. In the same way, food can carry its history while reflecting the people and places it encounters along the way. At Guisados, I discovered how many different places Mexican food could take me. At Tirzah’s, I saw how food could bring together traditions that were part of one family’s story. Both restaurants reminded me that food does not have to remain unchanged to remain meaningful. Sometimes, learning about where a dish comes from also means being open to where it can go.

Citations

Addison, B. (2022, August 27). Can we let go of the term “fusion cooking” once and for all? Los Angeles Times. https://www.latimes.com/food/newsletter/2022-08-27/tasting-notes-letting-go-of-term-fusion-tasting-notes

Le, J. (2026, March 3). This Egyptian-Mexican taquería in El Sereno does kofta burritos and falafel sopes. L.A. TACO. https://lataco.com/tirzahs-mexi-terranean

Portnoy, S., & Pilcher, J. M. (2016). Roy Choi, Ricardo Zárate, and Pacific fusion cuisine in Los Angeles. In M. C. Gutmann & J. Lesser (Eds.), Global Latin America: Into the twenty-first century (pp. 146–162). University of California Press. https://doi.org/10.1525/9780520965942-018

What have you done to my taco?

What have you done to my taco? Fusion cooking, is that really a distinctive category of food? We read all about globalization and the influence and innovation of food as it travels through the world. Is there truly any food still that is completely of its own original character? Maybe not, but I’ll try to convince you that even if foods are mixing and developing their own identity in foreign lands, it doesn’t make it any less of an enjoyable experience or a legitimate contribution to food culture. 

I had visited K Pasa Taqueria in K town, a Korean-Mexican fusion place, which instantly grabbed my attention. The Mexican and Korean communities make up just under half of all the population in LA, and with these dominant cultures being neighbors, there’s bound to be exciting culinary innovation. The ingredients, techniques and overall taste of the two cultures couldn’t be more different, though I love them both dearly. How would it taste when you mix those together I wondered? On their website, they claimed to make the best fusion taco in LA, and that is one bold claim I had to verify myself. They also state that they only use the freshest ingredients to recreate food straight out of their mom’s kitchen. The interior was modern, built from brick walls, with modernist art posters all over to attract the younger generations. The ordering process was streamlined, not serviced. I walked up to an iPad and began scrolling through the items offered. Items like the birria ramen caught my attention, as the two ingredients rarely have any interaction, so I wondered how that’d taste. I started conversing with the workers, as I had to get more answers to the vision of this place. Their biggest innovation in terms of a fusion food culture is their K-BBQ taco, which I ordered. Instead of traditional Mexican meats in tacos like Asada, these tacos are filled with more traditionally Korean style meats, like grilled chunks of galbi, which are beef short ribs. The taco also includes a generous amount of lettuce, a trait more seen in Tex-Mex style tacos. The proportions were just right, as I finished it in two strong bites, but each were explosions of flavor from two familiar ends of the culinary world. The galbi meat sauce combined with Mexican ingredients like salsa surprisingly complemented each other, and as I processed these flavors, memories associated with both cultures flooded my mind. This is when I understood what Roy Choi meant when he said, “this is what LA tastes like”. LA and all its varieties never have to be enjoyed in separate, segregated chunks as its historic racist policies made it to be. I don’t have to only enjoy Korean food in K town, and only get tacos in South LA. It is a diverse culture where each community and their love for their culture seeps into their neighbors, fostering an environment where a taqueria like K Pasa was born. Just as Bill Addison exclaims, “the pluralism of Los Angeles — expressed through the combining of food cultures in thoughtful, appealing ways — didn’t need a label. It just was.” Sure, it’s helpful for the restaurants like K Pasa to label Korean-Mexican, but I believe the culture of LA is that they never needed a label. The food would speak for itself, and K Pasa would resonate equally with both the Korean and the Mexican community. It’s this drive for innovation and appeal to wider masses that reminds me of our trip to Guisados.

Guisados, with all its young energy poured in by the owner’s son, embodies this innovation. The restaurant is still steeped in tradition and you’ll still get the familiar tacos here, but it recognises the environment it’s in and it adapts its menu to a wider variety of audiences, as seen from their vegan taco options. Jonathan Gold pokes fun at this appeal, as he says Guisados is “the Eastside restaurant most likely to be visited by folks from the west, partly because the tacos with smoky chicken tinga are pretty hard to resist; partly because a television screen in the corner is hooked up to a surveillance camera in the parking lot.”  With all these restaurants trying something new, I don’t think anyone can go up to the owners and say, “what you’re making here is inauthentic”. For both K Pasa and Guisados, instead of calling their style “globalized” or “fusion”, I see what they’re doing as adaptation. They represent the very spirit of the “immigrant economy” termed by Bill Esparza. Though countless families bring their culture and foods here for a better life, to succeed, they aren’t afraid of innovating their traditional foods positively to reach a wider audience. To me, that is nothing short of commendable. 

