Inside LA's Quirky New Home for Fusion Fried Rice

Silver Lake’s latest casual experiment is Hot Hot Food, a Hoover Street newcomer that has completely taken over some quirky real estate a block behind Sqirl and not far from Cafecito Organico. The well-lit option features a patio, nice booths, and all the fried rice you can handle.

If the space seems a little funky at first, that’s to be expected. The room was long a commissary kitchen of sorts called The Hoover, but closed down unceremoniously a while back. Now it’s been reimagined as a home for some flavorful Mexican-Chinese fusion food, including the restaurant’s signature fried rice dishes.

These actually come in a variety of flavors, from pork fried rice with carnitas (available meat-free with jackfruit) to iterations with crispy tempura tofu, pan-seared shrimp, or grassfed beef and gravy — their take on the signature Hawaiian dish loco moco. You’ll also find straight-up plates like huevos rancheros, avocado toast, a burger, and a Fluffernutter sandwich.

With regards to the space, expect a casual triangle of a main dining room, with bar seating at one corner and low, dark blue booths ringing much of the rest of the room. Roll-up windows provide seamless indoor-outdoor access to the patio beyond, which is shielded from the street by tall wooden walls.

Hot Hot Food is the work of co-owners Coly Den Haan (The Must, Perch) and Dean Harada (Earle’s in Mar Vista), and officially opens this week in Silver Lake. The plan is to keep daily hours from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., and you can see the opening menu for the restaurant below.

Hot Hot Food
654 N. Hoover
Los Angeles, CA