100 of the Best Restaurants in Los Angeles

If you have time, take an after-dinner stroll across the street for some free live jazz seven nights a week in the Culver Hotel lobby. Baroo is that most wonderful of restaurants, a place that is almost impossible to describe in part because no one would believe it to be true — a modernist, health-focused Korean fantasy inside a sparse room located on a decidedly unglamorous stretch of Santa Monica Boulevard, just east of Hollywood Forever Cemetery.

There's no sign, and the room is tiny and simple: Owner Kwang Uh has returned from his sabbatical to a Buddhist temple in South Korea, and he's back in the kitchen with his capable business partner and co-chef, Matthew Kim. Their cooking is still incredible: Handmade pasta ribbons support a kaleidoscope of celery and celeriac: The result is lightly fruity and creamy and utterly beguiling.

There are a lot of grains being put to use, including a few dishes with Job's tears, which you may have seen sold as Chinese pearl barley. They're best here in the dish called noorook , which also has farro and kamut, and is mixed with roasted koji beet cream, concentrated kombu dashi , seeds, nuts, finger lime and rose onion pickle. Baroo is a weird, exceptionally personal, only-in-L.

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Is there any better kind? Beijing Pie House is a great place to learn about food traditionally made and eaten in Northern China. It's heavy on lamb, pastry and noodles, and the vegetables are mostly served cold and sometimes lightly pickled. The cabbage is a great mystery. Served chopped and tossed with oil and Sichuan peppercorn, it is perhaps the best presentation of cabbage I've ever come across, even as the cruciferous vegetable is having a moment at restaurants further west.

It's also a great introduction to Sichuan peppercorn, which strikes fear in many hearts mine included but in truth offers a complex flavor, not just searing heat. It does make your water taste a little funny for a bit, but it's totally worth it. But the must-get dish is the meat pie. Get the lamb and green onion version. It's about the shape of a hockey puck, and served outrageously hot. Turn it up vertically on your spoon and take a little nibble off the top to let out the steam. Wait a beat, and then get into this dish that was created for cold-weather living but is so good that it's a hit even in L.

The Studio City restaurant might seem to have the DNA of half the gastropubs in town, but it nails the small details most places overlook. Hopson is what you might call a chef's chef, and he weaves solid and inventive cooking techniques into even the most commonplace dishes. The french fries here are brined, steamed, frozen and fried, part of a three-day process that yields long, crispy batons as fluffy as a baked potato inside yet shatteringly crunchy outside.

Popular "Share a Lot" plates include the patty melt, which comes with taleggio, caramelized onions and Calabrian aioli, and the Vietnamese braised pork short ribs, served with yu choy and coriander rice. It's not always useful to read too much into the meaning of a restaurant's name, but in the case of "bellwether" — "one that leads or indicates trends" — the definition seems an apt description of what Hopson has accomplished. The Bellwether takes what we've come to expect from a neighborhood restaurant and adds another layer of delicious polish.

The winning formula, concocted by chefs Ori Menashe and Genevieve Gergis, consists of a buzzing warehouse space in the bottom of a loft building down one of the Arts District's darkest streets, aggressively cheffy Italian cooking, and stellar drinks both at the bar and on the wine list. This is a profoundly fun place to eat, the energy in the room matching the gleeful combinations on the plate, such as slow-roasted lamb neck with baby fennel, pickled sunchokes and black sesame, or the perennial favorite of chicken gizzards with roasted beets and Belgian endive.

Recent menu additions include a lobster crostini, with squid ink aioli, pickled chilies, opal basil and citrus; and spaghetti rustichella with Dungeness crab, citrus, Calabrian chili and Thai basil.

The pastas remain some of the best in town, or if you're looking for simplicity you can stop by for a pizza and a beer. If you can get in, that is — even on a Tuesday night the bar is four deep by 6: It's not hard to see why. Born and raised in Compton, Kevin Bludso opened the original in his hometown in , filling the neighborhood with the intoxicating scent of his Texas-style, slow-smoked meats.

His collard greens and baked beans are some of the best in town, honest and rustic. Bludso's is the go-to for big family celebrations, with trays for a crowd. Dive into the Party Tray: Close to 50 years later and still operated by the Peskin family , the Jewish-style deli in the same Northridge location continues to do brisk business.

It's not only a local favorite but has been at the top of Los Angeles' best deli lists for years. Brent's has the homey, warm feel of delis you may remember from your youth. The hot pastrami, piled high on double-seeded rye, is well-marbled and melts in your mouth the way great pastrami should.

