This Little Tokyo restaurant is long gone. But it changed L.A.’s food scene forever

The matchbook flashed like a sunset, its gilt cover catching the light. The promise of candlelight — or maybe a cigarette — was entirely in keeping with the glamorous haunt whose name it bore. It was a relic from Kawafuku, the Japanese restaurant that had once been the grandest in Little Tokyo. For Angelenos of a certain era, Kawafuku was the place where they first tried sushi — at a small, L-shaped bar installed by its flamboyant owner,... + full article