Dagu Rice Noodle (大鼓米线) now open in Squirrel Hill (for pick-up).

Dagu Rice Noodle (大鼓米线) opened for the first time today, May 15, for pick-up orders. Signage went up in November 2019 in the space formerly occupied by The Magic Noodle and Sun Penang. It is a Chinese chain---as in, a chain from China---with the nearest location in Cleveland:

In the middle of the Ming Dynasty, there was a restaurant without a sign near the flowery Drum tower in Yunnan, Kunming. Whenever the city had a happy news, people rang the drum to celebrate. Along with the joy of drumbeat, people flocked to the unnamed little restaurant and had bowls of hot rice noodle soup, meaning “smooth long time”. Because of this joy, with the honesty of the shop owner, the little restaurant eventually became a century-old business.

Dagu Rice Noodle is located at 5829 Forbes Ave. (map).

20% off orders of $20 or more at Shadyside's Kawaii Gifts.

Daiso products, Splatoon plushies, via @KawaiiBuzz

Kawaii Gifts in Shadyside, specializing in cute Japanese products and collectibles, is offering 20% off orders of $20 or more with the promo code 2020sucks. The store is located at 738 Coplenad St. (map) but its physical location has been closed since March 14.

Cambodian-French documentary The Missing Picture online at Pitt, June 24.

The Asian Studies Center at the University of Pittsburgh will present the 2013 Cambodian-French documentary The Missing Picture online on June 24, the first installment of the three-part "Hot Nights And Cold War" series. From a Variety review:

Following “S-21: The Khmer Rouge Killing Machine” and “Duch, Master of the Forges of Hell,” Rithy Panh grapples with the horrors of the Cambodian genocide on more intimately unsettling terms in “The Missing Picture.” A sobering chronicle of Panh’s teenage years under the Pol Pot dictatorship, the film is a brave act of witness complicated by the documaker’s decision to re-create his experiences using clay figurines, a tricky aesthetic device that raises fascinating and problematic questions of representation. Sufficiently distinguished from Panh’s other fine work on the subject, and bolstered by strong black-and-white archival footage, “Picture” would be assured of further fest play and strong broadcast interest even if it hadn’t won the top Un Certain Regard prize at Cannes.

The movie starts at 4:00 pm and those interested should register online.

Garfield's Soju to reopen for take-out orders on May 14.

Soju, the Korean fusion restaurant in Garfield, will reopen for take-out orders on Thursday, May 14.

Takeout starting Thursday! Pickup available between 4pm-8pm. Call 412-956-7699 to order.

Soju closed temporarily on March 16. It is located at 4923 Penn Ave. (map).

Squirrel Hill's Panda Supermarket to open its doors again to customers, from May 15.

Following from the state's planned shift to yellow status, Squirrel Hill's Panda Supermarket will again open its doors to customers from May 15. The Asian grocery on Forbes Avenue shifted to online orders and pick-up from March 23 and had not been permitting customers to enter. It will maintain its abbreviated hours of 12:00 pm to 6:00 pm but will be open seven days a week and will eliminated online ordering and pick-up service. It has also implemented the following guidelines:

1. Masks are to be worn by Panda employees and all customers; those without a mask will not be permitted to enter. (By order of the governor, all staff and customers in Pennsylvania stores are required to wear masks or face coverings).

2. Gloves are worn by staff at all times.

3. Increased cleaning and sanitation of carts will be implemented.

4. The number of shoppers at one time will be limited to 10; as shoppers leave, others may enter.

5. Customers are required to practice safe social distancing and remain six feet away from each other and from staff.

Thank you for your continued support and patience through this trying time. We look forward to your feedback as we navigate these unprecedented* public health challenges.

Workshop on April 30th, 1975 with Pitt's Vietnamese Student Association, May 14.

The Vietnamese Student Association at the University of Pittsburgh will present a Workshop on April 30th, 1975, online on May 14.

