Torrance: LA’s Unsung Culinary and Culture Hotbed
Photo courtesy of Discover Torrance
Like many a lad from the East Coast, I fell smitten with that seductive California beauty, Los Angeles. Hollywood’s glamor and mystique. Venice Beach’s countercultural riot. Santa Monica’s choirs of swimwear-clad angels. LA had me at hello.
My romance with LA blossomed further upon discovering the writings of the late, great Jonathan Gold, the Pulitzer Prize-winning LA Times food critic who championed the city’s unsung neighborhoods. Through his vivid storytelling, Gold, like Dante’s intrepid Virgil, guided me through the Paradise and Inferno of America’s second-largest city—to bulgogi mainstays in Koreatown, Oaxacan cantinas in East LA, and time-honored BBQ joints in South Central. But of all the corners of Los Angeles the great culinary troubadour inspired me to explore, none were so captivating as Torrance.
At first brush, Torrance might seem just another SoCal bedroom city—rows of tidy lawns, leafy parks, and an oceanside promenade enlivened with dog walkers, young families, and surfers. But this South Bay neighborhood is far from a white-bread suburb. Like Jackson Heights in New York City, here is one of America’s most dynamic melting pots—an enclave where Mexico, Thailand, the Philippines, and Japan collide. As you would expect given Gold’s reverence, Torrance is a haven of gastronomic joys, but cultural gems like The Honda Museum, Torrance Art Museum, and Pine Wind Gardens are as compelling as the izakayas, ramen shops, and taco stands.
Below, find some recommendations for a memorable—and delicious—jaunt through Torrance, a fascinating tile on the great urban mosaic of LA.
Where to Eat
While LA’s ritzy boulevards are awash with sumptuous sushi counters, true Angelinos know that Torrance reigns supreme for regionalized Japanese cuisine like Osaka-style okonomiyaki, Fukuoka-style ramen, or delicate kaiseki tasting menus. And unlike many omakase dinners in Santa Monica or Manhattan Beach, you won’t have to liquidate your 401(k) for an unforgettable Japanese meal in Torrance. Of course, this being Los Angeles, excellent Mexican, Thai, Vietnamese, and burgers are never hard to find in Torrance, either.
Kickstart the morning with caffeinated ambrosia at Offset Coffee, a cozy cafe and favorite haunt among UCLA students. For later snacking, snag a bag of tropical pastries—toothsome cakes studded with kiwi, mango, and ube—from Kings Hawaiian Bakery. Their restaurant, next to the bakery, whips up the tastiest loco-moco—a scrumptious concoction of white rice, eggs, ground beef and gravy—this side of Honolulu.
Hakata Ikkousha Ramen, a tiny ramen shop in an Asian strip mall, is a Los Angeles institution for masterfully crafted tonkatsu ramen. Early each morning, chef Kousuke Yoshimura slowly boils down pork bones into a silky broth—a porcine elixir garnished with thin Fukuoka-style noodles, wood ear mushrooms, and slices of chasu, tender roasted pork. While you watch Hakata’s team prepare the sweet, sweet ramen from an open kitchen, grab an ice-sold Sapporo from the fridge. You’d have to book a flight across the Pacific for a more satisfying bowl.
Chefs come from all over Southern California for Torrance’s Korean, Japanese, and Chinese grocers. Mitsuwa Market, a sprawling Japanese supermarket and food hall, keeps gourmets blissfully adrift for hours with glittering aisles of fish, dry goods, and food stalls hawking everything from yakitori to sashimi and matcha ice cream. Looking for hard-to-find sakes or an extensive selection of Japanese craft beer? Mitsuwa might be your best bet anywhere in the U.S. Down the street and equally impressive is 99 Ranch Market, a warehouse-sized supermarket specializing in the colorful galaxy of Chinese ingredients.
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