Six booths and a counter in a narrow storefront on First Street, open since 1956 and the last Japanese restaurant left from the era when Boyle Heights held one of the largest Japanese American populations in the country. The menu is teishoku sets, curry rice and udon, cooked by one person at a time. There is a state historical marker on the building and it is still a neighborhood lunch place rather than a museum.

7:30 PM · The Mess Around with Eugene Edwards

After

King Taco

0.3 mi · 7 min walk - Boyle Heights

Raul Martinez started King Taco out of a converted ice cream truck in East Los Angeles in 1974, and this Cesar Chavez branch keeps the original format: a brightly lit counter with a salsa bar. Carnitas and lengua come by the taco. It is open past midnight every night and until three on weekends, which in this part of town is unusual. Cash moves fast and the line is rarely longer than five minutes.