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The majority of Brent's customers seem to gravitate toward the Black Pastrami Reuben, a unique creation. Pastrami, strongly seasoned with black pepper, is piled on that same grilled rye and topped with melted Swiss cheese, sauerkraut and a piquant house-made Russian dressing. It's the Reuben of your dreams. It may not be kosher, but it sure tastes wonderful.

But the pastrami is truly the thing here. And for the perfect pastrami accompaniment: There are many Mexican restaurants in Los Angeles that will deliver traditional tastes of the culinary treasures of Latin America. Broken Spanish is not one of them. Instead, Broken Spanish provides a sampling of the thrilling approach to contemporary Mexican cooking, and it wouldn't be out of place in Mexico City in the high-roller neighborhood of Polanco or in Mexico's remote cocinas de campos or even the farm-to-table outposts of Baja's Valle de Guadalupe wine region.

It was Mayor Eric Garcetti who once suggested that L. Chef Ray Garcia is a lifelong Angeleno and an Eastsider trained in fine kitchens around the city, including a long stint running Santa Monica's Fig. At Broken Spanish, Garcia's intensely flavorful dishes push the limits of the food's Mexican lineage. There are tamales with umami flavors of lamb neck and king oyster mushroom; yellow beet pibil , dusted with ochre achiote spices; and chile relleno coated with a creamy soubise sauce perhaps a subtle reminder of France's escapades in Mexico long ago.

Then there's the unmissable red snapper, fried and encrusted with salt — an almost Paleolithic specimen baring its teeth — laid upon leeks and green clamato. Pair your dinner with Mexican wines, including selections from Baja's earthship-shaped winery Alximia and Las Nubes' hillside vineyards, or maybe a mezcal cocktail, and experience the full breadth of the modern Mexican movement.

Taqueria is as much a feast for the eyes as it is for the stomach. Located on Seventh Street downtown, which has become L. Try the spicy mushroom and garlic tacos — sometimes they come on blue corn tortillas, sometimes yellow corn. Chomp on lemon-pepper chicken chicharrones or house-made duritos puffed wheat cracker with chili-lime and habanero hot sauce while you sip one of the many margarita choices.

My favorite is a healthy dose of Pinacillin, made with reposado tequila, pineapple, lemon, agave, ginger and mezcal. The "rice and beans," one of the most popular items on the menu, is made with toasted rice, garbanzos, cannellini beans, cotija and Fresno chilies. In addition to B. Taqueria, Garcia is also chef and owner of his flagship Broken Spanish downtown. Taqueria also has a stand in Staples Center for a quick bite. What differentiates a burrito and a taco? It's a question that has launched a thousand food-nerd fights, but the unsatisfying answer is: The burritos at El Monte's Burritos La Palma have won taco awards, and they are about the same size as Texas breakfast tacos.

Maybe the reason these particular burritos are so beloved in L. The signature burrito here is stuffed with birria — the beef version, not goat, even though the restaurant originated in the state of Zacatecas, where they do use the more traditional goat meat. Order two or three at a time, either all filled with birria or with a combo of chicken tinga , carne deshebrada with potatoes, or gelatinous chicharrones. They can be ordered topped with sauce and melted cheese, too, at which point we have to circle back and ask, what's the difference between a burrito and an enchilada?

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Just about every table in the restaurant enjoys relaxing harbor and marina views. The Mediterranean coastal—inspired cuisine comes from executive chef David Vilchez, who began his culinary career as a cook in the U. Navy before going on to become a classically trained French chef at Le Cordon Bleu. The Caesar salad is among the best in town, with plenty of whole briny anchovies.

There are choices for carnivores, too, like the New Zealand lamb chops with baby turnips, celery root puree, coffee and currant demi-glace, or the lamb burger. If the Laura Chenel goat cheese cake with pistachio crust, Bing cherry compote, caramel sauce and Chantilly sets it over the top for dessert, you can always walk it off with a stroll through the marina.

Famed as a Kardashian hangout and low-key celebrity hot spot, this perennial Valley favorite for more than six decades serves filling Mexican-American combination plates that perfectly complement its generous margaritas. With its dark, clubby atmosphere, Casa Vega feels like a throwback to the s. It has a classic bar with tuxedoed bartenders, comfy Naugahyde booths and old-school hospitality, serving made-to-order classic margaritas. The overstuffed bean-and-cheese burritos topped with more gooey Monterey Jack cheese and slathered in piquant Spanish sauce are as deeply soothing as comfort food gets.

