One year ago, Congress defunded public media. Now that we're 100% community funded, please become a sustaining member or increase your existing membership today.
This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.
This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.
Fuku Burger: A Little Vegas Luck Drives Japanese Inspired Burgers in Hollywood
I know what you're thinking: What Hollywood needs is another burger-centric restaurant. Okay, so burger lovers have a pretty impressive smorgasbord of burger options in and around the Cahuenga corridor (Umami, Juicy Burger, Go! Burger, Stout, Lucky Devils, 25 Degrees) so if another burger spot is going to give it a go, they'd best have a unique spin on meat meets bun. Enter Fuku Burger, a Vegas food truck that has gone brick-and-mortar in Los Angeles, where the food and drink have a fun Japanese flair.
If you think it will take luck for a burger joint to standout in the aforementioned crowd, well, luck is on Fuku Burger's side; "fuku" means luck in Japanese.
Backed by local businessman Harry Morton (The Viper Room, Pink Taco), Fuku's Los Angeles arrival found Fuku's co-owners Colin Fukunaga and Robert Mags Magsalin taking over a vacated spot on Cahuenga. They redid the interior to give it a vibrant, urban feel, with an open front facing the street, red lights, screen displays showing Tweets by and about the restaurant, and a custom street art-style mural done by a local tattoo artist.
On the menu are Japanese and pan-Asian inspired burgers, like the Tamago (Fuku patty with furikake, wasabi mayo, teriyaki, fried egg and onion straws) and the Kinoki (Fuku patty with grilled shitake mushrooms, pickled red ginger, teriyaki, and wasabi mayo). They have chicken katsu (panko-crusted and fried) burgers, a housemade veggie burger, and the must-order Jazz Fries (smothered in gravy and "crack" sauce).
Fuku Burger has an adequate beer list (props for carrying Hitachino's White Ale), and is making cocktail concoctions using sake and soju, like a boozy Root Beer Float, and forthcoming adult milkshakes. An emerging "secret" menu is in the works, so diners are urged to keep their eyes on Facebook and Twitter, or just cajole their server, into getting a taste of items not up on the menu board. As a nice bonus, Fuku's price point is a wee bit friendlier than its burger-making neighbors in the 'hood, coming in at around $7 a burger.
Things can get a little crazy at Fuku: The restaurant was fun enough to inspire one Yelper to write a song about its deliciousness! More adventurous than that? Try a Fuku bomb: Caroline on Crack shows us Chef Mags schooling her on how it's done.
One year ago, Congress voted to defund public media, eliminating a critical $1.7 million from our budget every year going forward. But they couldn’t silence us, and we’re not going anywhere. LAist is now 100% community funded and that means we’re taking our future into our own hands and turning to you to keep local reporting strong.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
Senior Vice President News, Editor in Chief
