Lunar New Year Los Angeles: top restaurants and dishes to try this week

Show summary Hide summary

• Quick picks: what to try and why
• Niángāo — New Year rice cake
• Fó tiào qiáng — the legendary banquet soup
• Sweet trays: Chinese “togetherness” boxes and Vietnamese mứt tết
• Tāngtuán and chè trôi nước — rice-ball desserts
• Luóbo gāo — turnip (daikon) cake
• Bánh tét — Vietnam’s cylindrical rice cake
• Lo hei — the prosperity toss
• Good-luck cookies and small sweets
• Tteokguk — Korean rice cake soup
• Poon choi — the communal basin feast
• Fa gao — steamed “fortune” cakes
• Lunar New Year specials and events (highlights)

This year’s Lunar New Year arrives on February 17, ushering in the Year of the Fire Horse — a moment when families and communities across Los Angeles renew traditions, especially at the table. If you want to mark the holiday with meaningful dishes or time-limited specials, here are the foods to know, why they matter now, and where to find them in the city.

Quick picks: what to try and why

Highland Park gets playful, no-frills Korean American dishes from Yi Cha

parsnip coconut soup: cozy, immune-supporting bowl with lemongrass and ginger

• Niángāo (glutinous rice cake) — a symbol of progress; widely sold at bakeries and supermarkets.
• Fó tiào qiáng (Buddha jumps over the wall) — an elaborate banquet soup associated with good fortune.
• Tāngtuán / chè trôi nước — sweet rice balls eaten during Lantern Festival to represent family unity.
• Poon choi — a layered communal feast signaling abundance, available as party-sized platters.
• Lo hei — a celebratory toss-salad popular in Southeast Asian Chinese communities, often ordered for groups.

Niángāo — New Year rice cake

Niángāo, literally “New Year cake,” appears in multiple forms across Chinese cuisines: a sweet, sticky version studded with chestnuts and jujubes in the south, and a savory, pan-fried style common in Shanghai and northern regions. The name is a homophone for “getting higher,” so families eat it to express hopes for advancement and prosperity in the year ahead.

Find larger, holiday-sized cakes and bakery versions at neighborhood shops and Asian supermarkets; they sell out quickly during the two weeks around the holiday.

• Domies Bakery — Rosemead
• Phoenix Food Boutique — multiple San Gabriel Valley locations
• Asian supermarkets such as 99 Ranch and GW Supermarket

Fó tiào qiáng — the legendary banquet soup

Known in English as “Buddha jumps over the wall,” this steeped, gelatinous soup originated in Fujian and has long been a luxury for celebratory tables. Recipes vary but often include dried abalone, sea cucumber, fish maw and cured meats; preparation can stretch over days, which is why restaurants typically offer it only by preorder or as a special banquet item.

Because of its cost and labor, this soup is a common choice for Lunar New Year banquets or family gatherings where sharing rich ingredients is part of the ritual.

• Array 36 — Temple City (serves a local version)
• Some seafood-focused dim sum houses and specialty markets (frozen or prepackaged options)

Sweet trays: Chinese “togetherness” boxes and Vietnamese mứt tết

Small, compartmentalized boxes of candied fruits, seeds and sweets are a visual and gustatory shorthand for the season. In Chinese tradition, trays often hold six or eight items (numbers associated with luck and wealth); Vietnamese mứt tết commonly present five selections and include distinctive preserves such as candied kumquat.

Each ingredient carries symbolic meaning: dried pineapple or melon for prosperity, watermelon seeds for fertility, peanuts for longevity — snacks meant to be nibbled while visiting friends and elders.

• Build-your-own trays: Nature Land (San Gabriel Valley, Orange County)
• Specialty items and pre-made sets: Vua Kho Bo, Vietnamese grocery stores and larger Asian markets

Tāngtuán and chè trôi nước — rice-ball desserts

On Lantern Festival — the closing celebration of Lunar New Year — many families serve small glutinous rice balls. In China tāngtuán are often filled with black sesame, red bean or peanuts; in Vietnam, chè trôi nước features a mung-bean center bathed in ginger syrup and coconut cream. The round shape evokes reunion and wholeness.

