These are dangos. Born before we ever saw the first deep-fried candy bars, deep fried ice cream, or deep fried soda, these deep fried balls of dough are a staple of LA festivals like Tofu Festival, Lotus Festival, and Nisei Week. Tofu Festival was cancelled two years ago, after the likes of Tofu Ninja and Tofuzilla, due to lack of a large enough venue. (And I was looking forward to the next tofu mascot.) Lotus Festival this year was so dull that DD and I ended up buying food from a Mexican vendor off the street, hovering just outside the perimeter of the festival, waiting on people like us, who just didn't find anything appealing in the suprisingly large food court. We munched happily on duros and corn slathered in mayo and parmesan cheese, though I still wistfully longed for deep fried dango goodness...Nisei Week to save the day! Though the Nisei Festival (J-Town, Aug. 15-23, 2009) was considerably smaller than either of the other two festivals, of the 5-6 food booths they had, DD and I were able to buy four powdered sugar-covered dangos and a couple Asahi beers for less than $10. And while these (in my humble opinion) didn't compare to how I remember Island Dangos tasting, they were still enough to soothe the craving and remind me of why I deal with the parking and the crowds and the funky entertainment at any festival: deep fried dough balls covered in sugar!
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