The Brief

Growing up in a family of post-Soviet Jewish immigrants in Los Angeles meant fusing together our food with American food. This often meant making do with what we had. My Eggo waffles were topped with blackcurrant jam from Odessa Grocery. Trader Joe’s Chinese-inspired chicken gyoza potstickers were boiled, sprinkled with dill, and dipped in sour cream to stand in for traditional pelmeni.

The beloved Croatian seasoning, Vegeta, was generously added to everything, including buttered noodles and boxed mac and cheese. Whether intentional or not, we were dipping into the world of fusion cooking.

The history of fusion cooking is the history of the American kitchen. From the infamous Thanksgiving feast that fused together traditional English stuffed fowl with Native harvested beans and corn pudding, to the ‘80s and ‘90s fusion restaurant boom with Wolfgang Puck combining French cooking with Asian influences, resulting in the popularization of Madame Wu’s Chinese Chicken Salad.

By the time we arrived at pan-Asian corporate restaurants like P.F. Changs dishing out Chinese kung pao chicken, Japanese sushi, and Thai lettuce cups all on one glossy menu, however, fusion had become an icky word.

In a 2022 Los Angeles Times article, restaurant critic Bill Addison asked his readers, “Can we let go of the term ‘fusion cooking’ once and for all?”

Chicken and Mole made with Mary's chicken confit, orange gastrique, and sesame seeds, served with steamed bok choy and topped with seasonal citrus that's served with a 21 ingredients white mole and a handmade piadina (flour tortilla).

(

WONHO LEE

/

Courtesy of Amiga Amore

)

His gripe with the word fusion was that it’s “a hydra slur” or “shorthand for 'Asian fusion,' which is insultingly reductive; Asian, Asian American and Pacific Island cultures are not monoliths.”

Addison continued: “It also carries a bad taste that suggests one is doing something silly or slapdash or nonsensical. No wonder chefs who are cooking to their personal narrative say in interviews, 'Don’t call what I’m doing ‘fusion.’”

Yet despite the body blow to the word itself, the idea of merging foods from distinct cuisines is still attracting chefs today, inspired by the limitless creativity it presents.

Here are four new-ish restaurants attempting to reinvent the concept — while tip-toeing around the unnecessary negative connotations of the word itself.

Pijja Palace puts an American spin on Indian classics, with chicken tenders, wings, and garlic bread

(

Courtesy Pijja Palace

)

These restaurants serve flavor combinations as unique as the people of Los Angeles, with a more playful and authentic take on the American immigrant and third culture experience. As cringe as the word can be, fusion — telling the food stories of multicultural Angelenos — is not going anywhere.

Pijja Palace

Malai rigatoni, Pijja Palace

(

Courtesy of Pijja Palace

)

Named one of Bon Appetit’s 24 Best Restaurants of 2023, Avish Naran’s Pijja Palace is having a good year. The casual Indian-American sports bar-meets-restaurant tucked into the former plaza of Silver Lake’s infamous Happy Sad Foot sign, Pijja Palace is bursting with unique flavors.

A traditional caesar salad is given a facelift with mango pickle, dried tomatoes, and a dusting of panko. Hardy lamb pasta is tossed with sumac, fennel, and creamy yogurt and feels like it was assembled by a sweet Indian-Italian grandma. Chicken wings are doused in a mixture of jalapeño, cilantro, mint, chives, and served with a cool yogurt sauce. But the star of the show is the classic chutney pizza.

A stoner invention with a thin crust pie, perfectly melty cheese, sweet tomato sauce, and a generous glaze of green chutney inspired by chef Miles Shorey’s Puerto Rican grandma’s sofrito and Lavineta’s Pizza that would offer under-the-table chutney to the growing Indian community in Lakewood.

Build your own pizza at Pijja Palace

(

Courtesy of Pijja Palace

)

Pijja Palace translates to Pizza Palace, a play on the Indian accent. Naran grew up in Los Angeles as part of a third culture, “eating everything” along with his Indian auntie’s chicken curry served with not naan, but tortillas.

