Monica Lee opened Beverly Soon Tofu in 1986, specializing in soondubu, Korean-style tofu stew. Credit Coral Von Zumwalt for The New York Times.

While new restaurants in Los Angeles struggle to train and retain staff, the cooks at Beverly Soon Tofu have worked with Ms. Lee for decades, fermenting kimchi and frying kelp. “They speak broken Korean to me, I speak broken Spanish to them,” Ms. Lee said. “And this is how we work together.”

(Tejal Rao, “The Old-School Reasons to Love Los Angeles Restaurants,” NYTimes, 2-12-19)

(c) 2019 JMN.