Dan Sung Sa

Los Angeles, California

Byung Cho opened this pojangmacha, Korean street pub, in 1997, and his daughter Caroline now runs a venue that channels Korea's drinking culture through wood-panelled interiors, dim lighting, vintage Korean film posters, and nearly one hundred anju bar bites including twenty-five skewer varieties. Named after Korea's first cinema house, Dan Sung Sa serves soju and makgeolli alongside frog legs, black sausage, and spicy chicken until 2 a.m. seven nights a week. The bar represents a side of Koreatown drinking that cocktail rankings rarely capture but that LA's bar culture depends upon entirely.