How Dumplings Became a Lifeline for These L.A. Chefs Andy Wang
There was a moment, chef Brandon Kida admits, when it was nice to finally have some “free time with absolutely no responsibility.” It was the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic in Los Angeles, and Kida had been busy running buzzy restaurants, including Hinoki & The Bird in Century City. He was very close to opening “a California take on an izakaya” in Hollywood. Then everything just stopped.
After some respite and reflection, Kida knew he had to start pinching gyoza.
“I kind of fall back on childhood comforts, said Kida, a Japanese-American chef who grew up in L.A.’s Koreatown. “When things are going bad, people love comfort food. My comfort food was gyoza, dumplings. I remember sitting at the dinner table with my mom, and she would just show me how to make handmade gyoza: how to make the filling, how to fold the dumplings, how to cook the dumplings.”