At the start of each year, Smorgasburg — one of L.A.’s favorite food events and an incubator of culinary talent — unveils a new crop of vendors. Some stands come from established restaurants and cafes, which are testing or previewing new ventures. Many are from fledgling businesses, and a few of these, such as past vendor Bridgetown Roti, go on to become some of the best restaurants in Los Angeles.
On Jan. 11, Smorgasburg returned after its annual holiday hiatus, and on its first day back, more than a dozen new vendors mingled with the 50-plus existing stalls of the weekly Sunday event. Guests streamed into the Row DTLA complex in the Arts District for new bites like Vietnamese coffee-tinged 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 performance alongside sausages and pretzels at his new stall, Franzl’s Franks.
The käsekrainer stand launched as a pop-up in 2024 from the back of Murray’s car. With the help of a grant, last year he began serving in earnest — and decided to take the leap and apply to Smorgasburg.
“It’s one of the most competitive places to get into, and then once you’re in — at least, from what I’m experiencing and certainly what I’ve been told by the vendors there — it really is like a community,” he said, “It’s kind of been a goal because it’s such an incredible step in the journey. Having that seal of approval from Smorgasburg is an amazing chapter in my business that is starting now.”
Murray, like many other vendors, sees vending there as a way to promote not only food but culture.
It’s an important factor in new-vendor induction, which is overseen by Smorgasburg L.A. general manager Zach Brooks. He heads an extensive approval process, which includes applications, multiple rounds of interviews and a food tasting. The final product is a balance of familiar favorites, exciting takes on classic dishes and a diverse blend of cultures.
“January in Smorgasburg is one of the best times of year,” Brooks said on Sunday. “L.A. is the best food city in the world. We have the best food, the best vendors, and every year a bunch of new ones come out of the woodwork and we’re always excited to be a place where small businesses take that first step toward something bigger than making food out of their house or whatever it is they’ve been doing.”
Some vendors are based minutes from the Arts District event, while others drive from Long Beach and beyond. Here are 2026’s new food stalls. They’ll be ringing in Smorgasburg’s 10th anniversary later this year alongside some of the food festival’s most stalwart stands.
Samuel Wang and Lydia Lin already operate Steep LA, a Chinatown teahouse serving artisan teas, thoughtful snacks and tea-infused cocktails, but later this year they plan to launch an adjacent Taiwanese restaurant serving breakfast by day and steaks by night. You can taste a preview at their new Smorgasburg stall, Souu LA, where Wang is making Taiwanese breakfast that includes customizable dan bing, fan tuan and fresh chilled soy milk.
Fried chicken fans might’ve caught pop-up Melnificent Wings in its recent Maydan Market residency, or at Smorgasburg’s Caribbean-themed Christmas event last month. Now every Sunday, chef-owner Melissa Cottingham is whipping up crispy wings doused in sauces and seasoning, plus one of the city’s best chicken biscuit sandwiches. Cottingham launched her pop-up from her college dorm years ago, then worked her way through chef training to build this pop-up that serves “global inspiration with a Southern foundation.”
Smorgasburg’s got a legacy of smash burger vendors who find great success at the event, then depart to launch bricks-and-mortar shops, including Love Hour and Softies. Now there’s Terrible Burger, but don’t let the name fool you: This Long Beach-based pop-up is a nod to its mascot, the Tyrannosaurus rex, and the burgers that husband-and-wife team Nicole and Ryan Ramirez cook are anything but terrible. They’re serving a classic option, a Korean-barbecue spin that features gochujang and bulgogi sauce, and a fried chicken sandwich coated in orange glaze a la Chinese orange chicken.
Made-to-order pizza is a mainstay at Smorgasburg, but Persian-inspired pies from a music producer are a first. Paimon Jahanbin — known in the music industry as Farsi and Farsi Beats — recently launched Neapolitan-style pop-up Mamani Pizza, where he’s stretching fresh dough, slathering it with San Marzano tomatoes or tomato butter sauce, sprinkling it with aged Parmesan and mozzarella and, in the signature pizza, topping it all with Wagyu koobideh, a Persian herb blend, onions, yogurt sauce and pomegranate molasses.
