Plugs — Raihan Anwar

L.A. food and drink recs from the Friends With Benefits co-founder

Plugs is The Angel’s recs column. Every week, you’ll get six picks—a restaurant, a bar, a shop, an ingredient, a person, and a treat—from someone in Los Angeles who knows what they’re talking about. (Plugs are for paid subscribers of The Angel only. However, if you’re in the restaurant industry and want a free subscription, hit me up. :))

#23 is Raihan Anwar, co-founder of Friends With Benefits, the DAO (decentralized autonomous organization, i.e. member-run crypto community) for the creative class. FWB has been profiled in the NYT and is known for the summertime music and internet culture festival they produce in Idyllwild. Raihan was born and raised in Los Angeles, Koreatown specifically, where his parents settled after immigrating from Bangladesh. Since his teenage years, he’s been enmeshed in the electronic music and local tech scene. He spent time working in coffee, another one of his passions, specifically ecommerce for Go Get Em and Breville. And he’s also a perfumer, having co-founded Incense Route, the fragrance company based in Skid Row, alongside his mom (more on that below). Most importantly, for The Angel’s purposes, Raihan is deeply plugged into and opinionated about the L.A. food scene. Here are his L.A. Plugs!

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Restaurant — Wako Donkasu

Wako Donkasu is next to Boiling Crab in Koreatown. Probably my fav katsu in L.A. and a regular meal for me. The standard chicken katsu is pictured here. But my preferred order is chicken curry katsu, with the curry on the side. Dip the katsu in curry, savor it. Get extra soy-marinated jalapenos. (Additional shout to the legendary Dino’s Chicken and Pollo A La Brasa. Two L.A. institutions.)