Here are all of the new vendors to try at Smorgasburg 2023
Smorgasburg 2023
After taking a brief break for the holidays, weekly food festival Smorgasburg returns to the Row DTLA complex on Sunday with an array of new vendors taking up residence within the roughly 75 stalls. Each year the Brooklyn-founded event, which permanently planted a flag in Los Angeles in 2016, rotates in new pop-ups, established restaurants, bakeries, coffee shops and beverage companies, and this year’s include new names as well as familiar faces to those following L.A.’s burgeoning pop-up scene.
“We want new businesses doing the best and most unique versions of what they do,” said Zach Brooks, Smorgasburg L.A.’s general manager. “Things that people are going to see and want to eat, but more importantly things that people are going to want to eat again and again.”
Radna Silom, a popular street-noodle tent in Thai Town, began cropping up on the sidewalk in front of Silom Supermarket in 2022. The Sathirathiwat family behind it all brings its lauded pad Thai to Smorgasburg starting this weekend, along with other dishes such as pad see ew, all pan-fried to order. Correa’s Mariscos — formerly at a stand in Lincoln Heights’ Correa’s Meat Market — will bring its shrimp tacos dorados, aguachiles and ceviches to Smorgasburg, and Long Beach Cambodian wings shop Shlap Muan will offer its chicken.
Mignon Alexandria’s vegan, mushroom-focused Champignon Eats pop-up re-creates comforting, home-style favorites made with vegetables, and the chef-owner will be offering her enoki mushroom take on crispy fried chicken sandwiches, among other items. Long Beach’s Sweet Grass Sugarcane began slinging its pressed sugarcane juice at Smorgasburg in 2021, and now the same team is adding Cambodian-style, charcoal-grilled meat skewers to the event with the Golden Skewer.
For Brandon Conaway and Carolina Pedroza, Smorgasburg gives their pandemic-spurred pop-up Quarantine Pizza Co. another place to appear and grow. Already familiar with the food festival as both fans and vendors — having appeared as a fill-in for Picnic Sandwich one weekend last fall — they’re excited to be back as a more permanent fixture. “Brandon and I have always liked going to Smorg even before we started our little business,” Pedroza said. “Next thing you know we have this pizza pop-up and we’re like, ‘Let’s just try it and see what happens.’ And then here we are.”
The duo can already be found serving individual-sized sourdough pizzas at cidery Benny Boy Brewing. At Smorgasburg, they’ll be focusing on slices: four to five varieties each weekend — with Margherita, pepperoni and the jalapeño- and hot-honey-topped Spiceroni as recurring options — including a rotation of specials such as an al pastor pizza made with blue-corn crust, a cochinita pibil take and one inspired by a bánh mì. Eventually, they say, they might like to open a restaurant, but in the meantime events such as Smorgasburg will help them to network and establish their brand further before making that leap.
When it comes to drinks and desserts, the festival is also adding a few names. Those who shopped Smorgasburg’s special holiday market might recognize the return of Vicky Escalante’s whimsical, hand-painted French macarons via her specialty bake shop, Etoile Filante, while husband-and-wife team Lawrence and Lindsay McDonald whip up more than 25 flavors of cinnamon rolls, with vegan and gluten-free options included. To wash it down, there’s Taipei-founded Odd One Out Tea serving a range of tea flavors with boba, jellies, handmade mochi balls and other customizers.
Smorgasburg runs 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sundays within the Row DTLA complex.
777 S. Alameda St., Los Angeles, la.smorgasburg.com
BBQ + Rice Mar Vista
Quick-and-casual local chain BBQ + Rice recently expanded to the Westside, bringing its Korean rice bowls, fried chicken, dumplings, 24-hour-marinated bulgogi and house-made pickles to Mar Vista. The fourth BBQ + Rice fills the former El Charro space with founder Matthew Kim’s signature bowls, salads and sides, many of which are available for $10 or less. BBQ + Rice in Mar Vista is open 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. and 5 to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday.
12819 Venice Blvd., Los Angeles, (323) 793-2370, bbqricela.com
Guisados Hermosa Beach
Some of L.A.’s top tacos are now available in South Bay. Guisados, the family-owned operation beloved for its braises and freshly made corn tortillas, now operates an outpost in Hermosa Beach just one block south of the pier. At their eighth location, the De La Torre family serves its signature items — including cochinita pibil, bistek, hongos and breakfast tacos — in addition to select aguachiles, ceviches and other seafood items from sibling taqueria Playita Mariscos, which opened in 2021 in Silver Lake. Guisados now is open in South Bay 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sundays.
1031 Hermosa Ave., Hermosa Beach, (310) 374-3033, guisados.la
Forever Pie
A new plant-based pizzeria in Beverly Grove is serving vegan slices, whole pies, fried mozzarella sticks, garlic knots, salads, “chicken” wings and baked pastas reminiscent of a classic slice joint, open late. Forever Pie is the latest project from Nic Adler — creator of the Eat Drink Vegan festival and a co-founder of Monty’s Good Burger and Nic’s on Beverly — and Anthony Carron of 800 Degrees and Coast Range. The restaurant serves classic, all-vegan pizzas in options such as meatball with ricotta, pepperoni with garlic and Calabrian chiles, and Meat Haters (a faux-meat take on a meat lovers pie), as well as a tikka masala variety, a bulgogi-sauced kimchi-topped option and a cheeseburger-inspired take. Forever Pie is open noon to midnight daily; a second location, in Echo Park, is planned to open later this year.
8010 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles, (424) 777-4992, foreverpie.com
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