Every Tuesday, FISH TACOS are just a DOLLAR each at Crunchy Sea by the 4th and Western Car Wash!
Photo courtesy of Hop Head Jim
Address: 401 S Western Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90020
Location: Fourth Street and Western Avenue (the car wash!)
Phone number: 213-388-4533
Hours Open: 11am-8pm, Monday to Saturday
11am-5pm on Sunday
Only on Thursday, August 19: The pick-me-up meets the cool-you-down!
$1 Coffee and Tea Smoothie Day ~
Flavors: Mocha Mojo, Coffee Craze, Matcha Green Tea Blast, Chill-icious Chai
* Offer valid only on 8/19/10 at participating Jamba Juice locations towards the purchase of one sixteen size Coffee Craze™, Matcha Green Tea Blast®, Mocha Mojo™ & Chill-icious Chai™ smoothies. Limit 1 per person. Offers specifically NOT valid at Safeway, Vons or Pavilions locations. Not valid with other offers or discounts. Not valid for Jamba Juice employees.
The Koreatown location of Jamba Juice is on the ground floor of the Mercury building on the southwest corner of Wilshire Boulevard and Western Avenue.
Address: 3800 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90010
Phone number: (213) 382-1497
Open until 9:00 pm today!
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
LA’S KOREATOWN WELCOMES OLYMPIC MEDALIST SIMON CHO
Los Angeles, CA (July 29, 2010) – Olympic bronze medalist Simon Cho was welcomed with a special dinner in the Koreatown district of Los Angeles last night, with the short-track speedskater feted by locals and joined by a few lucky fans at a Korean barbecue restaurant.
The 18-year-old Korean American’s participation in the recently concluded Vancouver Olympic Games earned the U.S. team the bronze in the 5000-meter relay event, and has been a source of pride for Asian Americans everywhere.
Currently a resident of Salt Lake City, Cho is visiting Los Angeles during a week-long hiatus from his rigorous training schedule. He spoke with a group of entrepreneurs in Anaheim and did an interview in downtown Los Angeles earlier in the day before slowing down to relax and enjoy an evening in Koreatown.
Tiger Joo, owner of LA Hanin Fitness, sponsored the event and coordinated with the Twitter account of the Koreatown community to gather residents of the Los Angeles area, including a select group of fans, who were interested in meeting the athlete. Among the attendees were singer Paul Kim and actor Richard Chiu.
Paul Kim, who is most recognized for his being a finalist in the sixth season of American Idol, casually chatted about future opportunities with Cho after the athlete expressed interest in entering the entertainment industry. Actor Richard Chiu was eager to meet the Olympian after cheering him on during the Winter Games and described him as “a fantastic young gentleman.”
Simon Cho appeared to have appreciated the warm welcome, describing Koreatown as “comforting” and “a familiar setting.” He explained that coming to Los Angeles was not purely for business reasons, but was also because of a fondness for the atmosphere and variety that the metropolis has to offer.
Cho said, “Salt Lake City isn’t very diverse, whereas when I come to Los Angeles, I see people from very different kinds of backgrounds. I really love Los Angeles.”
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Media Contact: Jean Ortiz-Luis
Phone number: 562.412.5753
Email: j_ortizluis [at] yahoo.com
If you missed the news on Twitter and Facebook, let it be known that the unique Oaxacan juicery NaturaBar has extended its sponsorship of @Koreatown for another two weeks!
Hurray for the Spanish-speaking part of our neighborhood. Sometimes, one wonders why it’s called Koreatown when the majority of residents have always been hispanohablantes, but that’s another story.
After soft-launching on July 3 with shorter hours, Natura Bar has found a regular rhythm, now opening at 7:00 am and closing at 8:00 pm everyday. The menus have been fine-tuned and they’ve added a community blackboard that has been popular with the Twitterati who are among the most loyal customers.
The board was made by Natura Bar manager and co-owner Fernando Lopez himself, and after two weeks, it’s so chock-full that he says the board will be erased soon to make room for new messages.
Check out the latest menus. First, the”scraped” ice formed into a ball and flavored with syrup. RASPADOS are the Mexican version of snow cones!
