Hai Ku Kitchen

Take one family of successful Japanese restauranteurs, add a young chef with a B.A. in English Literature and a burning desire to create a delicious alternative to the standard rice bowl, and voila, you get Haiku Kitchen. We believed it was about time someone put something other than teriyaki on rice in a bowl. Not that there’s anything wrong with teriyaki (we love it too), but why limit our...

Well hidden in an attractive but nondescript East Pasadena shopping center is this tiny shop that adds a splash of Latin flavor to some predictable Japanese fast food. For instance, your tofu rice bowl can be prepared with teriyaki sauce or “fresca,” with pico de gallo and avocados, or “ponzu picante,” with a jalapeño cream sauce complementing a ponzu flavoring. Gyoza dumplings with a delicate...

Take one family of successful Japanese restauranteurs, add a young chef with a B.A. in English Literature and a burning desire to create a delicious alternative to the standard rice bowl, and voila, you get Haiku Kitchen. We believed it was about time someone put something other than teriyaki on rice in a bowl. Not that thereac2s anything wrong with teriyaki (we love it too), but why limit our...