Smorgasburg's new program brings dumplings, fried fish and sausages with an operatic twist

At the beginning of each year, Smorgasburg, one of Los Angeles' favorite food events and an incubator for culinary talent, introduces a new generation of vendors. Some stands come from established restaurants and cafes, which are testing or anticipating new projects. Many come from fledgling companies, and some of them, like former Bridgetown Roti vendor, become some of the best restaurants in Los Angeles.

On January 11, Smorgasburg returned after its annual holiday hiatus, and on its first day back, more than a dozen new vendors mixed in with the more than 50 existing booths at the weekly Sunday event. Guests flocked to the Row DTLA complex in the Arts District to enjoy new bites like coffee-flavored Vietnamese banana pudding, Persian-inspired pizza and even Austrian sausages, which can be ordered with a side of opera.

Patrick Murray, a USC alumnus and former Fulbright scholar, studied opera in Vienna and now offers live performances along with sausages and pretzels at his new outpost, Franzl's Franks.

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The käsekrainer stand will open as a pop-up in 2024 from the back of Murray's car. With the help of a grant, he began serving seriously last year and decided to take the leap and apply to Smorgasburg.

“It's one of the most competitive places to get into, and once you're there, at least from what I'm experiencing and certainly from what I've been told by vendors there, it really is like a community,” he said, “it's been kind of a goal because it's an incredible step in the journey. Having that seal of approval from Smorgasburg is an incredible chapter in my business that's starting now.”

Murray, like many other vendors, sees selling there as a way to promote not only the food but the culture.

It is a major factor in new supplier induction, which is overseen by Smorgasburg LA general manager Zach Brooks. Conduct an extensive approval process, including applications, multiple rounds of interviews, and a food tasting. The final product is a balance of familiar favorites, interesting takes on classic dishes, and a diverse mix of cultures.

“January in Smorgasburg is one of the best times of the year,” Brooks said Sunday. “Los Angeles is the best food city in the world. We have the best food, the best vendors, and there are so many new ones popping up every year and we're always excited to be a place where small businesses take the first step toward something bigger than making food at home or whatever they've been doing.”

Some vendors are located minutes from the Arts District event, while others drive from Long Beach and beyond. Here are the new food stalls of 2026. Later this year they will celebrate Smorgasburg's 10th anniversary along with some of the food festival's most stalwart stalls.

Samuel Wang and Lydia Lin already operate Steep LA, a Chinatown teahouse serving artisanal teas, thoughtful snacks, and tea-infused cocktails, but later this year they plan to open an adjacent Taiwanese restaurant serving breakfast by day and steaks by night. You can get a sneak peek at their new Smorgasburg outpost, Souu LAwhere Wang prepares a Taiwanese breakfast that includes customizable dan bing, fan tuan and fresh, cold soy milk.

Fried chicken fans might have caught the pop-up Melnific Wingz at their recent residency at Maydan Market, or at Smorgasburg's Caribbean-themed Christmas event last month. Now, every Sunday, chef and owner Melissa Cottingham prepares crispy wings smothered in sauces and seasonings, plus one of the best chicken biscuit sandwiches in town. Cottingham launched his pop-up from his college dorm years ago, then worked his way through his training as a chef to build this pop-up that serves “global inspiration with a Southern base.”

A double cheeseburger on a takeaway paper tray on a green and brown wooden table

Smorgasburg has a legacy of great burger vendors who find great success at the event and then leave to open brick-and-mortar stores, including Love Hour and Softies. Now there is Terrible burgerBut don't let the name fool you: This Long Beach-based pop-up is a nod to its mascot Tyrannosaurus rex, and the burgers cooked up by husband-and-wife team Nicole and Ryan Ramirez are anything but terrible. They serve a classic option, a version of Korean barbecue that includes gochujang and bulgogi sauce, and a fried chicken sandwich topped with orange glaze in the style of Chinese orange chicken.

A large slice of koobideh and herb pizza with a side of garlic sauce in a cardboard box

Made-to-order pizza is a mainstay at Smorgasburg, but Persian-inspired pies made by a music producer are a novelty. Paimon Jahanbin, known in the music industry as Farsi and Farsi Beats, recently launched a Neapolitan-style pop-up. Pizza Mamaniwhere he rolls out fresh dough, spreads it with San Marzano tomatoes or tomato butter sauce, sprinkles with aged Parmesan and mozzarella, and, on the signature pizza, tops everything with Wagyu koobideh, a blend of Persian herbs, onions, yogurt sauce, and pomegranate molasses.

