Two years ago, the 626 Night Market debuted in Los Angeles, inspired by the night markets found in Asia, and especially Taiwan. After great success, they’ve continued on, expanding to Orange County and downtown LA as well, and holding multiple sessions each summer. The main location is the Arcadia one.
We happened to be in LA visiting friends during one of the weekends they were holding the 626 Night Market in Arcadia, and I was very eager to check it out. One of the highlights from my trips to Taiwan have always been the night markets. (There is one more session in September for those interested in attending.)
The Arcadia one is held at Santa Anita Park. It’s a mere $3 to get in, and if you park in the back parking, there is no parking fee (it’s $6 if you park in the front). I was impressed with the number of vendors, which was much greater than I expected. The crowds were pretty heavy, but we also went during peak hours. If I have a chance to go again, I’d go earlier before the dinner crowd.
The food prices were pretty reasonable, especially compared to the horrible first night market that San Diego attempted last year. We actually had a pretty good time browsing all the vendors and trying out different foods. Since we had a large group, it made it nice for sharing. Here are some highlights:
I love bubble waffles (also known as egg waffles, egg puffs, eggettes). It’s a popular item in Hong Kong and I’ve had a hard time finding a decent rendition here, but the version at this vendor was surprisingly good. Crispy on the outside, sweet and fluffy on the inside. This is such a fun dessert to eat since you break off each little piece.
Lamb skewers and grilled squid were very popular items that we saw offered by several vendors. We randomly stopped by this one when we first arrived and we enjoyed it enough to stop again right before we left.
It’s hard to tell, but this was an enormous fried chicken fillet. Unfortunately, they folded it in half before handing it over, making for a much less impressive photo. I actually didn’t really enjoy this one. I found the breading to be gummy.
Fresh made dragon whisker candy is always a treat. The name comes from the appearance because the threads apparently resemble dragon whiskers. The inside has different fillings, we got the sweetened crushed peanut filling.
We didn’t actually try this one but I had to take a photo. We thought about getting it, but after the deep fried chicken, I was worried the squid wouldn’t taste very good.
Stinky tofu is a classic at Taiwanese markets. There were only a few vendors selling it, probably because the smell can be offending to some. This vendor offered both a steamed and a fried version.
Here are some of the other vendors available:
I don’t even know what was being sold here, but Mr. K insisted I take a picture:
Overall, we had a good experience here. It was crowded, so I advise that you go earlier to avoid the crowds. The prices were decent, the variety of vendors was plentiful, and it was a fun experience. It doesn’t substitute the night markets in Taiwan, but I was pretty impressed with the organization and the vendors. They even have a phone app so you can locate your favorite vendors while you are at the market.
They have one more scheduled at the Arcadia location for September 12-14, and then it’s farewell until next year.
626 Night Market
Santa Anita Park -Arcadia
https://www.626nightmarket.com/
Oh thanks for this post! I’ve never heard of this event but hope to visit in Sept now. I miss the Taiwan night markets so much. It’s incredibly hard to recreate the whole ambiance, smells, sights of the Taiwan night markets 🙁 Too bad we can’t do a Taiwan crawl with all the SD bloggers .
it’s definitely not quite Taiwan, but I thought it was pretty impressive for a US version
eggporn! Oh my god, that made me laugh. Eating things off of sticks makes it seem better for some reason.
i dont even know what they were selling! lol. there was such a big crowd surrounding it. i agree, stuff on sticks just seems better
ugh! So wish i was there!!!
=(
I was going to go but realized it was a day past the date. The food sure looked good though. I’ll just think of it as way to avoid 5 extra lbs haha.
oh =(. they have one more weekend in sept!
Squid roe sounds good actually!
So that’s what those dragon whiskers look like. I’ve only read about them – it’s nice to see a photo. I’m so curious to taste that. The eggettes (egg puffs) look so good too! I’ll be in the SF area soon (Outer Sunset) and hope to hit up Eggette’s once again.
if you get get fresh made dragon whiskers, they are better! I once tried prepackaged ones and they were super sweet. the fresh ones are less sweet. the whiskers are a little like cotton candy but rougher and they melt in your mouth. The filling is a little bit like toffee as it sticks to your teeth slightly when you are eating it. it’s still fun to eat though. there is a man that specializes in making dragon whiskers candy somewhere in the SGV area but I haven’t been