Naran is most inspired by LA legend and father of the beloved Kogi truck, Roy Choi.

“One of the cool things about Roy is that [his food] never felt like fusion. He was a Korean guy who grew up in Koreatown, around a lot of Hispanic culture, so the whole thing was super organic,” Naran said.

Pijja Palace feels super organic, too. A reflection of the second generation’s melding of familiar flavors: American pub food and Indian delicacies.

Amiga Amore 

Carbonara ravioli with duck egg and requeson, pancetta and micro cilantro

(

Courtesy of Amiga Amore

)

Amiga Amore is co-owned by husband and wife duo Alessandro Zecca and Chef Danielle Duran Zecca. The cozy Italian-Mexican fusion restaurant was a natural combination of flavors as Duran Zecca grew up in a Mexican-American family near Frogtown, while her husband grew up in a small town near Verona, Italy.

After a traditional French culinary education and 10 years of cooking in Michelin star restaurants in New York City, Duran Zecca “felt stagnant” and moved back to Los Angeles to open her own restaurant.

“The real influence [for Amiga Amore] was my husband, because he didn't like Mexican food. I didn't really realize that until we moved to L.A.…So, I started to put Mexican ingredients into pasta and other dishes and I kept creating, and I kept noticing so many similarities between Mexico and Italy,” Duran Zecca said.

The combination of flavors from both their childhoods worked, and led to a successful pop-up and the opening of Amiga Amore in Highland Park, with mouth watering dishes like Chorizo y Clams, a mixture of clams, brothy cannellini and pinto beans, Meyer lemon, and jalapeño butter served with homemade bread, and Elote Agnolotti, "street corn" filled pasta with crumbly cotija cheese, zesty finger limes, and house made tajin.

Like other chefs working in the realm of fusion, before opening Amiga Amore, Duran Zecca asked herself, “Is it going to be gimmicky?” It was hard not to associate fusion with the ramen burger and the sushi burrito. But buoyed by success, Duran Zecca is leaning into fusion with a new brunch option that includes an eggs and bacon breakfast sandwich on a housemade basil concha, a breakfast burrito with eggs, tater tots, pico de gallo and Italian cannellini beans, and a classic Italian panzerotti stuffed pizza with potato, chorizo and tomatillo salsa.

Chefs these days are cooking their own personal narratives, which are surprisingly relatable. What has surprised the Zeccas most after opening Amiga Amore is how many of their customers relate to the Italian-Mexican experience. “There are so many people that come in, and say, 'We're just like you … your restaurant is like our story and we love to eat here because you feed us both.'"

Taco/Social

Tacos at Taco Social

(

Steve Stroud

/

Courtesy of Taco Social

)

Of all the restaurants we’ve featured, , Taco/Social is one of the newest on the list (it opened on Oct. 10) and the most corporate. The website copy defines the food as “inventive, freeform tacos [that] break all the rules. Inspired by flavors from around the world, we use fresh ingredients to serve up tacos that are as unique as they are delicious.”

The beach-themed Eagle Rock restaurant with big open-air windows and extra loud music feels like you’ve stepped into a Hollister or Abercrombie and Fitch. A full bar serves up margaritas or whatever you want, and there are two big-screen TVs for the sports fans.

Embracing Wolfgang Puck and P.F. Chang’s approach to fusion, it takes it to the next level by including a wide range of cuisines beyond French, American, and pan-Asian cooking, reflecting the people of Los Angeles who speak at least 185 different languages.

There’s a long list of those flour tortilla “freeform tacos” — post-fusion in overdrive — ranging from Vietnamese Banh Mi tacos, to Mexican barbacoa, to American cheeseburger, Indian tikka masala, and even a take on the Greek chicken pita.

