{"id":79701,"date":"2023-11-20T08:00:55","date_gmt":"2023-11-20T16:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/hi-lo\/?p=79701"},"modified":"2024-01-13T09:28:08","modified_gmt":"2024-01-13T17:28:08","slug":"side-streats-new-bao-bun-fusion-concept-i-luv-ur-buns-packs-a-hand-held-punch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/hi-lo\/food\/side-streats-new-bao-bun-fusion-concept-i-luv-ur-buns-packs-a-hand-held-punch","title":{"rendered":"Side StrEATS: New bao bun fusion concept, I Luv Ur Buns, packs a hand-held punch"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"I Luv Ur Buns\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/0MoW6IbUFdk?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>When Sonya Suon and Mandy Bardisbanian got married three years ago, they never imagined their honeymoon would lead to founding one of Long Beach&#8217;s newest food concepts, I Luv Ur Buns.<\/p>\n<p>The venture is centered on Asian street food, combining different cuisines like Cambodian, Korean and Mexican flavors in a hand-held bao bun. Though not an official brick-and-mortar, the eatery works out of Daisy Diner, a ghost kitchen in the Washington neighborhood, and has recently done pop-ups at Trademark Brewing and The Wicked Wolf.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We had just come back from our honeymoon, we spent time in Bali and Singapore,&#8221; Suon said. &#8220;We had the most amazing bao over there, and it was in the sandwich form, not the filled form that most people are familiar with.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Bao is a steamed bun made with soft, fluffy dough that&#8217;s either stuffed or used as a shell for a marinated meat or vegetable filling. Disney Pixar even made a short film, &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.pixar.com\/bao\">Bao<\/a>,&#8221; dedicated to the delicious bun.<\/p>\n<p>I Luv Ur Buns has nine different bao buns with the option to make any buns vegan or with fried tofu. A Satay with Me order comes with two buns filled with Thai-style marinated chicken, peanut sauce, spicy mayo and pickled vegetables for $10.<\/p>\n<p>The eatery also uses its bao bun fillings to create dishes like the Bao Mi Loaded Fries with Vietnamese-style grilled pork belly, housemade spicy hoisin sauce, cucumber, jalape\u00f1o and more on top of crinkle-cut fries. For dessert, Suon fries the baos to create a crispy, soft beignet-like treat stuffed with caramelized bananas or sweet cream cheese.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The whole point is fusion, for you to try these different flavors together,&#8221; Suon said. &#8220;We&#8217;re excited to bring something new to Long Beach.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Initially, the idea to open a restaurant, especially during the tail-end of the pandemic, hadn&#8217;t crossed their minds, but at Bardisbanian&#8217;s urging and after proposing the brand&#8217;s catchy name, Suon was sold on the idea. Suon had spent over 10 years in food service, mainly front of house, then worked in a corporate environment but had always been a home cook. The pandemic forced her to think about what she wanted to do with her life.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I love cooking because it&#8217;s part of a lot of Asian culture,&#8221; Suon said. &#8220;It&#8217;s kind of like a love language, making sure people are satisfied and fed.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Suon was born in a refugee camp in the Philippines to Cambodian parents and raised in the D.C. area before finally settling in Long Beach nine years ago. Bardisbanian&#8217;s background was working in production and merchandising, so while Suon does the cooking, Bardisbanian has been vital in the company&#8217;s branding and social media marketing.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Ever since the pandemic, people want to have fun,&#8221; Bardisbanian said. &#8220;With I Luv Ur Buns, it&#8217;s funny and cheeky, we want to make people smile while still showing how delicious the food is.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><em>Stay up to date with I Luv Ur Buns <a href=\"https:\/\/instagram.com\/iluvurbuns?igshid=OGQ5ZDc2ODk2ZA==\">here<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The concept is centered on Asian street food, combining different cuisines like Cambodian, Korean and Mexican flavors in a hand-held bao bun.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":314,"featured_media":79711,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","inline_featured_image":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_":"","_author_alias":"","cap-aim":"","cap-description":"","cap-display_name":"","cap-first_name":"","cap-jabber":"","cap-last_name":"","cap-linked_account":"","cap-newspack_employer":"","cap-newspack_job_title":"","cap-newspack_phone_number":"","cap-newspack_role":"","cap-user_email":"","cap-user_login":"","cap-website":"","cap-yahooim":"","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_email_html":"","newspack_email_type":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_hide_page_title":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_show_share_buttons":"","newspack_sponsor_byline_prefix":"","newspack_sponsor_disclaimer_override":"","newspack_sponsor_flag_override":"","newspack_sponsor_only_direct":"","newspack_sponsor_url":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,32101,6],"tags":[30566,31826,31929],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[32152],"class_list":["post-79701","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-food","category-side-streats","category-hi-lo","tag-side-streats","tag-side-streeats","tag-sidestreats","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79701","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/314"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79701"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79701\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":79812,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79701\/revisions\/79812"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/79711"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79701"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79701"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79701"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=79701"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=79701"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}