The Brief

These days, Korean all-you-can-eat barbecue is often equivalent to a night in Koreatown to wow out-of-towners. However, it wasn’t alway the mainstream gustatory experience at the top of every visitor’s bucket list. In fact, its history suggests that its L.A. origins may not have even started in Koreatown.

Situated in Melrose Hill, Choeng Wun Buffet is one of the O.G. Korean BBQ restaurants. Humbly tucked away in a corner of the strip mall of the original Dave’s Hot Chicken fame, the restaurant is easy to miss until you get out of your car.

The exterior of Choeng Wun Buffet

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Carlin Stiehl

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But it has a unique place in L.A’s Korean culture. Choeng Wun Buffet is not only one of the oldest Korean restaurants in the city (second to the 1982-founded Kang Nam Restaurant), but also the proto-AYCE (all-you-can-eat) Korean
barbecue joint.

As the name suggests, when Choeng Wun Buffet opened in 1985, it was a buffet-style cafeteria. While that would transform later into the AYCE concept, at that point — it was just a convenient way to eat.

Instead of today's theater of a large plate surrounded by dozens of small dishes of crunchy, savory, and garlicky banchan, there were simply steaming trays of Korean-style vegetables, the same as those served at home, which you piled on your plate as many times as you’d like.

Owner Chang Hun Kang

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Over the decades, those beginnings had been somewhat forgotten. But now as third and fourth generation Korean Americans look to honor their roots, there’s been a resurgence of interest in generational Korean businesses like Choeng Wun Buffet.

Korean diaspora

It's something owner Kang Chang Hun and his nephew Alex Park are leaning into; they want the restaurant’s “day one” beginnings to be remembered as part of L.A. history, and to bring in diners seeking a nostalgic Korean L.A. experience.

Because it’s in Melrose Hill, rather Koreatown, it can sometimes be left out of the Koreatown story, like that depicted in Emmanuel Hahn’s Koreatown Dreaming.

But Park says it's a myopic disservice to the Korean businesses that surrounded the neighborhood, from the restaurant itself to the stalls that occupied East Hollywood’s Union Swapmeet.

“There are plenty of Korean businesses outside of Koreatown that also reflect the diversity of the socio-economic status and geography of the Korean diaspora throughout L.A. County,” he said.

Abundant offerings

For Korean Americans like myself, walking into Choeng Wun Buffet feels like going into a time warp. At the center of the welcoming, homey restaurant stands a retro, green-tiled salad bar a la Sizzler’s, with seasoned vegetables and greens such as acorn jelly, chive salad, soybean sprouts, and sweet and sour radish.

Against one wall lies a row of three soup stations, consisting of homemade seaweed soup, pumpkin porridge, and red bean porridge, and two industrial rice cookers that hold white rice and chapsal (sticky brown sweet rice).

Across from this wall is an arrangement of seasoned protein, from chicken and squid to various cuts of beef and pork, ready to serve cafeteria-style. Highlights include pumpkin porridge with pillowy bites of glutinous rice balls, the brightly adorned japchae (stir-fried glass noodles), frosty bowls of naengmyeon (cold noodles in chilled broth), and crispy honey sesame wings.

Short rib served at Choeng Wun Buffet

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One might consider the restaurant’s giant rice cookers and cafeteria lines antiquated, but it conjures profound memories for Korean families coming out of church services and gathering in communal spaces over bowls of porridge, kimbap, and banchan. It is difficult now to find similar experiences in Korean restaurants, but Kang lets his yearnings for such spaces guide his business decisions.

Owner Chang Hun Kang stands in front of the meat buffet

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“I’m 62 years old now, but I started working here at 30 years old,” he said. “I really don’t have ambitions of turning a big profit. I’m sure having a lot of money is nice, but all I want is to keep this restaurant in its good condition.”

Growth of all-you-can-eat

Choeng Wun Buffet was ahead of its time. By the 2000’s the buffet-style cafeteria had been rebranded as AYCE, and Korean barbecue reached a new level of popularity in California. The hallyu (Korean wave) of South Korean imports — predominantly music, movies, and beauty products — also included Korean cuisine, which ushered in a mainstream version of barbecue that focuses on copious amounts of pork and beef cuts marinated in a drippy assortment of soy sauce and toasted sesame oil.

