{"id":18130,"date":"2026-05-06T18:52:06","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T18:52:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/18130\/"},"modified":"2026-05-06T18:52:06","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T18:52:06","slug":"a-buzzy-tokyo-born-matcha-specialist-opens-in-pasadena","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/18130\/","title":{"rendered":"A Buzzy Tokyo-Born Matcha Specialist Opens in Pasadena"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nana\u2019s Green Tea<\/a>, a Japan-based teahouse chain specializing in matcha, just expanded to California for the first time with a flagship location in Pasadena. The new store, set in the heart of Old Pasadena, opens on Saturday, May 9, with a menu of tea lattes, soft serve, and savory dishes like chicken katsu curry.<\/p>\n

The first Nana\u2019s Green Tea location opened in Jiyugaoka, a neighborhood in Tokyo, in 2001, named \u201cGreen Tea Cafe.\u201d Nanaha, the cafe\u2019s parent company, opened a second location in Ochanomizu, Tokyo, in 2003, followed by a third in Yokohama in 2006. In the following two decades, Nana\u2019s Green Tea expanded to Hawaii, Vancouver B.C., Seattle, Hong Kong, New York, Las Vegas, and more. Nana\u2019s other U.S. locations are operated by franchisees; the Pasadena outpost will be the first stateside location to be company-operated.<\/p>\n

In Pasadena, Nana\u2019s Green Tea will serve classic matcha lattes, alongside versions with brown sugar, mochi, or red bean. Simply prepared teas, served hot or cold, include sencha, hojicha, and genmaicha (only available hot), while matcha can also be prepared as a blended frappe with chocolate crunch, soft serve, or black sesame. Intricately layered parfaits span combinations such as matcha mochi, black sesame mochi, and hojicha mochi. Soft serve options include matcha with mochi and red bean, hojicha with chocolate crunch, and vanilla. On the savory side, Nana\u2019s will offer chicken soboro don, salmon sashimi don, pork katsu curry, and chicken nanban, among other dishes.<\/p>\n

Following the expansion to Pasadena, Nana\u2019s Green Tea plans to open locations in San Mateo, California; Meridian, Ohio; and Boston, Massachusetts this summer.<\/p>\n

New brunches in Los Angeles<\/p>\n

Ray Garcia\u2019s Broken Spanish Comedor<\/a> kicks off weekend brunch service on Saturday, May 9, just in time for Mother\u2019s Day. The brunch menu includes dishes such as huevos rancheros, chicharron hash, and chilaquiles verdes, alongside beverages like cafe de olla, a carajillo, and a margarita. Si! Mon in Venice, meanwhile, has revived its short-lived Sunday brunch into a two-day affair: You can now eat from the Caribbean\u2013inflected brunch menu<\/a> Saturdays and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.<\/p>\n

Across town in West Hollywood, Sushi Samba<\/a> just debuted its weekend brunch, which runs Saturdays and Sundays from 10:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. The three-course, $65 menu kicks off with p\u00e3o de queijo, green bean tempura, nigiri, and \u201ceverything but the bagel\u201d maki, followed by a choice of entrees, including passion fruit French toast and aji verde steak and eggs. Reservations are available on Seven Rooms<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Friends of Firstborn dinner series<\/p>\n

To celebrate Firstborn\u2019s first anniversary, the restaurant will host a series of collaborative dinners with local chefs throughout the summer. The series kicks off in May with Little Fish, followed by Michael Voltaggio and Mei Lin<\/a> in June, and Vin Folk in July. Reservations are available on OpenTable<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Johnie\u2019s Coffee Shop reopens for one day<\/p>\n

Historic Googie coffee shop Johnie\u2019s will reopen its doors for one day on Friday, May 8, to celebrate the extension of the Metro D Line<\/a>. Head over between 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. for ice cream, a performance by Bob Baker Marionette Theater, music, and more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nana\u2019s Green Tea, a Japan-based teahouse chain specializing in matcha, just expanded to California for the first time…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":18131,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1876,8,6603,52],"class_list":{"0":"post-18130","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tokyo","8":"tag-intel","9":"tag-japan","10":"tag-la-restaurant-openings","11":"tag-tokyo"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18130","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18130"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18130\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18131"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18130"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18130"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}