"When the owner of Los Angeles’s only dedicated Mongolian restaurant was ready to sell it this past summer, first-time restaurateur Batbayasgalan Enkhbold and his wife, Bayarmaa Bat-Ayush, stepped up to the plate. The couple took the reins from Ganbat Damba, who owned and operated Golden Mongolian in Koreatown since 2014, and renamed it Arag Mongolian Cuisine. While the restaurant’s interior is largely unchanged from its time as Golden Mongolian, the newly expanded menu leans more traditional than its predecessor’s, says Enkhbold. Together with chef Buted Sanjaa, the couple refined many of the restaurant’s core recipes, including boiled whole lamb head, stone-grilled lamb chops, deep-fried dumplings filled with ground meat and offals, and buuz, steamed dumplings served with a vinegary slaw. Traditional Mongolian cooking is often misunderstood among Angelenos, especially with the proliferation of Mongolian barbecue restaurants across the Southland, which is neither Mongolian nor barbecue. The menu at Arag Mongolian Cuisine is characteristic of what is eaten in Mongolia, with its heavy Russian and Chinese influences and embrace of lamb. Enkhbold wants Arag Mongolian Cuisine to be a beacon for the local Mongolian community, which he estimates numbers between 7,000 to 8,000. The restaurant is open Monday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m." - Cathy Chaplin
