Shourai BBQ, Santa Ana, CA (2026)

10/08/2026

THE OCTOBER SCHEDULE

My apologies on the delayed posting, been swamped with work and life lately. This one is one of our busiest months yet. You can catch us all over LA and the IE this month so we’ll see y’all soon! 👺

09/28/2026

The other day one of my good friends had his last popup. Curtis from Yakitori Cartel is one the realest one’s you’ll ever meet. He is loyal, dedicated, and one of the funniest and hard working dudes I have ever gotten to know. He is so dedicated to the craft of cooking and, honestly, makes some of the best food in the whole popup game.

You’ve been a great friend and one of the most genuine, helpful people I’ve met in the popup game. Food popups is one of the most cutthroat industries to be in, especially in a market such as Los Angeles. But you’ve always kept it 100 with me and everyone. You’ve introduced me to a variety of awesome, genuine people in the industry that I would have never met.

As equally as dedicated you are to your craft you are to being a husband and father. I always admired that about you, how you carve out time just for your family and cut out outside noise. How you always told me everything that I needed to hear, not what I wanted. Like how I work too much and how I have a son growing up that needs his dad.

You’ve been an amazing friend and I know I speak for many when we say goddamn man we are gunna miss your food. But I know you are always pushing the boundaries of your cooking and I cannot wait to see what you got in store for the future.

Thank you for your continued friendship, support and love for me, my family, and my business. And thanks for being one of the hardest motherf**kin ese out there.

Love you pops. 👺

09/22/2026

As we continue to push our creativity for our bento boxes, today I present to y’all our three meat bento box. As I have dove more and more into the history and composition of bento boxes, I have seen that one common element is the usage of one primary starch vs two. While I am not restricted to the traditional bento box archetype, for now I am experimenting with using one primary starch for our bento box and saving the double starch option for our most premium bento box (I am still experimenting with this and may alter this in the future).

This bento features:

🍚 Brisket Yakimeshi: our take on a Japanese style fried rice. Using short grain rice for a more toothsome, chewy mouthfeel, this yakimeshi is loaded with brisket, veg, tamari, with a subtle note of sesame.

🍣 Brisket Inarizushi: aburage, brisket laced-shari, negi, sesame, spicy mayo, and topped with a generous dollop of ikura for a salty, briny bite that complements the richness of the brisket and spicy mayo nicely.

🥓 Sweet Ponzu Pork Belly Burnt Ends: one of our customers most favorite protein. Sweet, fatty, and full of umami.

🌭 Kushiyaki Sausage: housemade beef/pork sausage with Negi, housemade tare, garlic, kizami nori, sesame, among other ingredients.

🥚Dashimaki Tamago: a more savory take on tamagoyaki. I personally do not care for the sweetness of regular tamagoyaki and thus really enjoy the savoriness of the dashimaki.

🌶️ Blistered Shish*to: blistered and dressed in a savory soy dressing, this is the perfect accompaniment to the richness of our smoked meats.

🥒Various Sunomono: we utilize a variety of sunomono in our bento including but not limited to
- Cucumber Sunomono
- Kinoko (mushroom) Sunomono made up of shimeji, bunashimeji, and Maitake mushroom
- Our classic pickled red onions

Ultimately, the goal for these bentos is to feature a set foundation of various sunomomo and okazu and allow customers to choose their starch and proteins. I will also be expanding our protein options and feature items such as sashimi (aburi salmon, Nikiri marinated tuna, negitoro, etc.) and oak smoked and grilled unagi.

Keep an eye on our social for when we will be bringing this out! 👺

09/18/2026

Shourai Barbeque D**g Research Lab. 🌭🔬

Though our sausage program is expansive, these three dongs are the most common ones you’ll see at any of our services.

Jalapeño cheddar: beef/pork sausage, garlic, jalapeno , mild cheddar with notes of mustard and ancho

Texas Hotgut: our take on a traditional all beef Texas link. 100% prime brisket trim, garlic, onions, and a melody of four chili peppers to have a subtle heat on the backend

Kushiyaki: beef/pork sausage inspired by Kushiyaki skewers. Garlic, housemade tare, onion, negi, kizami nori, sesame, shichimi togarashi. One of our most unique and complex sausages that we offer regularly.

All made by hand with love every week. Come get you some at any of our popups. 👺

09/17/2026

In the chaos of grease flying, crumbs everywhere, and dehydration wracking my body and mind, something beautiful is born.

This was our exclusive bento that we did back at Smorgasburg LA bbq day a few weeks back. It feature special proteins that were exclusive to this bento. Mishima Reserve American Wagyu Brisket, Kombujime-cured Chashū Pork Belly, housemade Japanese Curry, Yakisoba noodles, and various sunomono (kinoko sunomono is one of my personal favorites).

These sold like crazy, and I was humbled by people’s response to them. These bentos are a love letter to the country and culture that for decades has captivated my heart and mind and to the heritage and techniques of barbecue that I have dedicated the last 5 years of my life trying to master.