Tacos from around the world include crispy cauliflower taco and K-BBQ taco made with braised beef

(

Luciano Picazo

/

Courtesy of Taco Social

)

“We’ve taken signature dishes from cultures across the world and altered them to rest inside a tortilla,” says executive Chef Jonathan Paiz. “What other taco spot can take you on a culinary journey that spans from New Orleans to Vietnam? Los Angeles is a melting pot of people from all across the world and we wanted to embody that aspect into distinct, delicious tacos.”

Sadly though, the flavors are muted. The Greek Life taco, inspired by Paiz’s Greek ancestry, is filled with juicy chicken, tzatziki, pico de gallo, pickled red onion and surprisingly crispy french fries, but lacks a sufficient amount of spice, perhaps not surprising from a restaurant that is trying to cover too many cuisines at once.

Taco/Social is the ultimate fusion family restaurant. Sure it’s gimmicky, but it has something for everybody, including the opportunity for a tired parent to enjoy a cocktail with dinner.

Saucy Chick Goat Mafia

After rave reviews and a loyal following at the beloved Smorgasburg food fest in DTLA, pop-ups Saucy Chick and Goat Mafia have joined forces, soft opening a new restaurant deep in Pasadena this week called, what else, but Saucy Chick Goat Mafia.

Juan Garcia of Goat Mafia and Saucy Chick owner’s Rhea Patel Michel and husband Marcel Rene Michel — who opened their pop-up after being furloughed from their jobs during the pandemic — did not hesitate when the opportunity arrived to combine Indian-Mexican rotisserie chicken with traditional Mexican goat birria to create something new.

Mom’s Beans, Smoked Chicken Wings with featured flavors Jeera, Pibil, Ambli, Charred Haldi Cauliflower, Jeera Rice, Fenugreek Esquites, Birria Taco, Pibil Rotisserie Taco, Saucy Chick Goat Mafia

(

Courtesy of Saucy Chick Goat Mafia

)

The casual flavor-packed restaurant serves unique dishes like the birria de chivo bowl with Garcia’s signature century-old family goat birria recipe and Saucy Chick’s Indian jeera rice, hearty mayocoba beans, and hand-pressed corn tortillas.

The hand-brined 24-hour marinated rotisserie chicken is served with a selection of sauces like the Mexican-leaning creamy pibil with achiote, garlic, citrus, and oregano or the pungent jeera sauce made from caramelized onions, garlic, ginger, and packed with cumin. There are also plenty of sides to choose from, such as a truly unique “kachumber salad” combining cucumber, mustard seed, coconut, peanuts, lime, and mint, as well as an array of refreshing agua frescas with an Indian twist, like the ginger jamaica.

Rotisserie chicken, taco and burritos galore at newest location of Saucy Chick Goat Mafia

(

Courtesy of Saucy Chick Goat Mafia

)

The chefs come from immigrant families and encountered fusion early on in their lives. “Growing up, we would eat grilled cheese with a garlic chutney paste and masala egg omelets,” said Patel Michel. Garcia’s first mind-blowing encounter with fusion was Pizza Loca’s asada pizza — a rare treat as his Mexican-American immigrant family rarely ordered take-out.

Fusion is the future and a no-brainer for the owners of Saucy Chick Goat Mafia. “There is creativity and strength in diversity. As cultures converge and weave into intricate tapestries, food serves as a medium for storytellers and an opportunity for marginalized voices to have a platform,” said Patel Michel.

Other new-ish fusion spots to consider

• Asian-fusion restaurant Poltergeist tucked inside Silver Lake’s Button Mash
• DTLA’s Korean influenced Yangban
• Inglewood’s Afro-Latin fusion Two Hommés
• Mexico City inspired ramen-birria at pop-up Birriera El Viejon.

Even though the U.S. and Mexico national soccer teams have been knocked out of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, their fans aren’t giving up on the tournament. Instead, they’re throwing their support behind other teams still in the competition.

