Firstborn
Chinese American cuisine with a focus on Chongqing fried chicken.
Firstborn serves Chinese American cuisine with a focus on Chongqing fried chicken.
$68 4-course dinner by @chefanthonywang 📍Chinatown, LA ⏰ 5 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Wed, Thurs and Sunday 5 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. Fri-Sat 978 N Broadway 90012.
Hours
- Mon–Tue: ClosedWed–Thu: 5:00 – 8:30 PMFri–Sun: 5:00 – 9:00 PM
The menu
See the menuKnown for: Mapo Tofu, Fried Boneless Leg of Chicken, Roasted Strawberry, and Sweet Corn Sabayon.
A broad, dessert-focused menu.
Per Eater LA, Roasted and raw tomato tartare topped with smoked trout roe could be Wang's most stunning appetizer.
Per The Infatuation, the chilled tofu in the steak tartare dish acts as a mattress topper for the fiery, finely chopped beef tartare heaped on top.
Per Eater LA, Firstborn offers a super-affordable tasting menu.
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Firstborn's menu shows dessert-focused.
Firstborn's food offering is broad.
Per Eater LA, Firstborn offers a super-affordable tasting menu.
The current prix fixe menu highlights summer produce.
Vegetarian options are available.
The menu includes a variety of dishes such as Duck Sausage en Crépinette and Fried Boneless Leg of Chicken.
Firstborn offers a super-affordable tasting menu.
Servers know their stuff, but won't bore you with soliloquies on oolong varieties.
The menu at Firstborn is essentially a long list of small plates.
A Mid-Autumn martini with green Szechuan peppercorn is available to pre-order as well. The $32 ready-to-pour cocktail serves two.
At Firstborn, he will serve his interpretation of Chinese American cuisine, inspired by his parent's history in Beijing, summer trips across China, and his childhood in Georgia and Miami.
The private events menu includes canapés with celery root blini topped with crème fraiche and N25 ossetra caviar with apple and black vinegar reduction.
The collaboration dinner features iconic food from "ink." evolved.
They serve a dish of chilled leeks, white asparagus, soy-almond vinaigrette, cherries, and lovage.
The current prix fixe menu highlights summer produce.
Patio service serves Fried Chicken 3.0 with fun sides including Chef Jaime's lamb fat Parker House rolls.
Duck is aged for 14-18 days with all parts of the animal used, including legs for sausage, fat for rice and cooking, and bones for sauce.
Roasted and raw tomato tartare topped with smoked trout roe could be Wang's most stunning appetizer.
Mapo tartare is inspired by Wang's days of being a young line cook in Boston, ordering heaping portions of mapo tofu and eating it cold the next morning.
The chilled tofu in the steak tartare dish acts as a mattress topper for the fiery, finely chopped beef tartare heaped on top.
The dining room at Firstborn is gorgeous, but grabbing a seat at the mortadella-colored stone counter, sipping a savory martini between bites of chile-inflected fried chicken may be the best way to do dinner here.
Service
3Reservations are accepted.
It offers table service.
There is outdoor seating.
Supporting details, 3 ›
Reservations are accepted.
Firstborn, full-service.
There is outdoor seating.
The room
1The room sees regular date use. Per The Infatuation, the green-tiled dining room inside Mandarin Plaza exudes a polished cool that makes it work for an under-the-radar date night. Per The Infatuation, Firstborn feels like a breath of fresh air for Chinatown, ambitious but not stuffy, inventive but not over the top. Per Eater LA, the room, even when only partially full, emanates warmth and comfort. Per Eater LA, Wang aimed to pull out more feminine aspects of the space with jewel tones, soft curved arches, and warm colors.
Supporting details, 5 ›
Per The Infatuation, the green-tiled dining room inside Mandarin Plaza exudes a polished cool that makes it work for an under-the-radar date night.
Firstborn feels like a breath of fresh air for Chinatown, ambitious but not stuffy, inventive but not over the top.
The room, even when only partially full, emanates warmth and comfort.
Wang aimed to pull out more feminine aspects of the space with jewel tones, soft curved arches, and warm colors.
The room sees regular use for dates.
Operations
4- Parking
- There's a paid lot, a paid garage, and paid street parking.
- Access
- The parking, seating, entrance, and restroom are wheelchair accessible.
- Payment
- It takes debit cards and credit cards.
- Details
- You can dine in and come with a group, at a very expensive price level.
History
2Wang eventually took over the long-vacant Pok Pok in Chinatown's Mandarin Plaza to open Firstborn.
Firstborn has been in development since 2022 when Wang began looking at potential spaces in Los Angeles.
Supporting details, 2 ›
Per Eater LA, Wang eventually took over the long-vacant Pok Pok in Chinatown's Mandarin Plaza to open Firstborn.
Firstborn has been in development since 2022 when Wang began looking at potential spaces in Los Angeles.
The people
1Anthony Wang is the chef and owner. Andrew Reyna is the sous chef, and Jaime Craten is the pastry chef.
Supporting details, 10 ›
Andrew Reyna is the chef.
Jaime Craten is the pastry chef.
Anthony Wang is the owner and chef.
Anne Kleinedler Aldrete handles Media Inquiries/PR.
Per Eater LA, Anthony Wang searched a long time for an ideal location for his first independent restaurant after he moved to Los Angeles in the 2010s.
Bar manager Kenzo Han works their magic at Firstborn.
Natalie Villaescusa handles Events/Office.
Kenzo Han is Bar Director.
Lisa Witkowski is General Manager.
Firstborn is the chef.
In the press
5- 01Eater LAFirstborn | Eater LARead ↗
- 02Eater LAFirstborn Restaurant - Los Angeles, CA | OpenTableRead ↗
- 03Michelin GuideFirstborn – Los Angeles - a MICHELIN Guide RestaurantRead ↗
- 04Eater LAChinatown's Firstborn Will Flip Its Menu Soon - Los Angeles - Eater LARead ↗
- 05Eater LAFirstborn Finds a New Perspective With a Super-Affordable Tasting ...Read ↗
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This is a restaurant.
Chinese American cuisine with a focus on Chongqing fried chicken, drawing on chef Wang's heritage in Beijing, childhood in Georgia and Miami, and refined interpretations of traditional dishes.