A San Gabriel restaurant has stopped serving its signature "stinky tofu" dish after complaints about the smell and about $1,200 in city-issued fines.
David Liao, who owns Golden Leaf restaurant, said he serves all of the traditional Taiwanese dishes but stinky tofu has been one of the most popular with customers.
"In English, the dish is called stinky tofu. In Chinese, it's called cho-dofu," he said. "Every day, we have customers coming and asking for this dish, and the only response I can give is that we can't sell it. The city won't let us."
Liao said the family-owned restaurant served stinky tofu from 2014 to 2017 until a neighbor complained about the smell.
"It's a funky smell," Liao said. "I think people are unfamiliar with the smell, that's all."
Liao pulled the dish from the menu after the city threatened to fine them. Stinky tofu accounted for nearly 20% of the restaurant's revenue. In 2025, Liao tried to bring the dish back, but only sold it once a week.
His neighbor complained again, and the city issued several fines totaling $1,200, according to Liao.
Liao said the city never came inside his restaurant to "smell it for themselves," but told him to install a ventilation system to filter out the odor. He said it could cost him $100,000, and there's no guarantee that it will satisfy the city.
"Even with the filter, the city hasn't guaranteed that if we install the filter, we can sell it," Liao said. "If a neighbor complains, we still can't sell it."
Other restaurants in San Gabriel have served stinky tofu without issues. Liao said other business owners in the strip mall have never complained about the stench.
"I think it's ridiculous," said Thomas Purscelley, the owner of the nearby Roxy's Liquor and Mini-Mart. "David has done a really great job, him and his team, preventing this smell coming out and being a nuisance. I'm right next door. We have never smelled the stinky tofu. I didn't even know he was smelling it."
San Gabriel is home to a large population of Taiwanese people. Many admit stinky tofu smells strong, but for them, it's a comfort food and reminds them of home.
"When you smell that stinky tofu, you feel hungry," resident Jennifer Shen said. "After you think, 'Oh, the smell is nothing.' It just depends if you can take it or not."
Liao said a sound ordinance is measured by decibels and wonders how the city is measuring the smell. He asked for clear guidelines.
"Our goal is not to bend the rules," he said. "Right now, there are no rules."
He added that every day people ask for stinky tofu and he wants to serve it to them.
"There is a demand for it, and preserving the culture and these dishes is very important," Liao said.