But how to choose which one to cheer on? It can depend on myriad of factors, from prowess on the soccer pitch and fandom for a particular player, to hunches that involve ancestral DNA.

Cheering for the underdogs

“I’m supporting Morocco,” said Alfredo Botello, a U.S. citizen born in Guadalajara, Mexico, who was cheering on Mexico until the team lost Sunday to England.

Morocco placed fourth in the 2022 FIFA World Cup after beating a powerhouse Spanish squad in penalty kicks. Botello said he admires the team’s performance and likes its underdog status. He’s not the soccer fanatic he used to be, he said, and that’s led him to enjoy the game more.

Other fans are backing the team that’s expected to win the trophy.

“At this point I would say [I will support] France because of Mbappé and his stance on anti-racism and anti-gambling — and just a great player too,” said Maria Romero Morales, a Mexico team fan. She lives in El Monte and was in Mexico during the group stage of the World Cup.

DNA and soccer

For some, family lineage takes precedence. “My father’s mother is 100% Norwegian,” said Jake Downey, a fan of the U.S team who organized a watch party for 14 people at his house in Northridge on Monday to watch the U.S. play Belgium.

Norway fans wearing Viking hats and adorned with face paint arrive before a World Cup match.

(

Buda Mendes

/

Getty Images

)

“I’m all in on [Erling] Haaland,” he said of Norway’s striker, who scored two goals in Sunday’s 2-1 defeat of Brazil.

Some Mexico fans are supporting Norway, too, in a “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” sort of way.

“I would love for England to lose, a little vengeance there,” said Amanda Durán of England’s World Cup match against Norway on Saturday. She’s still upset at England’s defeat of Mexico on Sunday.

She lives in Torrance and her in-laws are Argentine so she’s backing Argentina too.

Lionel Messi of Argentina celebrates after scoring his team's first goal during the World Cup 2026 group match against Austria.

(

Charlotte Wilson

/

Getty Images

)

Other fans take into account the social and political baggage each team’s national identity represents.

“I’ve watched the World Cup since 1994 and I’m definitely a person who goes for the colonized countries over the colonists,” said Xochitl-Julissa Bermejo, who lives in the San Gabriel Valley and wanted Mexico to win on Sunday.

But her support is complicated. She’s now cheering for Belgium, despite its severe colonialist past, after experiencing its warmth on a recent trip.

“I've gone to Belgium and it's a really fun place and everyone is really friendly and lovely,” she said.

Fun and friendliness is what she experienced with family watching Mexico play their last game, and she wants more of those soccer experiences before the World Cup ends.

Sweltering summer days have arrived in Southern California, with temperatures this week expected to climb to the triple digits in some places.

Heat advisories from the National Weather Service are in place for much of the region and will remain in effect until 8 p.m. Friday. The highest temperatures are expected Wednesday and Thursday.

The forecast

L.A. County: The interior valleys and mountains, including Pasadena and Glendale, could see temperatures up to 105 degrees. Inland coastal areas, including downtown L.A., will likely get up to the low 90s. Coastal temperatures will stay in the 70s and 80s.

Orange County: O.C. will avoid some of the highest temperatures this week. Inland highs will be in the 80s, and coastal temperatures will stay mostly in the 70s.

Inland Empire: Riverside County and San Bernardino County valleys could see temperatures up to the low 100s, while the area’s mountains will hit the mid-90s.

Coachella Valley: The National Weather Service has declared a more severe Extreme Heat Warning for the Coachella Valley, where temperatures are expected to climb as high as 116 degrees. It is also expected to stay relatively warm overnight, with lows falling only to the 80s.

The elevated temperatures are expected to pose a significant risk of heat illness, especially for the elderly, young children and other sensitive populations.

What’s driving the high temperatures?

Much of the heat will be driven by a combination of two meteorological forces: a high-pressure system hovering over Southern California and off-shore winds, commonly called Santa Ana winds.

