If you take a cross-country trek looking for the best barbecue in America and wind up in， I dont know， Texas， North Carolina， Kansas City， our next contributor would say， youve taken a wrong turn. Consider Los Angeles—specifically Koreatown—where he thinks Bulgogi Beef might just be the best. “But，” says Miles Bryan，“customers first need to know how to order.”

Miles Bryan： So Im new to Los Angeles， and there are a lot of things that I still dont get about the city. But something thats really caught my attention is the shiny plastic button you find on the tables of practically every Korean barbecue joint around here. That called for some field research.

David Chang：So， when I press a bell， theres a table number two， and number two will show up right there.

Bryan： David Chang is a waiter at Parks BBQ in Koreatown. Theyve been around for over 10 years and are a mainstay in the neighborhood. Chang says those buttons are basically just a paging system. You ding it to get your servers attention. Sounds simple but…

Chang： No， a lot of people ask—theyre， like，“What does this do？” Or sometimes they press it， and I go there and theyre， like， “Oh， I didnt know that was what it was for.” I was， like， “Oh， so you just pressed it？”

Bryan： They might have been tourists because the Angelenos I talked to said these call buttons are just part of eating Korean barbecue. Still， nobody seemed to know where they came from or why theyre so popular. So I called David Kang， head of the Korean Studies Institute at USC. I figured they must be a Korean thing—turns out， not really.

David Kang： These call buttons are relatively new. In Korea， it is still common that when you want something， you just yell “yogigo”， or “here”， “over here” and you wave your arm， right？ And then they come running over， and theyre， like， “what do you want？”

Bryan： Kang says these buttons are more of a phenomenon in Koreatown than in Korea. They only started showing up in the last few decades when nonKoreans started to venture into K-town restaurants. Kang says that theyre a way to bridge the gap between American and Korean dining cultures.

Kang： The American internal logic is your waiter comes over， they introduce themselves， theyre friendly， they keep checking up on you. The Korean logic is， youre there to eat， and you—they dont bother you until you call them over.

Jake Ayers： Well do the Galbiribs， and well also probably get some pork belly…31FCA1A4-F4AE-487D-AA3D-F39C7F92E645

Bryan： Jake Ayers is a tourist. Hes down from Seattle. He hadnt even noticed the call button on his table， but when I told him how it worked， he thought it was a good idea.

Ayers： I think it makes sense. Yeah. If you need to get someones attention， and you dont necessarily want to flag them down like this， then， you know， you could be a little bit more elegant and just push a button.

Bryan： Ayers gave the call button a try for the first time during that meal， then he tried it again…

Ayers： I think I might just do it one more time while youre here. Lets see what happens.

Bryan： Maybe not. David Chang， the waiter at Parks BBQ， has this advice for K-town newbies. Definitely hit the call button when you need something， but then just wait. Dont hit it again.

如果你橫跨全國、艱難跋涉地去尋求美國最好的烤肉，會在哪里找到呢，我不知道，德克薩斯州，或是北卡羅來納州，又或是堪薩斯城，我們的下一個知情人會說，你又白跑了一趟。想想洛杉磯——特別是韓國城——他認為那里的韓國烤牛肉也許才是最好的。“但是，”邁爾斯·布萊恩說道，“顧客們首先需要知道怎么點餐?！?/p>

邁爾斯·布萊恩： 因為我初到洛杉磯，對于這座城市，我還是有很多東西并不了解。但如果真的有什么東西吸引了我的注意力，那便是你可以在這里幾乎每家韓國烤肉店的桌子上發(fā)現(xiàn)的锃亮的塑料按鈕。那需要我們?nèi)嵉卣{(diào)查一番。

大衛(wèi)·張：是這樣，當我按鈴的時候，那兒會顯示一個二號桌，而二號桌的信號就會在那里出現(xiàn)。

布萊恩：大衛(wèi)·張是韓國城里樸記烤肉店的服務生。這家店已經(jīng)開了十多年了，也是這個地方的臺柱子。張說那些按鈕從根本上來說只是一個傳呼系統(tǒng)。你“?！钡匾幌罗粝滤菫榱艘鸱丈淖⒁?。聽起來很簡單但是……

張：也不是，很多人都會問——他們會問像“這個東西是干嘛用的”之類的問題?；蛘哂袝r候他們會摁下按鈕，而我走過去，他們則會這樣說，“哦，我不知道那個按鈕是干嘛的。”我則會這樣回應，“哦，所以你只是摁了它？”

布萊恩：他們可能是游客，因為與我交談過的洛杉磯當?shù)厝硕颊f那些呼叫按鈕只不過是吃韓國烤肉的一部分。盡管如此，似乎沒人知道那些按鈕的來歷又或是它們?yōu)楹稳绱耸軞g迎。因此我電話聯(lián)系了大衛(wèi)·康，他是南加州大學韓國研究所的負責人。我猜想它們一定是韓國的玩意兒——結(jié)果卻發(fā)現(xiàn)，并非如此。

大衛(wèi)·康：那些呼叫按鈕出現(xiàn)的時間還不算很久。在韓國，當你想要什么東西的時候，你只需要喊一聲“這里”，又或者是“這兒”、“在這里”，你只需要揮揮自己的手臂，這些都還是很尋常，不是嗎？而后會有人急匆匆地跑過來，而且他們就會像這樣問道：“你需要什么呢？”

布萊恩：康說與韓國相較，那些按鈕在韓國城里則更為常見。它們在過去的幾十年里才剛剛開始出現(xiàn)，那時候除了韓國人之外的別國人剛開始冒險試著去韓國城的餐館吃飯?？嫡f那些按鈕只是縮減美韓餐飲文化之間差異的一種方式。

康：按照美國人的內(nèi)在邏輯，服務生應該走到桌旁，做自我介紹，保持親切態(tài)度并始終將注意力集中在客人身上。而韓國人的思維則是：既然你是去那兒吃飯的，那么你——除非你招呼他們，否則服務生不會過來打攪。

杰克·艾爾斯：給我們來點兒韓式牛小排，或許還要些五花肉……

布萊恩：杰克·艾爾斯是位來自西雅圖的游客。他甚至都沒留意到桌上有按鈕，但在我向他解釋如何使用后，他認為這點子很棒。

艾爾斯：我覺得這個設計很合理。沒錯。當你需要引起別人的注意力，而你又不想把手揮得那么夸張時，那么，你知道，只需摁下這個按鈕，即可為自己保留幾分優(yōu)雅。

布萊恩：吃飯時，艾爾斯第一次試著摁了那個呼叫按鈕，之后，又摁了一下……

艾爾斯：趁你在這兒，我想我可能會再摁一次。讓我們看看會怎么樣。

布萊恩：還是別這么干了。對于初來乍到韓國城的朋友們，樸記烤肉店的店員大衛(wèi)·張建議：如果您有需要，那就請毫不猶豫地摁下按鈕，然后靜靜等候就好。不要反復去摁。31FCA1A4-F4AE-487D-AA3D-F39C7F92E645