FLAVORS: Maracuyá (passionfruit), Guanábana (soursop), Tamarindo (tamarind), Limón (lime), Guayaba (guava), Mango, Coco (coconut), Nuez (walnut) and Rompope (eggnog). The small size is 3.50 while the large is four dollars.
Limonada Natura (house lemonade) 2.25
Fruta: mango, jicama, pepino aka cucumber 3.50
Fresas/Plátanos con Crema 3.75
Strawberries/Bananas with Cream
Coctel Natura (Fruit Cocktail) 4.00
plátano, melon, papaya, piña y sandía
banana, cantaloupe, papaya, pineapple and watermelon
con yogurt de fresa y guayaba
with strawberry and guava yogurts
Gelatinas y Flan
Jello and Flan
My iPhone wasn’t able to snap a good photo of their updated menu of ice creams. This one below is from my visit in early July.
Among the flavors are mamey sapote, limón (key lime), leche quemada (burnt milk), tuna (cactus fruit), nuez (walnut), coco (coconut), vainilla (vanilla), and flor de piña (pineapple blossom).
Make sure to see for yourself what all the buzz is about. These menu offerings are natural if not organic. No sugar added; only organic honey from bees in Jalisco!
Natura Bar is right next to Guelaguetza Restaurant on 8th Street.
Address: 3335 W. 8th Street, Los Angeles CA 90005
Cross street is Irolo (extension of Normandie). NORTHWEST CORNER
Phone number: 213-784-0943
Thanks by the way to Fernando’s sister and business partner Bricia Lopez who answers most of my questions! And thanks to their Natura Bar for sponsoring the Koreatown Twitter account for most of July. The support gives a vital boost to a social-media channel that serves the most vibrant district of Los Angeles. Check it: twitter.com/koreatown ~
Don’t forget to follow the juice bar’s updates http://twitter.com/naturabar
Like the Official Facebook Page! http://facebook.com/naturabar
Also, they will be at the LA Food Fest on July 24, Saturday, 4:00-9:00pm. Tickets are sold out, but if you’re one of the lucky few who’ll be there, hunt down their leche quemada (burnt milk), nuez (walnut), and flor de piña (pineapple blossom) ice cream! Natura Bar on 8th Street will remain open on this day, 7:00am-8:00pm.
In case you haven’t guessed it yet from recent postings, the newest sponsor of the @Koreatown account on Twitter is NATURA BAR, the Oaxacan juice bar soft-opening this Saturday, July 3rd, at 10:00 AM next to Guelaguetza Restaurant’s location on 8th Street.
For those who don’t live in Koreatown, GUELAGUETZA is the premiere Oaxacan restaurant in Los Angeles, if not arguably the entire United States. The latter is actually the judgment of LA Weekly’s Jonathan Gold, the first-ever food critic to win the Pulitzer Prize.
The Lopez family that owns the Guelaguetza group of restaurants conceptualized NATURA as a Oaxacan juice bar that serves organic, all-natural juices, shakes, and homemade ice cream. Fernando is the manager of the 8th Street location of Guelaguetza and, along with his sister Bricia, has been developing the bar’s raison d’être and menu, and will be overseeing its operation next door.
What makes NATURA BAR’s sponsorship of the Twitter account exciting is that finally Spanish-speaking residents of Koreatown are being prominently represented, as should be, because los hispanohablantes have always comprised the majority of the actual residents in the area.
But beyond the ethnic aspect, one cannot overlook the excitement over the wholesome offerings of NATURA, which include leche quemada ice cream, pure jicama juice, and a unique fruit cocktail topped with a homemade organic guava yogurt that’s fat free! The sweetener is organic honey that the Lopez family brought in directly from Mexico. Honey from bees in Jalisco ~
NATURA BAR‘s sponsorship of the Koreatown Twitter account runs for two weeks and gives a much-needed boost to a growing social network that connects and strengthens the ties among the diverse elements of Koreatown online. To understand what this means, check out twitter.com/koreatown !