Though these bentos clearly exemplify our Japanese-inspired proteins and sides, so much of the cooking process and technique behind them is rooted in Central Texas-style barbecue. The manner in which we trim, season, and cook our brisket and pork belly; the wood that fuels the fire in our firebox; the patience required to coax smoke, heat, and time into every cut of meat.

The shoyu and mirin used to braise our pork belly are imported from Japan, yet the tare and pork is ultimately bathed in smoke from our hand-built, made-in-Texas offset smoker. Japanese ingredients and flavors meet Texas barbecue technique.

These bentos represent a marriage of techniques, ingredients, and flavors from two places that, on the surface, might seem worlds apart—but that we believe have a remarkable amount in common.

This is just only one iteration of bento. I have so much planned. So much fun and delicious Japanese inspired barbecue and amazing sides that I would love for y’all to try. The future is bright, and I can’t wait to share with y’all what we got cooking.

These bentos will be making more of an appearance soon. Hopefully we’ll have a spot where you can catch them on a more regular basis.

Until next time. 👺

09/15/2026

Housemade curry
14 hour smoked brisket
Fluffy calrose rice
Fukujinzuke pickles

The curry bow with brisket is a Shourai staple, come get you some at one of our many popups. 👺

09/11/2026

Of all the acknowledgements, write ups, and awards, this one is arguably the most humbling. To be featured in my local community newspaper is a profound experience for me as Helendale is where I started my business and where I still reside to this very day.

As some of you may know, I don’t live in LA. On the contrary, I live in the small community Helendale with a population of about 6,000. All these la breweries that you find me at, well they are about a 100 mile drive minimum from my residence. So when you see me setting up at one of the many LA breweries that we operate at, it took about 2-2.5 hours and over 100 miles of driving to get there.

And while I have forged a name for myself within the LA popup scene, I am and still a Helendale guy. I still popup monthly out in Helendale. I still have customers out here who loyally support me.

Reading this article makes me take stock of where we started and what we have accomplished. More-so, it motivates me to continue to strive and make the best damn food that I can make.

Thank you Tiffany for the feature. And a huge thank you to all our Helendale customers who have followed me on this 4 year journey.

📸: Edwin

09/04/2026

THE SEPTEMBER SCHEDULE 👺👺

Getting back to being responsible and posting this in a timely fashion lol. We’re all over the place this month at our staple spots so feel free to pull up, get some ‘cue, and say hi.

We’ll see y’all soon!

09/01/2026

As we have a very successful end to a rather challenging August, l completely overlooked that this month we celebrate our 4th year of Shourai Barbeque.

I’ve grown as a husband, father, friend, and business owner. I went back to Japan and forged new relationships and found even more inspiration. I am grateful to everyone who has supported me along this journey. To all my friends who supported and helped me, thank you. This is a cutthroat industry, and to have such great friends who support me and my dream makes this journey all the much easier. In particular, I want to thank my lovely and supportive wife Tara Munoz for everything she does. This business would not happen without your support and love, love you. ❤️

This year we’ve refined our Japanese/Texas barbecue concept more and more to where now people often come for just the Japanese inspired barbecue. And that is not because the staple proteins and sides are found lacking, but because every Japanese inspired item that I make is a love letter to the country and culture that I have grown so immensely fond of.

We’ve received recognition and won awards I would have never imagined. From winning Smorgasburg LA bbq invitational, participating in yesterday’s Smorgaburg BBQ day, to being recognized by behemoths such as the underseasoned.bbqshow, this year has brought a level of success and recognition that I never would have imagined.

Now, whats next? A few things:

First, we will continue to grind and improve our product and develop fun and creative Japanese inspired barbecue that you all have come to expect and love.

Second, I think it’s time we find a somewhat consistent spot that y’all can find us at. Whether thats a residency at a farmers market, food market, etc, I think having a consistent place where y'all can find us would be nice. That doesn't mean we will stop going to all the breweries we frequent. Rather, this is a step towards having consistent opportunities to meet our customers without having to chase us around LA.

Lastly, I think it's time to fulfilling my biggest ambition of doing a popup in Japan. Whether it's later this year or into next year, Japan, I'll be coming. 👺

08/29/2026

Smorgasburg LA BBQ DAY MENU

We are bringing out a full menu of fun and delicious proteins and sides for y’all tomorrow! Barbecue Bento Boxes are back, featuring bento-exclusive proteins like Mishima Reserve American Wagyu Brisket and Kombujime-Cured Chashū Pork Belly.

Japanese Barbacoa has steadily been rising in the ranks as a new protein for us and I am stoked to share it with y’all.

Get ready! We’re beyond stoked to serve y’all again tomorrow! 👺👺👺

I forgot that Instagram carousel will crop some of the images but it is what it is.

Shourai BBQ

10/08/2026

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08/29/2026

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