All you can eat means exactly that

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With that came a wave of American chains like Gen BBQ, which opened in 2011 and popularized the AYCE denomination even further. Over time, hospitality groups and savvy small businesses alike have squeezed more money out of the extravagant nature of the AYCE experience with dining time limits and incremental charges on extra portions.

Meanwhile, Choeng Wun Buffet skirts the Westernized interpretation of Korean barbecue. When Kang says “all you can eat,” he urges diners to grab platefuls of meat as many times as they’d like — no limits enforced.

Younger crowds

Still, the family has to make rent. In 2016, Alex Park jumped on board to help his uncle with the restaurant, which was competing for new diners amidst the bubbling AYCE scene. Through Instagram ads and a new website that memorialized the restaurant’s beginnings and value, Kang began noticing new faces from the Melrose Hill neighborhood in addition to college students.

He felt called to play father to some of the younger crowds who came in to experience KBBQ for the first time. He recalls one instance when he sat at the table with them, showing them how to tightly wrap a cut of meat in a giant leaf of red lettuce with a dollop of gochuchang, chive salad, kimchi, and rice, then eating it in one bite.

Choeng Wun Buffet offers the best value for large parties through its tactile punch cards, where the staff punches a hole for every person in your party. A party of 10 gets one free meal. In addition, Kang has carefully thought through pricing tiers, with late night discounts and all-you-can-eat options ranging between $25 and $45, depending on whether bulgogi suffices or if diners want the luxury of unlimited L.A. galbi and shrimp.

Pickled onion and cilantro banchan

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How it started

Without knowing a single person or having any family member in the United States, Kang followed the love of his life, Yoona, and her family, to Los Angeles when they made the sudden decision to emigrate from Seoul, Korea, in 1986.

As his wife and mother-in-law began to make names for themselves with their volunteer service in the church, they decided to buy Choeng Wun Buffet in 1991. (The original owners were selling it, and while it was outside Koreatown, they decided to go ahead). Aside from a few modifications and homemade kimchi by Kang, the restaurant continues to use the same recipes created by Yoona’s family.

Choeng Wun Buffet’s historic sign outside of the restaurant

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“To this day, when I’m here, I can feel my wife everywhere,” he said. “I can’t leave this restaurant.”

Yoona’s family also played a central role in the Korean community by establishing eateries like the ever-comforting Mapo Kkak Doo Gee and Kangbyun, the latter of which shuttered after the 1992 riots.

In comparison, Choeng Wun Buffet continued to run as a low-key buffet-style cafeteria, a place for Korean families to head to after church.

After Yoona passed away in 2019, the family organized a large service for their familial glue at Han Kook Mortuary. It became an emotionally stirring yet affirming testament to her quiet yet unwavering presence in shaping Korean culture in Los Angeles.

“People were crowded outside the mortuary thinking it was a famous politician’s funeral,” Park said. “She just knew a lot of people in the Korean community because our family has been here for a while. We had family, friends, and regular customers show up, and that speaks to the person she was.”

The exterior of Choeng Wun Buffet

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Carlin Stiehl

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To help his uncle with retirement, Park said he would consider taking over Choeng Wun Buffet, especially if it would mean he can collect stories about Korean Angelenos on the periphery of Koreatown.

“I know the family stance is that we would want to keep it in the family for my aunt,” Park said. “This is the only thing we have left of her at this point.”

Meanwhile, the family has local legends and archivists to lean on to show their appreciation online, as if to say, “If you know, you know.”

“I remember this article on LAist about Pijja Palace,and it mentioned there were L.A. staples very unique to their culture, and Choeng Wun was mentioned on the same list,” Park said. “So there are [OGs] who recognize that if you want really grounded homemade Korean food, this is the spot.”

The unions representing Los Angeles Unified teachers and support staff have given the district a "red line" of April 14 to reach a deal for new contracts, or else face an open-ended strike.

The walkout was announced at a rally Wednesday in downtown Los Angeles.

Earlier this year, members of United Teachers Los Angeles and SEIU Local 99 voted overwhelmingly to give their leaders the power to call a strike as negotiations over pay and benefits stalled.

Associated Administrators of Los Angeles, which represents principals, is also negotiating with the district.

What happens now?

A strike would almost certainly shutter schools for about 400,000 students, as was the case during a three-day work stoppage in 2023. The unions are seeking increases in pay for their members. The district has said it cannot afford what the unions have proposed.

