Archive - Lunch Box

Lunch Box Letter #11: What I've learned from the garden

sun in eyes, dirt under fingernails, crocs on feet, gardeners everywhere

Jun 18 • Frank Shyong

Thai temple food courts explode the suburban imagination

How mind-blowing Thai food sparked crackdowns in suburbs across California

Jun 10 • Frank Shyong

May 2026

Temple cuisine in the far east San Gabriel Valley

Part 1 of a semi-vegetarian food crawl that spans the Asian American diaspora, a Taiwanese Buddhist lunch buffet served every day since 1988.

May 27 • Frank Shyong

LBL #10: AI billionaire accelerationists perform alarm about a permanent underclass

We're all trying really hard to find the guy responsible for this

May 8 • Frank Shyong

April 2026

LBL #9: millennial dreams; hotel dim sum as recession indicator; Chinatown mystery box; choose my next story

Paid subscribers can vote on which story I take on next

Apr 24 • Frank Shyong

Baker's Drive-thru, the IE chain that connects Taco Bell, Del Taco, McDonald's and Wienerschnitzel

Tastes like if McDonald's had stayed at 39 locations; Taco Bell before memes and Mountain Dew Baja Blast

Apr 19 • Frank Shyong

Amtrak Coast Starlight "the most beautiful passenger train in the world"

why everyone talks to strangers on the train + a look at the fragile economics of the Amtrak dining car

Apr 7 • Frank Shyong

March 2026

Metrolink San Bernadino Line, The Arrow, Omnitrans #19,#66

For paid subscribers, I review two places recommended by Mike, an Omnitrans bus operator: Mitla Cafe and P & G Burger.

Mar 19 • Frank Shyong

LBL #8 The lives of plants, Koreatown as downtown, Olympic Taco Row

Plus an ekiben lecture? And a peak at reporting on American transit food

Mar 10 • Frank Shyong

Lunch Box Atlas: Hokkaido, Japan

Why would anyone visit Hokkaido? One reason could be that most people don’t.

Mar 8 • Frank Shyong

Manga cafes, cyber nomads and Toyo Ito's simulated city

Domesticity by the hour in entertainment-oriented housing

Mar 5 • Frank Shyong

February 2026

Snowed out in Sapporo

A 24-hour delay, a freezing train station; sold-out hotels, konbinis and karaoke rooms and the critical importance of waiting in the right line

Feb 25 • Frank Shyong