Taiwan

On The Line: Tony Lu Of The Slummin' Gourmet - Part Two

This week's chef/husband/father looks back on his employment that inspired The Slummin' Gourmet. We also learn about the (soon-to-be) newest addition to the TSG family. Read our interview with Tony Lu of The Slummin' Gourmet, Part One. And now, on to Part Two . . . What did you do prior to runni ... More >>

Din Tai Fung Is Coming To South Coast Plaza

Oh, yes. Din Tai Fung, purveyor of the famed Shanghai-style xiao long bao soup dumplings that burst in your mouth upon consumption, is coming to South Coast Plaza. Arcadia's Best reports that the 8,000 square-foot restaurant won't be here until April 2014. Sigh. Still, SCP sounds like an ideal spo ... More >>

Arnold Schwarzenegger and Kim Ji-Woon Make Last Stand at Busan West Film Fest at Chapman

Getting director Kim Ji-Woon to open the 2013 Busan West Film Festival at Chapman University is enough of a coup, so it's just piling on to consider the star of Kim's debut U.S. feature will also be tagging along.Perhaps you've heard of him: Arnold Schwarzenegger?

Battle-Tested DJ Shogun Finally Returns to OC

[Locals Only] The first Asian American DJ on Armin van Buuren's trance label traveled the world to prove himself

Franchesca Robi Carries the Platters' Torch

Paul Robi was the booming baritone of the 50s vocal group the Platters. He stayed with the group through their chart topping heyday, performing on timeless classics like "Only You," "The Great Pretender" and "Twilight Time." He passed away in the late 1980s, performing for as long as his body would ... More >>

Chinese Con Artist Who Sold Access to Two Ex-U.S. Presidents Learns Fate

Using great props to fake credibility, a shameless Orange County mother-son con artist team convinced investors to hand them as much as $2 million in a scam involving speaking engagements for U.S. presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush as well as former Vice President Al Gore.After their 2011 fe ... More >>

Boba May Contain Cancer-Causing Chemicals

Just got some frightening news about boba, the drink we love to chew (and sometimes shoot at friends with those giant straws).  German researchers warn that the boba balls--or tapioca or pearls or bubbles or whatever you like to call them--may contain cancer-causing carcinogens. They told The L ... More >>

McDonald's Introduces Bubble Tea Drink in Germany; Some Call The Ad Racist

The news fluttering about the blogosphere isn't that McDonald's in Germany is selling bubble tea (also known as boba, those drinks with the chewy, starchy balls made from tapioca), it's that a few sites are questioning whether the ad they've developed to market the product is racially insensitive.Th ... More >>

Class 302: A Course to Audit

The Irvine restaurant teaches you well with its grade-school theme and Taiwanese food

CNNGo Publishes First Ever Worthy National-Media List of Chinese Restaurants

​Whenever I read a best-of list in the national media, I wince internally. They're usually either cobbled together by looking at the Internet and seeing which ones are mentioned most often--which results in a kind of small-scale Zagat guide, prone to the hype machine--or they're put together by pe ... More >>

Five Worst Disney Tattoos... Ever

​A 27-year-old woman from Taichung, Taiwan recently took her love of Snow White to new heights when she covered her entire back in a tattoo of the characters from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Check out the full artwork after the jump... and stick around for five of the absolute worst Disn ... More >>

On the Line: Anne Eng of Panfiniti, Part Two

​Before heading to the commissary for supplies, Anne Eng found the time to meet outside one of her favorite places, Diamond Jamboree's Lollicup. She quips about her adventures in driving the Panfiniti lonchera and how she prefers to spend her free time. While part one's answers may have a lot to c ... More >>

Elf on the Shelf Means You Better Watch Out ... Or He'll Sue!

​Elf on the Shelf, the decoration that spies on children to check if they are naughty or nice for you-know-who, has caught much attention this Christmas season, even thousands of miles away in Taiwan where Next Media Animation (NMA) creates those funky cartoon images for news organizations around ... More >>

Little Sheep Mongolian Hot Pot Planned For Irvine

​Yesterday we talked about how Class 302, the Rowland Heights staple for shaved snow, was planning a store in Irvine. Today, we talk about Little Sheep, which is to Mongolian hot pot what McDonald's is to burgers (and I mean that in the world-conquering sense, not a dig on its quality).& ... More >>

Can Tilapia Take the Place of Shark in Shark Fin Soup?

