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Mitsuru Café is located within Japanese Village Plaza and sells traditional Japanese finger foods such as imagawayaki (red bean cakes), takoyaki (octopus balls), and mitarashi dango (mochi rice cake).  The cafe is now owned and operated by Rumi Yamaguchi, the daughter of the original owners.  Rumi took over the business in 2002 and has continued to make many of the tasty recipes created by her mother.  She has always been an integral part of the family business having worked there during summers as a teenager.

The restaurant sells a variety of snack foods that would typically be found at Japanese cultural festivals.  What makes this restaurant unique is that the front of the restaurant has a large window where prospective customers can stand and watch the red bean cakes being made from scratch.

(Anna’s Note: I go here often and highly recommend both the dango and red bean cakes, they’re tasty and fresh. The noodle dishes are good too and their prices are extremely reasonable.)

Mitsuru Café is located in an area of Little Tokyo impacted by construction of the Regional Connector.  They have experienced a decline in business since construction began and are hopeful that business will soon return to normal.  In the meantime, they are thankful that they have been able to keep their doors open due to the support they have received from the Business Interruption Fund (BIF).  “The BIF has been a true partner in helping us survive through construction,” stated Yamaguchi.

Mitsuru Café is located at 117 Japanese Village Plaza, Los Angeles, CA, 90012.  For more information, call (213) 613-1028.

Metro’s Business Interruption Fund (BIF) provides financial assistance to small “mom and pop” businesses directly impacted by transit rail construction along the Crenshaw/LAX Transit Project, the Little Tokyo area and 2nd/Broadway segment of the Regional Connector, and Phase 1 of the Purple Line Extension.  For more information about the BIF, visit metro.net/bif.  To apply for a BIF grant, visit Pacific Coast Regional Small Business Development Corp (PCR) at pcrcorp.org.

Visit metro.net/bif to view additional spotlights in the BIF’s Community Footprint.