Some may reminisce the day as Reunification Day, where after years of continuous fighting, the North and the South were able to be united as one. Others may not even want to think about this day at all, having memories of watching South Vietnam fall to the North, leaving home, and seeking asylum.

Although April 30th has passed, many people seek to learn more about Vietnamese culture and the historical significance behind this date. Determined to educate and inform our community, VSA has decided to host a workshop, dedicated to understanding this event and its connotations. Please join us as we look to address the events leading up to this date and discuss with an open mind a variety of perspectives and experiences others have gone through after this event took place.

Link to the workshop will be posted 15 minutes it starts. We hope to see you there.

The workshop runs from 8:00 to 10:00 pm.

That's why stores in Pittsburgh play Singapore's national anthem.

Last August, a video from Pittsburgh went moderately viral when it recorded an Asian grocery in the Strip District playing Singapore's national anthem. A video from Panda Supermarket last week shows the same thing:



The simple answer, then and now, is that grocery stores use streaming Singaporean radio stations for their in-store music. In the case of Panda, it's YES 933 FM. The video from Panda was taken around 6:00 pm; YES 933 FM plays the national anthem at the start of its 6:00 am program.

"The Making Of Asian Americans And Apia Activism," May 15 (online) at Pitt.

The University of Pittsburgh's Global Hub and Asian Studies Center will present "The Making Of Asian Americans And Apia Activism" online on May 15.

The Pitt Global Hub and Asian Studies Center present #PittAPAHM: The Making of ASIAN AMERICANS and APIA Activism, the second event in our programmatic series in honor of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month.

This panel discussion will feature Donald Young, Director of Programs at the Center for Asian American Media and producer of the PBS documentary series, ASIAN AMERICANS; Nobuko Miyamoto, singer/songwriter, theater artist, and troubadour in the 1970s Asian American movement who co-created one of the first albums of Asian American songs; and Corky Lee, photographer who photographed the Asian American movement and continues to document the daily lives of APIA folx.
Christina Ong, PhD student in the Department of Sociology will moderate the discussion.

Register here: https://pitt.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJMkd-mtrTwoHtyYGwqB1gD6Mz-bleLz8WRf

The event runs from 5:00 to 9:00 pm.

Andrew Ahn film Driveways, starring Brian Dennehy and Hong Chau, continues online via Tull Family Theater through May 17.

The Tull Family Theater will continue to show the 2019 film Driveways through May 17, with the Sewickley theater receiving a share of sales. A synopsis from the distributor:

Kathy (Golden Globe® Nominee Hong Chau), a single mother, travels with her shy eight-year-old son Cody (newcomer Lucas Jaye) to Kathy's late sister's house which they plan to clean and sell. As Kathy realizes how little she knew about her sister, Cody develops an unlikely friendship with Del (Golden Globe®, Tony® winner and acting legend Brian Dennehy), the Korean War vet and widower who lives next door. Over the course of a summer, and with Del's encouragement, Cody develops the courage to come out of his shell and, along with his mother, finds a new place to call home.

Tickets are available online for $12.

Live origami workshops for kids, part of online Children's Theater Festival, May 17.

An online version of the cancelled Children's Theater Festival will present origami workshops with Kuniko Yamamoto on May 17.

Kuniko Yamamoto is an origami master! In this video you will become an origami master too! You will see how origami--the art of paper folding-transforms paper into the shape of flowers and animals such as a panda, an elephant, a puppy, a cat, a daisy, or a rose. Anything is possible with origami including reaching for the stars! NASA and universities are incorporating origami with today's technology and changing the world. Kuniko will share her origami and storytelling, and together, you will fold a few simple origami models.

Materials needed:

Paper: 5 sheets of notebook paper or letter size (8 1/2 x 11), or origami paper Printer to print advance instructions.
This content was created specifically for the EQT Children's Theater Festival. Visit the artist's website to learn more about their work!

There is a live workshop for kids aged 5 to 7 from 11:00 am and a workshop for kids 8 and up from 1:00 pm. Registration is required to attend.