Head to Chinatown for lunch. Chinese restaurants are perfect for families. At dim sum restaurants, pick the dishes you like as they come by (even picky eaters like a barbque pork bun), and the ambiance is pleasantly noisy. The Empress Pavilion is a family favorite.
According to urban legends, Los Angeles (along with San Francisco) is credited with the invention of the fortune cookie. David Jung, a baker from Canton, started making the cookies around 1920; they were so popular, his Hong Kong Noodle Company made 3,000 cookies an hour! Stop into the Phoenix Bakery on North Broadway at Bamboo Lane for fortune cookies and Chinese sweets.