For between $13 and $16, you can try a spicy Austrian sausage that oozes Emmental cheese. For an additional $10, you can listen to live opera. Franzl's Franks was inspired by Austria's street food scene and takes a page from owner Murray's favorite käsekrainer operation, which is located right next to the Vienna State Opera, where Murray studied.

Upon returning to the U.S., he fused his love of opera with sausages and Austrian sweets, making it one of Smorgasburg's most unique experiences in 2026. He'll be playing an aria to enhance those bread puddings, pretzels, and sausages, and a portion of Murray's sales will benefit LGBTQ+ nonprofits.

A hand holds a baguette filled with cheese-filled sausages against a pale yellow wall.

“One night I was partying in West Hollywood and I was really craving one of these sausages,” he said. “In Vienna, like the taco stands in Los Angeles, this is what they have on the street and you can get them any time of the day. But like the taco stands on the street, they're really good after a night of partying. I thought, 'You know, this could be an interesting opportunity.' It's been this strange confluence of events in my life that has led me to this place.”

A woman hands a tray of food to a customer at a pick-up window.

Nearby, Asha Starks is frying small, tender plates of snapper at her stand. hot fat. “This ain't no damn fish and chips,” the banner proclaims: This is Southern-style fried fish, where Starks pays homage to black culture and his family's own culinary traditions. Snapper fillets can come with chips and bread or, until January, with black-eyed peas, greens and Hush Puppies for good luck in the new year. Dip or drizzle generously with Starks' homemade hot sauce and tartar sauce, loaded with dill.

The colorful pink and green trailer parked in a corner of the market is a new vendor Piruchia traveling Peruvian street food cart from old friends Cecile Di Florio and Eduardo Uribe Gómez. Look for creative Peruvian sandwiches with grilled fillings, like chicharrón con batata and char siu, in a nod to Peru's historic waves of Chinese immigrants and their cultural mixes.

Seafood lovers should head to the nearby Unreal pushwhere Jordan “JMKM” Maldonado, born and raised in Hawaii, serves fresh marinated fish and his friend, Imran Ashraf. This pop-up, which launched in 2023, came to Smorgasburg before, popping up for AAPI Day, but this year it returns as a permanent vendor with poke bowls, half-pound poke, inari-filled “poke bombs,” and Hawaiian iced tea. They'll be serving their poke every Sunday, and later this year they'll be opening a poke shop in Arcadia.

Shoyu tuna cubes in a plastic container.

Another familiar face that has become permanent is the adjacent ZinDrew Wonton Store. Its owners and namesakes, husband-and-wife team Andrew and Zin Lee, sold their small-batch garlic chili oil in the Smorgasburg retail area for years. They are now serving their crispy chili over handmade shrimp and pork dumplings, noodles and cucumbers at their new food stall.

This food festival hosts multiple plant-based options and will add another in 2026: talk about sticka vegan corndog stand that's putting a meatless spin on the fairgrounds icon. Here you'll find plant-based sausages (regular or spicy) coated in cornbread batter. Chef and owner Qamari Starks is the brother of Hot Grease owner Asha Starks; Both submitted their application to the food festival separately, without alerting their management team. Both were approved and now serve fried foods at separate ends of the market.

The weekly event also has ample sweet spots on hand and this year features several new dessert vendors.

Family operation Barranco Yogurt It debuted 13 years ago serving yogurt with fruits, Oaxacan style. What started in the back of the Barranco family's car in East Los Angeles became a sidewalk stand, which has since blossomed into a pop-up tent serving large swathes of the county. Their son Ivan Barranco (formerly of Hot Chickz) helped grow the business and now works alongside his parents serving parfaits topped with fresh fruit, nuts, honey and more.

A trio of banana pudding balls from Banana Mama on a wooden table

In banana mom Find fluffy, Southern-style, rich (but “not too sweet”) banana pudding in its classic, Asian-flavored form: ube, turon, and Vietnamese iced coffee. The team behind this already popular booth is based in Oceanside and launched Banana Mama last year with pop-ups throughout Southern California. Now, they are making the trip from San Diego to Los Angeles every Sunday.

To wash everything there is RuRu Golden Teaa gold-hued chai trailer that appeared during the market's December tea festival. Now it's back as a permanent vendor, serving its saffron-tinged Karak chai, both hot and iced, as well as cold foam options like mastic and orange blossom.

Smorgasburg runs every Sunday from 10am to 4pm inside the ROh DTLA complex in the Arts District at 777 S Alameda St., Los Angeles.

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