“Everything is dictated by which way your winds are blowing and high-pressure systems,” said Lisa Phillips, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in Oxnard.

High-pressure systems push warm air down, trapping it closer to the ground. Then, the offshore winds carry dry, hot air from inland deserts toward the coast, raising temperatures in the L.A. basin even higher.

The heat wave also comes as the marine layer weakens. The marine layer, often called June gloom, is lower-temperature air and cloud cover generated by changing temperatures in the late spring and early summer. As the summer gets warmer, the marine layer retreats.

Fire risk

The high temperatures and dry conditions this week will also exacerbate fire danger, particularly in the region’s valleys, foothills, mountains and other areas away from the coast.

Philips warned residents to be extra cautious as the heat and offshore winds dry out vegetation. That creates more potential fuel.

“We are headed into our fire weather season, where we have more wildfires. The vegetation is dry, so it does catch fire more easily,” Phillips said. “That just means that fires are going to be a lot more easy to start.”

Southern parts of Santa Barbara County are expected to see more significant fire weather, with periods of gusty winds.

What’s next? 

Temperatures are likely to dip starting Friday.

The high-pressure system is expected to move to the east, some southerly winds to bring some cooling moisture with them. But Phillips said temperatures will come down only slightly and are expected to remain above average throughout the weekend.

The slight respite won’t last long either. Another, possibly worse, heat wave is right around the corner.

“We could be looking at even warmer temperatures next week,” Phillips said.

In what they described as an effort to prevent more corporate landlords from displacing Los Angeles renters, the L.A. County Board of Supervisors decided Tuesday to move forward with plans to require a new step in the process of selling certain apartment buildings.

The board voted unanimously to develop a “Community Opportunity to Purchase Act.” If passed on a final vote, the law would compel apartment owners to notify affordable housing groups when they put certain buildings up for sale in unincorporated parts of L.A. County.

The goal, county leaders say, is to ensure that organizations committed to keeping rents low have a chance to buy buildings that would likely otherwise be scooped up by investors who might push out existing tenants through rent hikes.

“The county is facing rising displacement pressures as rents outpace incomes,” said Supervisor Hilda Solis, who introduced the idea.

She cited statistics showing that more than half of L.A. County renters are considered “rent burdened” by federal government standards, with even higher rates among Black and Latino households.

“We need to fight,” Solis said. “We need to have tools to keep people in their homes.”

What buildings would be covered?

The proposed rules would only apply to buildings with five housing units or more and only to properties located in unincorporated areas, such as East L.A., City Terrace and Altadena. Based on past property sales data, the rules would apply to anywhere from 30 to 130 listings annually.

Nothing will change right away. Tuesday’s vote gives county staff 180 days to develop the regulations and bring them back to the board for a final vote.

During that time, the county will also work on developing a list of qualified buyers — such as affordable housing developers, community land trusts and other mission-driven organizations — who would be the first to hear about buildings coming up for sale.

Depending on how the regulations are written, the law could give those groups a “right of first refusal,” meaning they would have first dibs on making an offer to buy the building. County officials noted that a similar program in San Francisco gives qualified groups five days to respond with a letter of interest, followed by 20 days to place an offer.

Landlords would not be required to sell to these groups if they can get a better offer on the open market, county officials say.

Would sellers end up in a ‘Hotel California’ situation?

Though the idea is still in early stages, landlords and real estate agents expressed strong opposition during Tuesday’s public comment period.

“This proposal moves in the wrong direction by adding another layer of regulation and taxpayer expense, without creating any new housing units,” said Elizabeth de Carteret, the government affairs director at the Southland Regional Association of Realtors.

Meg Sullivan, who described herself as a “mom and pop” rental housing owner, said if the county establishes these rules in unincorporated areas, investors will choose to buy properties elsewhere.