For $13 to $16, you can taste a snappy Austrian sausage that oozes Emmental cheese. For an additional $10, you can hear 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 sits just next to the Vienna State Opera, where Murray studied.
Upon returning to the U.S. he melded his love of opera with Austrian sausages and sweets, making for one of Smorgasburg’s most unique experiences in 2026. He’ll belt out an aria to augment those bread puddings, pretzels and sausages — and a portion of Murray’s sales benefit LGBTQ+ nonprofits.
“I was out partying in West Hollywood one night and really was craving one of these sausages,” he said. “In Vienna, just like taco stands are in L.A., this is what they have on the street and you can get them any time of day. But just like taco stands on the street, they’re really good after a night out. I thought, ‘You know, this could be an interesting opportunity.’ It’s been this weird confluence of events in my life that have led me to this spot.”
Nearby, Asha Starks is deep-frying small, tender planks of snapper at her stall, Hot Grease. “This ain’t no damn fish and chips,” the banner proclaims: This is Southern-style fish fry, where Starks pays homage to Black culture and her family’s own culinary traditions. The snapper fillets can come accompanied by fries and bread or, through January, with black-eyed peas, greens and hush puppies for good luck in the new year. Dunk or drizzle generously with hot sauce and Starks’ house-made tartar sauce, which is loaded with dill.
The colorful pink-and-green trailer parked in a corner of the market is new vendor Piruchi, a roving Peruvian street-food cart from longtime friends Cecile Di Florio and Eduardo Uribe Gomez. Look for creative Peruvian sandwiches with griddled-to-order fillings such as chicharrón with sweet potato, and char siu in a nod to Peru’s historical waves of Chinese immigrants and their cultural blends.
Seafood lovers should head to the nearby Unreal Poke, where marinated fresh fish is being served by born-and-raised Hawaiian Jordan “JMKM” Maldonado and his friend, Imran Ashraf. This pop-up, which launched in 2023, made its way to Smorgasburg previously, appearing for AAPI Day, but this year it’s returning as a permanent vendor with poke bowls, poke by the half-pound, stuffed inari “poke bombs” and Hawaiian iced tea. They’ll be serving their poke every Sunday, and later this year are set to debut a poke shop in Arcadia.
Another familiar face that’s gone permanent is the adjacent ZinDrew Wonton Shop. Its owners and namesakes, husband-and-wife team Andrew and Zin Lee, sold their small-batch garlic chili oil in Smorgasburg’s retail row for years. Now they’re pouring their chili crisp over handmade shrimp-and-pork dumplings, noodles and cucumbers at their new food stall.
This food festival is home to multiple plant-based options, and in 2026 it’s adding another: Stick Talk, a 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-owner Qamari Starks is the brother of Hot Grease’s owner, Asha Starks; both applied to the food festival separately, without alerting its management team. Both were approved, and are now serving fried foods at separate ends of the market.
The weekly event also keeps ample sweets spots on hand, and this year features multiple new dessert vendors.
Family operation Barranco’s Yogurt debuted 13 years ago serving yogurt studded with fruit, Oaxacan-style. What began out of the back of the Barranco family’s car in East L.A. turned into a sidewalk stand, which has since flourished into a pop-up tent serving large swaths of the county. 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.
At Banana Mama find fluffy, Southern-style, rich (but “not too sweet”) banana pudding in its classic form as well as spiked with Asian flavor: ube, turon and Vietnamese iced coffee. The team behind this already popular stand is based in Oceanside, and launched Banana Mama last year with pop-ups throughout Southern California. Now, they’re making the trek from San Diego to L.A. every Sunday.
To wash it all down there’s RuRu’s Golden Tea, a gold-hued chai trailer that made an appearance 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, plus cold foam options such as mastic and orange blossom.
Smorgasburg runs every Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. inside the Row DTLA complex in the Arts District at 777 S Alameda St., Los Angeles.
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