The unions are still working their way through the bargaining process, but have said the district's offers do not meet their demands. UTLA appealed to LAUSD’s board ahead of a committee meeting Tuesday.

“We can settle this contract before we have to go on strike if you all are active in that process,” Julie Van Winkle, UTLA's vice president said. “But if that doesn’t happen then we’re still ready to go because we need to be able to afford to live in our cities and we need our schools to have basic resources.”

Los Angeles Unified has maintained that it values employees, but needs to make tough financial decisions to reduce an ongoing budget deficit. This month, layoff notices were sent to more than 650 LAUSD employees, including hundreds of support staff.

This story first appeared on The LA Local.

For 15 years, The Garage Board Shop in East L.A. has been a safe, welcoming place for students to go to do their homework, get tutoring, hang out with their friends and learn how to skate through its Skate 4 Education after-school program. 

But the program was put on pause Saturday after mounting issues, including a lapse from the initiative that has provided paid mentors and dwindling sales at the shop caused by immigration raids. Skate 4 Education founder Maria Patricia Ramblaz said she’s now looking for new funding sources to bring the after-school program back, but its future remains in limbo.

“Our best option to ensure the program continues for future generations is a momentary pause to not only find funding but also regroup as a team to see how we will work moving forward,” wrote Ramblaz, who runs The Garage Board Shop as well as The Urban Warehouse nonprofit organization, in a letter sent to partners, sponsors and community members Friday.

The abrupt closure of the program has left parents saddened and worried their children’s grades and personal development will also be affected.

Ramblaz, known by students as Ms. Patty, told Boyle Heights Beat that when she announced the news last week, the kids sprang into action to brainstorm ways to save the program. 

They planned to spread the word about the program by making TikTok videos and handing out flyers to their friends and teachers at school. One girl handed Ramblaz two folded dollar bills she had in her pocket that day, a gesture that Ramblaz said filled her heart with joy and sadness. 

“These kids should be the next governor, the next mayor, but because we’re cutting the education, I don’t think it’s gonna give us a chance to open more bridges for the kids,” Ramblaz said. 

A place for students to thrive 

When Rose Duran, 10, went home after learning the program would shut down, she surprised her parents with her idea to bring it back. 

“I don’t want a quinceañera anymore,” she told her mother, Itzel Tlapalco, asking to donate the money that her family has been saving for her huge, coming-of-age celebration for years. “I want to help Miss Patty.” 

Rose has been attending the Skate 4 Education after-school program since she was 7 years old, following in the footsteps of her older brother, who got involved after walking into the store to buy a skateboard with his parents over three years ago, Tlapalco said. 

Maria Patricia Ramblaz talks to Itzel Tlapalco and Guillermo Duran about the Skate 4 Education program being put on pause inside The Garage Board Shop on Thursday, March 12.

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Tlapalco and Guillermo Duran said their son was struggling in math at the time, and soon after starting, they saw significant improvement in his grades thanks to the tutoring and attentiveness of the mentors at the program. 

“It helped him a lot; he developed significantly at school, and he came here to learn even more,” Duran said in Spanish. They saw the same improvement when their daughter began participating, too. 

Tlapalco said she has tried to understand her daughter’s homework, but she can’t help as well as the mentors at The Garage Board Shop do. She’s now worried her grades will take a hit. 

Bernardo Lopez has been bringing his two daughters, Eliana and Emily, to the after-school program for over a year and said the girls offered to donate their birthday money to save it. They have also been spreading the word to their friends at school, Lopez said. 

The program has been a great way for his daughters to socialize with other children and stay off of their phones and tablets, he added. “That’s really important because they don’t have that anymore,” he said. 
”I feel like kids don’t have that anymore.” 

A plan to keep it going

The program began 15 years ago, when Ramblaz set out to create the type of education program that she needed when she was a young student growing up in Boyle Heights. 

Maria Patricia Ramblaz stands in the classroom located at the back of The Garage Skate Shop on Thursday, March 12.

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Over the years, with the help of grants from the county and organizations including L.A. Care, LA2050, Nike and Southern California Edison, Ramblaz was able to create a multifaceted program with paid mentors via America’s Job Center of California, offering students homework help and working with them on projects and activities. Through getting good grades and completing their assignments, students were rewarded with skate supplies at the shop, giving them a place where they could not only stay on track in school, but also spend time with friends and lean into their skating hobby. 