“No private party in their right mind is going to invest in a market that looks like the equivalent of the ‘Hotel California’ song, where investors can check in, but it’s not clear they can ever leave, or on what timeline,” Sullivan said.

Existing groups say they’re ready to pursue deals

Tenant advocates told the board the proposed law would help protect renters from the whims of the profit-driven housing market.

Brenda Tafoya, executive director of El Sereno Community Land Trust, said organizations like hers have the experience needed to make market-rate offers on available properties.

“We work with the real estate market because we understand it,” Tafoya said. “We can partner with willing sellers and tenants to acquire properties, ensuring smooth transactions, while preserving permanently affordable housing.”

In response to concerns that the rules could delay properties from being offered to other prospective buyers, Supervisor Holly Mitchell asked county staff to consider regulations allowing listings to hit the open market at the same time affordable housing groups are given the chance to make an offer.

“This motion is not about taking property, forcing a sale or preventing a sale — it’s about creating a fair and transparent process,” Mitchell said, arguing that many older landlords want to retire without having to sell to corporate buyers.

Where would the funding come from?

Mitchell said public funding to support building purchases could come from money raised by Measure A, the county sales tax increase voters approved in 2024 to support housing and homelessness efforts. The L.A. County Affordable Housing Solutions Agency, which is funded by the tax revenue, has programs to support affordable housing preservation.

L.A.’s idea is not new. Washington, D.C., has had a “Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act” in place since 1980.

Supporters say D.C. tenants use the city’s program to form associations that negotiate with new buyers to ensure ongoing affordability in about half of buildings coming up for sale, according to a 2023 study by the Coalition for Nonprofit Housing and Economic Development.

But critics point out that D.C.’s program rarely results in tenants actually owning their buildings. That same 2023 study found that ownership by a tenant-sponsored cooperatives was the outcome in only about 2% of building sales.

Solis said she wants the county to take a phased approach, with the initial program eventually being expanded to include a way for tenants to purchase their buildings directly.

The Covina City Council is set to vote Tuesday night on whether to allow construction of a battery energy storage facility that’s faced backlash from community members.

The project is a 110-megawatt storage system that would include two structures that take up 3.4 acres in a mixed business and residential area in northeast Covina.

The city’s planning commission voted unanimously against the project in June following resident feedback. Hundreds of community members attended the commission’s meetings in June, resulting in hours of public comment on the issue.

The backstory

RWE Americas, a subsidiary of German energy company RWE, filed an initial study report with the city for the construction of a 110-megawatt battery energy storage system in Covina in January.

These types of systems store electricity generated from other sources, such as wind farms and solar plants, in large batteries. The batteries can then be tapped by local electrical grids during power outages or times of high usage, such as heat waves.

RWE Americas’ website says the project would enhance the reliability of the city’s electrical grid, create 150 jobs during its construction and generate over $17 million in property taxes.

The public response

The proposed project has received significant negative backlash from the community on social media.

Some residents allege a lack of transparency from the city regarding the project’s development while others cite concerns ranging from potential noise pollution to fires and smoke to insurance hikes.

There has been similar backlash from communities against proposed battery energy storage systems in the City of Industry and San Juan Capistrano in recent years.

Recent storage system fires include incidents in San Diego in 2024 and Monterey County in 2025. The San Diego fire had flareups for seven days following the initial incident. The Monterey County fire resulted in the evacuation of 1,200 local residents for 24 hours.

The root causes of these fires remain under investigation by the EPA, but have been linked in some instances to an overheating process called thermal runaway associated with the lithium-ion batteries used in these facilities.

Covina is one of eight storage projects in the United States proposed by RWE Americas.

How to keep tabs on the Covina City Council

The Covina City Council meets on scheduled Tuesdays. Meetings start at 7:30 p.m.

Here’s how you can follow along:

• Attend in person: The board meets at City Hall, Council Chambers, 125 E. College St., Covina
• Watch the live broadcast
• Here’s how to submit a comment or contact the council