North Broadway climbs out of Chinatown towards the Elysian Park hills, past bakeries, herbalists and the painted gates of Central Plaza, with Dodger Stadium sitting over the rooftops a short walk north. Mandarin Plaza, at 978 North Broadway, is a modest courtyard of shops and restaurants that has become one of the liveliest in the neighbourhood, with a tea house, a pizza counter and a wine bar sharing its walkways. Its big corner unit was Andy Ricker's Pok Pok until 2017, then sat empty for years. On 28 March 2025 it reopened as Firstborn.
Born in America
The name is literal. Anthony Wang is the first in his Chinese immigrant family to be born in the United States; his parents left Beijing in 1989 and his mother adapted Chinese dishes to American ingredients. He studied classical piano seriously as a boy and gave it up at eighteen, when his sister Lulu pointed out how much he liked cooking. In Los Angeles he worked at Ink, APL, Auburn and Destroyer, never in a Chinese restaurant, then made this his own first restaurant with the restaurateur Bill Chait as partner. His idea is Chinese American food cooked with French technique and local produce, in a lean, brasserie-like format.
“Chinese food in this city has always been a story about moving and starting again.”
The room
Wang took his cue from the Bund in Shanghai, where Chinese tradition faces European architecture across the river, and kept the spirit of a French brasserie. Carolyn Baylon Design Studio, Lightspeed Design and Make Architecture turned that into emerald and jade tile, archways, L-shaped banquettes and a grid window to the kitchen that nods to a Beijing hutong. The mood is polished and cool, right for a low-key date. A casual drink at the bar after a Dodgers game is a legitimate plan.
What to eat
Order the steak tartare first. It is set on chilled tofu and tastes of mapo, with dried figs for sweetness, doubanjiang and Shaoxing wine, so the whole thing eats like mapo in tartare form. Then the cumin lamb: a thick saddle sliced at the table under a pour of Sichuan peppercorn jus, with shredded potato that keeps a celery-like crunch.
The steamed egg custard comes from Wang's mother's cooking, silky, with roasted scallops, peas and a thread of vinegar. The tofu gnudi are tender mounds in a mushroom broth, with the give of a dumpling and the softness of a pudding. The duck, aged for two weeks and finished with crisp skin and Chinese spices, is the dish for a table of friends. A smoky barbecue cabbage with leek vinaigrette is the vegetable plate people keep recommending, and a zhajiangmian built from squid in oxtail broth swaps the noodles for something more surprising.
The fried Chongqing chicken is the hedge. Enormous, crunchy drumsticks with juicy meat, it is closer to Southern fried chicken than to the numbing, fiery original, so adjust expectations. Names do not always match what arrives, so build the meal from ingredients you like rather than hunting a balanced menu.
Pastry chef Jaime Craten, who worked under Jordan Kahn at Vespertine, Destroyer and Meteora, ends the meal with a chamomile custard under green apple and cucumber granita and a kinako shortbread, meant to be cracked and stirred. It tastes like a caramel apple pop. Almond tofu and a strawberry castella cake with lemongrass cream are the alternatives.
Drinks
Kenzo Han runs the bar and treats each glass as a story. The sobacha bourbon fizz, a whiskey sour variation with buckwheat tea, is Wang's favourite, the Negroni is made with baijiu, and there are a sesame old fashioned and a Paloma with Sichuan peppercorn. Non-alcoholic options include a hojicha orange milk punch.
Come on a night when the Dodgers are at home, when the stadium lights glow over Chinatown and the courtyard hums with dinner.
- The vibe
- Jade-tiled brasserie in Chinatown's Mandarin Plaza, polished and cool.
- The food
- Chinese American, French technique: mapo tartare, cumin lamb, egg custard, aged duck.
- The drink
- Kenzo Han's sobacha bourbon fizz or the baijiu Negroni.
- A tip
- Book on Resy, share the Chongqing chicken, and use the bar after Dodgers games.
