Los Angeles
Locals (rightly) drool like fools at the mere mention of Scoops, which has several branches across the city. It's famed for its artisan ice cream and out…
Must-see restaurants in Los Angeles
Venice, Marina Del Rey & Playa del Rey
This local mini-chain of organic supermarkets just opened this location in 2016, and it's the perfect fit for New Venice: stylish, health-conscious, good…
Los Angeles
This 'White House' has been peddling moreish thin-crust pizzas since 1955. Jonathan Gold, LA's erstwhile, Pultizer Prize–winning restaurant critic, swears…
Long Beach & San Pedro
The Belmont Shore branch of this Manhattan Beach favorite. It serves tasty burgers, a terrific salmon sandwich, wood-fired pizzas and a huge craft-beer…
West Hollywood & Mid-City
Traditional southern Italian cuisine, by way of, um…Toronto? Facts is facts, and you will love the carpaccio di tonno, the thin-crust pizze and exquisite…
Beverly Hills, Bel Air, Brentwood & Westwood
This busy, fast-food-style place won't be winning awards for atmosphere anytime soon, but you're here for fresh, tasty, wallet-friendly salads, sandwiches…
Santa Monica
Chef Sang Yoon's elbow-to-elbow, counter-service gastropub is famous for its Office Burger, a dry-aged-beef number dressed in smoky bacon, sweet…
West Hollywood & Mid-City
This tasteful kitchen began life as Coach and Horses, one of Hollywood's favorite dives, before it was reimagined into a place where you can get buffalo…
Santa Monica
Creative New American cooking takes center stage at this multi-windowed cafe with lots of sidewalk seating in the tony Montana Ave shopping strip. The…
Los Feliz & Griffith Park
Hungry hikers gravitate to this adorable walk-up cafe, a few blocks north of Los Feliz Blvd. Almost everything from its tiny timber-cabin kitchen is made…
Silver Lake & Echo Park
A simple, modern, pared-back market cafe that's family owned and a champion of all things fresh, local and seasonal. Scan the counter and the freshly…
Venice, Marina Del Rey & Playa del Rey
Hal's has been an institution on Abbot Kinney since the late '80s, even weathering the upswing in Abbot Kinney real-estate prices, albeit in a new…
Santa Monica
The Santa Monica shingle of a popular sushi chain imagined by LA’s reformed Sushi Nazi, Chef Nozawa. You can order à la carte or one of the three set …
Malibu & Pacific Palisades
This Mexican joint with a Cuban name serves terrific margaritas in sumptuous booths on the heated patio, salsa on the sound system and two dishes that…
South Bay Beaches
Finally a Greek restaurant for the 21st century, on a comfortably modern courtyard. There's a feta-encrusted rack of lamb, a smoky eggplant and walnut dip…
Los Feliz & Griffith Park
Location, location, location…is definitely not what lures people to this former shoeshine booth turned parking-lot snack shack. It’s the tacos! And the…
Pasadena & the San Gabriel Valley
Touted as the best fine-dining in the 'dena, this pink-and-green, art-deco dining room is elegant, yet not stiff, and the ingredients are organic wherever…
Downtown Los Angeles & Boyle Heights
If you're partial to Japanese noodles, follow your nose to this funky Little Tokyo diner. You can smell the scallions and bubbling broth from the sidewalk…
Downtown Los Angeles & Boyle Heights
Named for the intersection of 5th and Main, termed ‘the Nickel’ by nearby Skid Row residents who used to come to this corner for their daily meds, this…
West Hollywood & Mid-City
Once the one-and-only tasty option for vegans, this famous kitchen from chef and cookbook author Ann Gentry still satisfies even devout carnivores with…
Westlake & Koreatown
My goodness, but Korea is good at fried chicken! The LA branch of this counter-service shop double-fries its famous wings and brushes them in soy garlic,…
Westlake & Koreatown
Who doesn't love a chicken in a pot? Of course, you can opt for deer antler or abalone instead, but we (alongside other Korean food geeks) are partial to…
Venice, Marina Del Rey & Playa del Rey
Venice cool has leaked into the Marina Del Rey border regions with wonderful results. This place is big and open with polished concrete floors and an…
Downtown Los Angeles & Boyle Heights
We love it all: the hand-picked china, the cracked terrazzo floor, and the fact that the affable Brazilian owner-operator is still chefing it up. Her pork…
Venice, Marina Del Rey & Playa del Rey
This imaginative, local-market, cafeteria-style shop serves a lineup of tasty salads (watermelon radish and chili or tamarind pork and spicy carrots), and…
Hollywood
A hipster deli and wine shop with a devoted following, where you can browse Californian wines, specialty bottled cocktails, artisanal cheeses and other…
South Bay Beaches
Grab a stool, a booth or, better yet, an ocean-view table at this tiny, greet-the-day, intimate South Bay institution. Sexy surfers, tottering toddlers…
Pasadena & the San Gabriel Valley
In business since 1946 and under a neon sign, Gus's smokes its baby back ribs, chicken, brisket and more in pecan wood and serves them Memphis or St Louis…
West Hollywood & Mid-City
An upscale, new-school taqueria. Vegetarians may opt for the roasted poblano and jack cheese tacos; fish heads will dig the branzino, shrimp or lobster …
West Hollywood & Mid-City
Let the bossa nova grooves flow at this ever-so-cute French cafe set in the American Rag complex. There are tables on the sidewalk, but we like the sofa…
Beverly Hills, Bel Air, Brentwood & Westwood
This Westwood institution has been in business since 1983 thanks to a simple formula: ice-cream sandwiches made before your eyes, packed between two fresh…
Long Beach & San Pedro
On Retro Row, Vietnamese noodles, banh mi sandwiches and craft beers are served in a spare, minimalist spot (concrete floors, white Formica tables) that…
Beverly Hills, Bel Air, Brentwood & Westwood
One of a string of Persian kitchens, these guys bake their own pita, which they use to wrap chicken, beef and lamb shwarma, kebabs and falafel served with…
South Bay Beaches
A splashy place perched a block from the sand with three floors dedicated to dining and drinking, and floor-to-ceiling windows revealing the Pacific…
South Bay Beaches
Families gather in this brick and dark-wood spot in the Hollywood Riviera for pizzas served rossa (with red sauce) or bianca (white), such as the classic…
West Hollywood & Mid-City
This neighborhood Italian joint feels like it's belonged here since forever, though it opened in 2012. That's when it was named one of Esquire's best new…
Westlake & Koreatown
An ideal K-Town BBQ habitat that has both class and charm, thanks to superb heated patio seating. Grills are built into the tables of course, and aside…
Malibu & Pacific Palisades
This lively spot fronted by a flowery terrace feeds both the soul and the belly. At lunchtime the baby lamb sandwich is divine, but for a serious…
Westlake & Koreatown
It steams pollock and cod, but we love the pan-fried mackerel: crispy skin, tender morsels of fish flesh and an array of sides that will occupy nearly…
Santa Monica
At this New England–style seafood shack across from the ocean, there’s only one reason to ignore a raw bar that includes a ceviche of the day, delectable…