​California has made international news with our recent effort to ban the sale of shark fin soup, the Chinese delicacy that unfortunately is leading to the extinction of too many shark species. Now comes word from a Taiwanese fish farmer that he has a perfect solution, one that doesn't necessarily ... More >>

Meet Onch, the Designer Behind Nicki Minaj's Fried Chicken Necklace

​What's that chained around Nicki Minaj's neck?  Oh, just a hot pink chicken wing. In her latest publicity-fueling move, the hip-hop star wore the piece o' poultry to the iHeartRadio Festival last weekend. The Internet proceeded to go pollo loco, and everyone (hyperbole) needed to know: ... More >>

Fake Steve Jobs Sells Tea in Taiwan

Bets are on that the Apple lords will zap this off YouTube faster than a 4G network, so enjoy it while you can! 

"Boiling Point" Taiwanese Hot Pot Restaurant To Open In Irvine

Photo from Boiling Point Website​What you see above is a Taiwanese hot pot from a restaurant called Boiling Point, a popular San Gabriel mini-chain that started sometime around 2007 specializing in the Sterno-heated dish. There are stores in Arcadia, Hacienda Heights, and Monterey Park, not to men ... More >>

Latest Food Scandal: Drinks Tainted With Plasticizers Typically Used To Manufacture PVC Pipes

Flickr user photographynataliaThis is just a stock photo of a typical supermarket shelf of drinks. Drinks shown are not necessarily any of the affected brands.​News is that Taiwan and surrounding regions are dealing with the latest tampered food scandal. This time, the alleged offender has been pi ... More >>

[UPDATE: Newport Elementary & Beaches Closed, Small Waves in OC] No Tsunami Warning Issued For California As a Result of 8.8 Magnitude Japan Quake--Yet

​UPDATE, MARCH 11, 8:14 A.M.: Newport Elementary School has been closed.UPDATE, MARCH 11, 7:46 A.M.: Southern California is now under a tsunami advisory, rather than a warning. Waves could get as high as 7 feet up in the Central Coast, but should be more in the neighborhood of 2 feet on Orange Cou ... More >>

NMA's Latest News Video Makes Nice Dreams

​Last summer, we posted something we had not seen before: computer-animated video produced in the Far East to go with news coverage of something that happened in the U.S. In that instance, it was one of Orange County's most heinous crimes of 2010.New Details [and Video] Emerge About Double Murder ... More >>

Wacky Snacks: Sanh Yuan Chien Cha Slice - Preserved Fruit

Edwin GoeiName: Sanh Yuan Chien Cha Slice - Preserved Fruit Origin: Taiwan Found at: 99 Ranch, Irvine Cost: $1.99 Ingredients: Dried Fruit, Sugar, Salt, Licorice

Racist OC Register Reader Fustercluck of the Day

​Headline: House Passes Border Security BillComment by unclebill: I love Obama! $600M for boarder security. $26B for teachers unions. OBAMA! OBAMA! OBAMA! Gimmie dat Obama money....Comment by gameon: I'm starting to think you just don't like mexicans and don't like having a black president. its a ... More >>

Jackie Chan Upstaged by Bruce Lee Yet Again

Bruce Lee gets the better of Jackie Chan in either Fist of Fury or Enter the Dragon.​Comments Jackie Chan made in China this past April about the Chinese people needing "to be controlled" spurred demands this weekend from an art activist for an "Urgent Action" to stop a statue of the action star f ... More >>

Loretta Sanchez Says Vietnam's Rulers Are Pimps

[Moxley Confidential] The OC congresswoman's tough stance on human trafficking should play well in Little Saigon

Ethnic Eating 101: Chinese, Part 6

Despite the fact that we could go on for years about the variations and nuances of Chinese cuisine, we are going to close this week with a visit to Taiwan, because after Cantonese, the single most available regional cuisine in the Southland is Taiwanese, due in part to the great number of Taiwanese ... More >>

Wacky Snacks: Everyone Says Good Good Eat

Grace LeEveryone Says Good Good Eat​Name: Everyone Says Good Good Eat Origin: Taiwan Found at: Arirang Supermarket, Garden Grove Cost: $2.50 Ingredients: Wheat Flour, Potato Starch, Soy Sauce (Soybean, Salt), Yeast Powder, Palm Oil, Garlic, White Pepper, Black Pepper, Chili Powder. Why I B ... More >>

"The Drummer" and "The Young Victoria" Square Off in Competing Screenings

"The Drummer." Kick ass!​Two foreign films that received OK notices roll tonight as the film societies of Orange County and Laguna Beach present competing screenings. Laguna Beach Film Society shows 2007's The Drummer, a Hong Kong by way of Taiwan production that features Jackie Chan's son Jaycee ... More >>

