Button Mash Awards

Button Mash Restaurant Review:

Mix up an unending stream of youthful Echo Park hipsters, a great craft beer menu and a slew of vintage video games (yes, think Donkey Kong and Space Invaders) alongside slick, modern Asian food and you’ve nailed Button Mash. The industrial-airy room gets louder as the night progresses, both from the ring of pinball machines and the garrulous groups of Millennials. Once you claw through the attitude, you should stay for the food, which comes by way of celebrated Starry Kitchen duo Thi and Nguyen Tran. Their cult faves are all found here, and somehow seem better than ever. Start grazing with crispy tofu balls and fresh, crunchy Vietnamese egg rolls. Double-fried tamarind, ginger or gochujang chicken wings are arguably some of the best wings in L.A. Other creations, like an ambitious but bland braised Coca-Cola jackfruit sandwich, fall short. Don’t leave without a taste of the famous SK garlic noodles. Lychee panna cotta offers a light finish, or just wind up an evening with an exotic blood orange cider or Avery passionfruit Liliko’i Kepolo Witbier (which sounds so wrong, but is very, very right, with the wings especially).