Ramblaz said that this school year, AJCC was only able to provide paid mentors through December, with a new cohort set to start in July. Normally, she’d cover the gap out-of-pocket, but over the last year, her business has faced rising costs and the lasting effects of immigration raids. 

Last June, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids hit her business hard. She went from making $400 a day on average to suddenly only making one or two sales per day in the weeks following the raids. Now, sales have steadily gone up, but it’s still not like before. Ramblaz said she’s had to take money out of her retirement fund to cover rent and bills at the shop.  

The raids also caused some families to stop bringing their kids to the after-school program out of fear. Attendance went from 12 to 15 students a day to 3 to 5. Parents pay a $50 donation per month to keep their children enrolled, so the drop in attendance has also caused the program to take a financial hit.

Her only option, she said, is to put the program on pause to continue seeking out other avenues for funding.

Ramblaz said she needs about $50,000 to guarantee that the program survives for the rest of the year. That money would cover mentors’ salaries and pay for school supplies, projects, activities and snacks for the students.

Ramblaz said she has submitted over 30 grant applications in the past few months. Some remain under review, and others have been denied. 

“It’s really depressing,” Ramblaz said. “This is my dream. This is my mission.”

This story first appeared on The LA Local.

Labor rights icon César Chávez is accused of sexually assaulting fellow farmworker leader Dolores Huerta in the 1960s, according to a New York Times investigation released Wednesday. Chávez is also accused of sexually assaulting two underage girls in the 1970s, the report said.

Huerta, 95, said she was reluctant to share her story because of Chávez’s status and “for the last 60 years have kept a secret because I believed that exposing the truth would hurt the farmworker movement I have spent my entire life fighting for,” she said in a statement issued Wednesday.

Just one day prior, the United Farm Workers union says it would not participate in any César Chávez Day activities March 31 after it learned of “troubling” allegations against Chávez, who co-founded the labor organization in 1962.

Huerta helped organize a labor strike in 1965 with organizers, including Chávez. She told the New York Times that Chávez raped her in 1966.

On Wednesday, she confirmed the reporting and reflected on her years of silence in a detailed statement.

Read the full statement in her own words:

“I am nearly 96 years old and for the last 60 years have kept a secret because I believed that exposing the truth would hurt the farmworker movement I have spent my entire life fighting for.

“I have encouraged people to always use their voice. Following the New York Times’ multi-year investigation into sexual misconduct by César Chávez, I can no longer stay silent and must share my own experiences.

“As a young mother in the 1960s, I experienced two separate sexual encounters with César. The first time, I was manipulated and pressured into having sex with him, and I didn’t feel I could say no because he was someone that I admired, my boss and the leader of the movement I had already devoted years of my life to. The second time, I was forced, against my will, and in an environment where I felt trapped.

“I had experienced abuse and sexual violence before, and I convinced myself these were incidents that I had to endure alone and in secret. Both sexual encounters with César led to pregnancies. I chose to keep my pregnancies secret, and after the children were born, I arranged for them to be raised by other families that could give them stable lives.

“Over the years, I have been fortunate to develop a deep relationship with these children, who are now close to my other children, their siblings. But even then, no one knew the full truth about how they were conceived until just a few weeks ago.

“I carried this secret for as long as I did because building the movement and securing farmworker rights was my life’s work. The formation of a union was the only vehicle to accomplish and secure those rights, and I wasn’t going to let César or anyone else get in the way. I channeled everything I had into advocating on behalf of millions of farmworkers and others who were suffering and deserved equal rights.

“I have never identified myself as a victim, but I now understand that I am a survivor — of violence, of sexual abuse, of domineering men who saw me, and other women, as property or things to control.

“I am telling my story because the New York Times has indicated that I was not the only one — there were others. Women are coming forward, sharing that they were sexually abused and assaulted by César when they were girls and teenagers.

“The knowledge that he hurt young girls sickens me. My heart aches for everyone who suffered alone and in silence for years. There are no words strong enough to condemn those deplorable actions that he did. César’s actions do not reflect the values of our community and our movement.

