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(huì)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(gè)知情人會(huì)說，你又白跑了一趟。想想洛杉磯——特別是韓國城——他認(rèn)為那里的韓國烤牛肉也許才是最好的?！暗牵边~爾斯·布萊恩說道，“顧客們首先需要知道怎么點(diǎn)餐?！?/p>

邁爾斯·布萊恩： 因?yàn)槲页醯铰迳即墸瑢?duì)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)?shí)地調(diào)查一番。

大衛(wèi)·張：是這樣，當(dāng)我按鈴的時(shí)候，那兒會(huì)顯示一個(gè)二號(hào)桌，而二號(hào)桌的信號(hào)就會(huì)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(wù)生。這家店已經(jīng)開了十多年了，也是這個(gè)地方的臺(tái)柱子。張說那些按鈕從根本上來說只是一個(gè)傳呼系統(tǒng)。你“?！钡匾幌罗粝滤菫榱艘鸱?wù)生的注意。聽起來很簡單但是……

張：也不是，很多人都會(huì)問——他們會(huì)問像“這個(gè)東西是干嘛用的”之類的問題?；蛘哂袝r(shí)候他們會(huì)摁下按鈕，而我走過去，他們則會(huì)這樣說，“哦，我不知道那個(gè)按鈕是干嘛的?！蔽覄t會(huì)這樣回應(yīng)，“哦，所以你只是摁了它？”

布萊恩：他們可能是游客，因?yàn)榕c我交談過的洛杉磯當(dāng)?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(xué)韓國研究所的負(fù)責(zé)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(shí)間還不算很久。在韓國，當(dāng)你想要什么東西的時(shí)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(huì)有人急匆匆地跑過來，而且他們就會(huì)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?cè)谶^去的幾十年里才剛剛開始出現(xiàn)，那時(shí)候除了韓國人之外的別國人剛開始冒險(xiǎn)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(wù)生應(yīng)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(wù)生不會(huì)過來打攪。

杰克·艾爾斯：給我們來點(diǎn)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(rèn)為這點(diǎn)子很棒。

艾爾斯：我覺得這個(gè)設(shè)計(jì)很合理。沒錯(cuò)。當(dāng)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(shí)，那么，你知道，只需摁下這個(gè)按鈕，即可為自己保留幾分優(yōu)雅。

布萊恩：吃飯時(shí)，艾爾斯第一次試著摁了那個(gè)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(huì)再摁一次。讓我們看看會(huì)怎么樣。

布萊恩：還是別這么干了。對(duì)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(qǐng)毫不猶豫地摁下按鈕，然后靜靜等候就好。不要反復(fù)去摁。31FCA1A4-F4AE-487D-AA3D-F39C7F92E645