• Tāngtuán: Southern Mini Town (San Gabriel), Tasty Noodle House (Chino Hills)
• Chè trôi nước: Thach Che Hien Khanh (Rosemead), VK Tofu (Rosemead)

Luóbo gāo — turnip (daikon) cake

Often associated with dim sum, larger turnip cakes are produced for the new year because the Cantonese pronunciation sounds like the phrase for “good fortune.” These can be steamed or pan-fried and are a practical, savory staple at many holiday tables.

• Domies Bakery — Rosemead
• Atlantic Times Seafood — Monterey Park

Bánh tét — Vietnam’s cylindrical rice cake

Wrapped in banana leaves and slow-boiled, bánh tét is a labor-intensive offering placed on ancestral altars then shared among family. The filling — glutinous rice with pork fat and mung bean — reflects preservation of family recipes and collective effort; in southern Vietnam its cylindrical shape is most common.

Some Vietnamese restaurants and markets produce whole cakes for preordered pickup, while others sell slices at sandwich shops.

• Trai Cay Mien Tay — South El Monte
• Local Vietnamese markets and bakeries across the San Gabriel Valley

Lo hei — the prosperity toss

Popular in Singapore and Malaysia and adopted by diasporic communities here, lo hei (also called “prosperity toss”) is a shared platter of shredded vegetables, raw fish and crunchy garnishes tossed together by diners while reciting auspicious wishes. The higher the toss, the better the luck, according to the ritual.

• Local home cooks and pop-ups offer preorders — for example, community sellers in Arcadia and Wilshire Park (check Instagram for ordering windows)

Good-luck cookies and small sweets

Traditional confections — sesame balls, brittle peanut cookies shaped like ingots, and deep-fried crackling “laughing” sesame balls — are offered as portable tokens of fortune. Bakeries and food boutiques bundle these for gift boxes or party platters.

• Domies Bakery and Phoenix Food Boutique — popular sources for assorted holiday cookies

Tteokguk — Korean rice cake soup

At Seollal, the Korean New Year, a bowl of tteokguk signifies aging into the next year and the wish for longevity. Slices of cylindrical rice cake float in a savory broth—comfort food with ceremonial importance—and are commonly served at Korean restaurants offering holiday menus.

• Yongsusan, Seong Buk Dong, LeeGa — Los Angeles restaurants serving Seollal menus

Poon choi — the communal basin feast

Originating in southern China, poon choi is a multi-layered bowl assembled from separately prepared premium ingredients: barbecue pork, abalone, sea cucumber, taro and more. It’s designed to be shared and to signal abundance; many LA restaurants provide party-sized poon choi for holiday gatherings, often by reservation.

• Hop Woo BBQ & Seafood, Sea Harbour, U2 Cafe & BBQ and several Monterey Park/Alhambra dim sum houses list poon choi on holiday menus

Fa gao — steamed “fortune” cakes

These small, steamed rice-flour cakes split open at the top as they steam, a characteristic traditionally interpreted as a lucky sign. They appear across temples and household altars and are available at bakeries during the festival window.

• Tanbii Bakery, Huge Tree Pastry, Domies Bakery — seasonal availability

Lunar New Year specials and events (highlights)

Beyond the dishes above, several Los Angeles venues are staging limited collections, dinners and markets tied to the holiday. If you plan to attend, check dates and preorder requirements: many offers run only for a few days or require advance notice.

• Food collaborations and limited menus: Kato’s multi-course Lunar New Year dinners (Feb 17–19), Bistro Na’s eight-treasure duck (advance reservation required).
• Bakery and chocolate releases: specialty mooncakes and Year of the Horse confections at boutique patisseries through late February.
• Markets and festivals: Westminster’s Flower Festival (through Feb 15), Chinatown’s Golden Dragon Parade on Feb 21.
• Neighborhood activations: night markets, pop-ups at Smorgasburg and Lunar New Year markets in Chinatown and the San Gabriel Valley — dates vary by organizer.

Whether you’re honoring family traditions or sampling seasonal offerings for the first time, these foods offer both cultural meaning and a practical way to participate in the holiday. For the most current availability and preorder windows, call restaurants or check their social accounts before heading out — many items sell out during the first two weeks of the new year.