Don’t forget to follow the juice bar’s updates http://twitter.com/naturabar
Like the Official Facebook Page! http://facebook.com/naturabar
Address: 3335 W. 8th Street, Los Angeles CA 90005
Cross street is Irolo (extension of Normandie). Northwest corner
Guelaguetza’s phone number: 213-427-0601
Don’t forget the soft-opening on Saturday, July 3, at 10:00 am! Regular hours will eventually be 7am-8pm, Monday -Sunday.
The latest genius of a project from the folks behind the Guelaguetza restaurants in Koreatown (that’s the Lopez family) is a Oaxacan organic juice bar right next to their 8th Street location.
Mandatory disclosure: I was there to discuss Natura Bar‘s sponsorship of the @Koreatown account on Twitter (an announcement that deserves a separate post), and in the photo you can see the head of Bricia, who was letting me in to take a look. I snapped the pic with my iPhone because I thought it was cute that the address was 3335 and one-fourth.
Bricia is the vivacious Lopez daughter who along with her brother Fernando developed the concept for the organic juice bar. He is currently the manager of the 8th Street location of Guelaguetza and will also be overseeing Natura.
What has everyone on Twitter and food blogs excited is that this juice bar located in the heart of Spanish-speaking Koreatown will be offering Oaxacan jugos and licuados that are all organic and natural. And of course the team behind it has a successful track record of pleasing both foodies and everyday diners, so no one is expecting to be disappointed.
To drive the point across as soon as we entered, Bricia quickly handed me a serving of jicama juice that was all natural with absolutely nothing added to it — no sugar! They call it Purifica Juice and what’s great about it is that it has virtually no calories or fat, but has all the nutritional goodness of the fruit such as anti-oxidants, fiber, vitamin C, potassium… I grew up munching on raw jicama (you know, the Mexican turnip), but never did it occur to me to make juice from it. Great idea!
The board above lists one of the cornerstones of Natura Bar‘s menu — the homemade Nieves Oaxaqueñas, aka Oaxacan ice cream. Among the flavors are mamey sapote, limon (key lime), leche quemada (burnt milk), nuez (walnut), coco (coconut), vainilla (vanilla), and flor de piña (pineapple blossom). The prices currently written are $1.50 for a scoop, $2.75 for two scoops, and $4 for three.
That’s Bricia herself scooping out some leche quemada ice cream for me to try. Her mom’s recipe really does capture that classic Mexican flavor of burnt milk. Healthy cold treat to enjoy during the 4th of July weekend ~
Another stalwart item on the Natura menu is the LICUADOS, the fruit shakes!
Mango, Fresa (strawberry), Platano (banana), Mamey
$4.25 for the smallest size, $5.75 for the largest
Licuado de Fresa made from organic strawberries ~
The staff had all the different flavors of shakes lined up for taste-testing, but all those liquids would have overwhelmed my lower torso. I was game to try a slightly solid goodie in the form of Mexican jello.
I was in such a hurry to wolf it down all I could remember is that the lower layer is milk-based and it really tasted natural and evoked no childhood memories of the keenly artificial flavor of American Jell-O.
Natura Bar is also proud to be serving a Fruit Cocktail composed of watermelon, pineapple, papaya, cantaloupe and apples. It’s topped with strawberries and jicama shavings, as well as a homemade organic guava yogurt that’s fat free! The sweetener is organic honey that the Lopez family brought in directly from Mexico. Yup, honey from bees in Jalisco!
Dulkaab: La dulzura mas pura
100% miel de abeja de Jalisco
You can find Natura Bar on Facebook and the juice bar’s updates on Twitter.
Soft-opening this weekend — Saturday July 3rd at 10am
Normal hours of operation will be 7am-8pm, Monday -Sunday.
Address: 3335 W. 8th Street, Los Angeles CA 90005
Cross street is Irolo. The restaurant is located on the northwest.
Guelaguetza’s phone number: 213-427-0601
Hope I can find time to show up on Saturday with my Flip camcorder. The eating and drinking luminaries of Los Angeles are going to be there for sure!
Koreatown Directory Koreatown on Twitter