[¡Ask a Mexican!] Reconquista for Dummies

Ay Chung Rice Noodle in Irvine Replaced By A New Sichuan Restaurant

I still remember when Ay-Chung Noodle opened three summers ago in Irvine. It had just replaced Bin Bin Konjac, a shaved ice dessert shop. Never had I seen anything so busy in Irvine (this was before Yogurtland existed). There was a line to order, and a wait to get your food. Getting a table was ... More >>

Midastee Brews A Mighty Fine Cuppa In Brea

I'm always in favor of the underdog, or at least giving them a shot, and, when it comes to eating out, that basically means anything that's not a chain.That's why it was nice to discover a new tea shop in Brea. The nearby Starbucks had closed anyways (it's about to be replaced by a branch of Yogurtl ... More >>

[Special Screenings] Local Showings of 'Strangers,' 'Sid and Nancy,' More

Councilwoman Blames Own Panel for Irvine Sister City's Demise

The Irvine Sister City Foundation--which has helped make Irvine a truly international city thanks to successful partnerships with with Tsukuba, Japan, Hermosillo, Mexico, and Taoyuan, Taiwan--voted to dissolve last night. Despite the denials of Irvine Mayor Suhkee Kang, an Irvine City Coun ... More >>

99 Ranch Wants You To Know: "NOT Made in China!"

Browsed through the online ads for 99 Ranch today and I noticed something I'd never noticed before. On their flier, attached to pictures of items that are look remotely Asian in origin, there are now big cartoony bubbles that proclaim "Made in Taiwan" or "Made in Japan". I'm pretty sure that befor ... More >>

Kuai Kuai Corn Snack

Orange County's culturally diverse, but all cultures living here have at least one thing in common: snacks, junk food, stuff you can't really call cuisine or dinner. So, in what I hope to be a long-running and fun series, we'll pick out one "Wacky Snack" from a local market per week; then do a marg ... More >>

New Flavor at Beard Papa's in Costa Mesa

Unless you follow foodie bulletin boards and blogs, chances are you haven't heard of or had a Beard Papa's cream puff. That goes double if you don't normally venture out of Orange County, where there are only two outlets of this Osaka-based chain. There's one at Santa Ana's MainPlace Mall, and a ... More >>

Quan Minh Ky in Westminster's Little Saigon Serves Up Deer, Alligator, Goat, Frogs, Wild Boar, More

Special Screenings

Movie of the Week: Shane

Letters

'He is smart enough to realize if he didnt get out then, he may have awoken a fortysomething with crazy-colored hair and a tattoo of dragons circle jerking'

Twisted Sister City

Irvine shanghais Taiwan

Diary of a Mad County

June 21 - June 27

Now I'm No Lawyer

But it seems to me Irvine is in violation of the Taiwan Relations Act of 1979. The TRA set up diplomatic-ish relations between the US and the Republic of China on Taiwan. Instead of an embassy we have the American Institute in Taiwan, and whenever China drops a missile off Taiwan's coast we're requi ... More >>

Irvine Wants Communist $$$ for the Great Park?

The controversy surrounding Irvine's new "Sister City" relationship with Communist officials in Shanghai and the bizarre snub of democratic Taiwan began with numerous "irregularies," including breaches of protocol, "odd" outside influences and possible "deliberate deception," according to a June ... More >>

Irvine Tells Taiwan Where to Krom It

Irvine Mayor Beth Krom just might be unmade in Taiwain. As reported in OC Register's blog and print edition, as well as The Blotter, Irvine recently set up a sister-city in China, after agreeing to ignore Taiwanese sovereignity. They can't partake in Taiwanese National Day celebrations and civic lea ... More >>

Irvine Offends Thousands of Its Citizens

An Orange County Grand Jury recently decided that the Irvine City Council is trying to hijack the Great Park, and that the OC Board of Supervisors (who initially approved of Irvine's actions) might look into litigation in order to return control of this huge local resource to the county itself. Irvi ... More >>

Irvinian-Hosted Academia

Pacific Modernities: Museum Culture and Civic Engagement

The Asian Persuasion

Great Asian restaurants, and the Asians (and Chuck Devore) who love them

Cultured Carnies

Taiwans national acrobats weird up the circus thing

Active Eats

And its one, two, threewhat are we dining for?

Cha, Cha, Cha

Tea bar brews superlative stuff