“The farmworker movement has always been bigger and far more important than any one individual. César's actions do not diminish the permanent improvements achieved for farmworkers with the help of thousands of people. We must continue to engage and support our community, which needs advocacy and activism now more than ever.

“I will continue my commitments to workers, as well as my commitment to women’s rights, to make sure we have a voice and that our communities are treated with dignity and given the equity that they have so long been denied.

“I have kept this secret long enough. My silence ends here.”

While César Chávez became a labor icon because of his work to elevate farmworkers and improve labor conditions in California, he had a complicated legacy that included infidelity and backlash over his views on undocumented immigrants.

But now, that’s gotten worse.

A new investigation out Wednesday from the New York Times, with more than 60 interviews, has brought to light multiple allegations that Chávez used his powerful role to sexually abuse young women, including the co-founder of the United Farm Workers union, Dolores Huerta, and underage girls for years.

Before this bombshell dropped, many still regarded him as a hero who played a pivotal role in building Latino political power. In Los Angeles, we have streets named after him. Schools. Even a public holiday at the end of this month.

The revelation will have wide ramifications nationally, but in Southern California, his local legacy will need to be reckoned with over the coming weeks and months.

LA’s outsized role

 Fernando Guerra, professor of Chicana/Chicano studies at Loyola Marymount University, said the news came as a gut punch.

“It feels personal because of how much you incorporated what he stood for,” he told LAist. “ It speaks to the frailty of humans that even when they present themselves publicly in one way, how different they are privately.”

Chávez’s journey began with L.A. and political organizing at the Community Service Organization, or CSO. His job was to get low-income Latinos out to vote, which led to a national director role based in L.A. During this time, Chávez lived in Boyle Heights with his wife and kids.

He was also one of the catalysts for the Chicano movement in L.A., such as the East L.A. Walkouts and the Chicano moratorium marches.

“ It truly helped create a moment in Los Angeles where Latinos, Chicanos specifically and Mexican Americans, began to recognize that they could seek and mobilize for their rights.” Guerra said.

And when he left to organize farmworkers in the Central Valley, that led to the creation of the United Farm Workers union, which he co-founded with Huerta. The organization eventually bought him a house south of Koreatown to serve as a homebase for him to stay at and organize while in town.

His footprint here was undeniable, and many wanted this towering figure to be celebrated. So, we put his name on a lot of things, such as libraries, schools, university departments, parks and streets across L.A. County and beyond. And his likeness can be found here too — in murals, exhibits and statues.

Cesar Chavez Campesino Park in Santa Ana, CA.

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A mural inside the Cesar Chavez building at Santa Ana College.

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That will probably change soon, as local leaders already are calling for renaming. Some ideas being floated are to change the public holiday to Farmworker Day and the street to Dolores Huerta Avenue. Guerra said that’s the right move.

“ While César Chávez’s name and his legacy will be tainted forever, it does not negate the farmworker movement,” he said. “It does not negate the blood, sweat and tears of thousands of people … and the impact that it had on California.”

The community and family react

During AirTalk on LAist 89.3, listeners called and wrote in to share their perspective on the allegations, echoing what Guerra said.

 Jorge in Long Beach said that while the news is unfortunate, it’s an opportunity to honor the farmworker labor movement itself and to uplift other labor leaders, including the legacies of Dolores Huerta and Larry Itliong.

“I do not think the Filipino community receives enough credit for being at the forefront of the farmworker labor movement,” he wrote. “Chávez, or anyone else, must never, ever again be considered bigger than the movement or overshadow  others who served.”

Monica in Hawthorne said she’s a Mexican American who spent a lot of time learning about Chávez’s role in her community when she was in grade school. She was in tears hearing Huerta’s statement, which covered how Chávez raped her.

“I did projects on him every chance I could,” she wrote. “This is heartbreaking. My heart goes out to her, her family and all survivors.”

LAist reached out to the Chávez family for comment on the allegations. In a statement, they shared how they’re devastated and that the news is deeply painful for the family.

“We wish peace and healing to the survivors and commend their courage to come forward. As a family steeped in the values of equity and justice, we honor the voices of those who feel unheard and who report sexual abuse,” the statement read. “We carry our own memories of the person we knew. Someone whose life included work and contributions that matter deeply to many people.”

The family said it remains committed to farmworkers and the causes Chávez championed. They’re asking for understanding and privacy as they process this “difficult” information.