Works Cited

Bill Addison, Can we let go of the term ‘fusion cooking’ once and for all? 

https://www.latimes.com/food/newsletter/2022-08-27/tasting-notes-letting-go-of-term-fusion-tasting-notes

Bill Esparza, Globalization impacts cuisine.

https://www.pbssocal.org/shows/the-migrant-kitchen/bill-esparza-globalization-impacts-cuisine

Jonathan Gold reviews Guisados

https://www.laweekly.com/jonathan-gold-reviews-guisados

The Art of Mixing Cultures Through Food by Negin Kahrobaie

From handmade corn tortillas to traditional Mexican pastries, food in Boyle Heights offers a glimpse into how cultural traditions are preserved and adapted in Los Angeles. During our class trip to Boyle Heights, I visited Guisados and La Monarca Bakery. Both places are rooted in Mexican food traditions, but they also show how these traditions have adapted within Los Angeles. At Guisados, I noticed that the menu centered around tacos with different braised meats and fillings served on handmade corn tortillas. The food itself felt traditional, especially because of the emphasis on slow-cooked meats, tortillas, and familiar Mexican flavors. At the same time, Guisados did not feel exactly like a traditional neighborhood taco stand. The restaurant had a more modern and organized atmosphere, and the way the tacos were individually presented made it easy for customers to sample several different options. This seemed like an example of adaptation rather than completely changing or fusing Mexican cuisine with another culture.

La Monarca Bakery showed adaptation in a different way. The bakery offered foods and drinks associated with Mexican culture, including pan dulce, Mexican pastries, and cafe de olla, while the overall environment reminded me of a modern coffee shop. However, it still maintained traditional elements, such as customers using tongs to select pastries and placing them on round trays. This stood out to me because it showed how a bakery could incorporate a contemporary atmosphere while still preserving familiar Mexican traditions.

These observations connect to Willa Zhen’s discussion of how food contributes to cultural identity and belonging. Both Guisados and La Monarca demonstrate how Mexican food traditions can be maintained while adapting to their surroundings. This complicates the idea of “authenticity.” Although both restaurants have adapted to their Los Angeles surroundings, these changes do not necessarily make their food less Mexican or less authentic. Their location in Boyle Heights is also significant because the neighborhood has a long history as a Mexican American community, and these restaurants reflect how food can preserve cultural identity while adapting to a changing city. While Guisados and La Monarca show how Mexican cuisine can adapt without significantly changing its traditional flavors, other Los Angeles restaurants take this process further by combining culinary traditions from different cultures. This was evident during my visit to SHU Sushi House Unico in Beverly Glen, where Japanese and Italian influences come together through dishes such as spicy tuna crispy risotto.

During my visit to SHU Sushi House Unico in Beverly Glen, I experienced a different approach to combining culinary traditions. Unlike Guisados and La Monarca, which primarily maintain Mexican food traditions while adapting their presentation, SHU incorporates influences from Japanese and Italian cuisine. I ordered the spicy tuna crispy risotto, which immediately stood out to me. As I took my first bite, my teeth sank into the soft, flavorful spicy tuna before reaching the golden, crispy layer of risotto underneath. The slight crunch of the risotto contrasted with the tender, almost melt in your mouth texture of the tuna, creating a combination that was both satisfying and unexpected. The spice from the tuna added a kick of flavor that complemented the richness of the risotto. Each bite brought together different textures and flavors, making it easy to appreciate how two distinct culinary traditions could work so well together. The dish combined Japanese-style spicy tuna with Italian-inspired risotto, showing how fusion cuisine can create something unique while still maintaining elements of both cultures. 

Compared to Guisados and La Monarca, SHU also offered a different dining experience. While the Boyle Heights locations felt more casual and connected to familiar Mexican foods, SHU had a more upscale restaurant atmosphere. The presentation of the food seemed more focused on creating a unique dining experience rather than maintaining a traditional style. This difference made me think about how restaurants adapt not only their menus but also their environments to appeal to different customers. SHU’s sophisticated atmosphere and carefully presented dishes seemed to cater to the clientele of Beverly Glen, a neighborhood with a more affluent residential community.

SHU’s approach connects to Portnoy and Pilcher’s (2016) discussion of globalization and food culture in Los Angeles. The authors explain that “the gentrification of global street food has resulted from trends in both the production and the consumption of culinary culture” (Portnoy and Pilcher 3). This idea relates to SHU because its fusion dishes take inspiration from different culinary traditions and present them in a more refined dining environment. Similar to Guisados and La Monarca, SHU shows that adapting traditional cuisine does not necessarily take away from its authenticity. While SHU combines Japanese and Italian influences, the dish still maintains recognizable elements of both cuisines. Although the spicy tuna crispy risotto is not specifically an example of Latino fusion, comparing SHU with Guisados and La Monarca highlights how globalization influences restaurants in different ways. These restaurants demonstrate that Los Angeles cuisine cannot be defined by one culture or tradition. Instead, it reflects a city where food continues to evolve through adaptation, creativity, and cultural exchange. 

Works Cited

Portnoy, Sarah, and Jeffrey M. Pilcher. “Roy Choi, Ricardo Zárate, and Pacific Fusion Cuisine in Los Angeles.” 2015.

Zhen, Willa. Food Studies: A Hands-On Guide. Bloomsbury Academic, 2019.

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