This is the truest definition of the proverbial fork-and-knife burrito. The fried halibut tacos topped with guacamole and shredded cabbage are a slightly healthier option. In fact, over the years the extensive menu has been updated, with soy beef and a vegetarian enchilada sauce. And the classic Vega combination — an enormous plate that includes mini chimichangas, quesadillas, chicken flautas and shredded beef taquitos, plus red avocado salsa, sour cream and fresh guacamole — is not only a veritable feast but also a definitive survey of the menu.

You can order a full meal here until 1: It's a fun time warp to a classic era when Dean Martin still headlined Las Vegas, the Rat Pack were at the height of their fame and a night out was composed of boozy margaritas and gargantuan No. Rooftop restaurants are the rage right now, and it's about time. WeHo is the epicenter of dining under and among the stars, and Catch L. The design masterpiece under a retractable roof is officially an outdoor restaurant, offering views from the Hollywood Hills to downtown.

The interior is warm and rustic, with tables, booths and alcoves perfect for stargazing and hiding out. Get yourself a cozy spot and settle in for seafood that's as spectacular as the view. Move on to the famed truffle sashimi made with tuna, hamachi, chili oil, ponzu, caviar and black truffle, served on its own, well-deserved little altar. It's served with yuzu soy, garlic oil, Maldon sea salt and sesame, and it melts in your mouth. And there are delightful vegan options, such as the hearts of palm "crab" cakes with jicama mango slaw, and non-fish options such as the mushroom spaghetti with wild mushrooms, snap peas, tomatoes and Parmesan, as well as the pillowy, crispy chicken bao buns.

Good luck finding room for dessert, but if you do, I'd recommend the sticky coconut cake. Inspired by the Michelin-starred chef's backyard barbecues for friends and family, everything at Charcoal is cooked indoors over live fire. Even the drinks are charred. The Midnight Margarita comes pitch black and smoky on the outside, tangy and fruity to the taste. Lit cases of proteins in the aging process are on display, lining the back walls of this casual neighborhood restaurant.

Menu items include a day aged Sonoma lamb shoulder with coriander and honey, a day aged half Liberty duck and an ounce prime rib-eye. The tartare selection is the largest you will find anywhere — venison with charred parsnips and smoked egg yolk, smoked mushroom and beet; lamb with fermented turnips, juniper, pine nuts and dried figs; and beef, with charred buttermilk-soaked flatbread, chili oil, pepitas and puffed quinoa. There are plenty of dessert wines and cocktails as well as a banana s'mores panna cotta with McConnell's Dutchman Chocolate ice cream.

This place is on fire. We prefer the original Valley Boulevard location, for toothpick lamb bristling with cumin, wontons that have an almost floral undertone if you can taste anything under the extreme chili oil heat , slick jelly noodles, and water boiled fish with green chilies. You can order a whole pork shank cooked in a deep, sweet braise and slathered with red chilies, or chopped rabbit in Younger Sister's Secret Sauce. What's in that secret sauce? Peanuts, and — you guessed it — chili.

Yes, this is a pilgrimage spot for spice masochists, but focusing on that alone takes away from the nuance in this cooking, the layering of flavors that makes this food so much more complex and satisfying than places where heat is the primary characteristic. Expect to wait a long time for a table, expect to order far too many things, expect to fall into a kind of Sichuan peppercorn—induced stupor for the rest of the afternoon or evening.

The new Cleo on Third in the old Churchill space inside the Orlando Hotel has a seemingly endless supply of shared plates, including shwarma and Mediterranean mezze.

The flatbreads here are arguably the best in town — try the mushroom with caramelized onions and truffle as well as the popular potato with arugula. Executive chef Danny Elmaleh's cross-cultural background touches every dish, including the green falafel with a different twist of beet-pickled fennel, and a stellar crispy artichoke hummus. The duck matzo ball soup is pure comfort. The restaurant's vibe is warm, with mosaics dotting the walls, and it's a perfect spot to people-watch and share a sticky toffee pudding dessert, made with Medjool dates, butterscotch and a walnut tuile and vanilla bean ice cream.

Like many of its surrounding neighborhoods, Eagle Rock has had a slew of trendy eateries open in recent years, with varying degrees of success. People of all ages and all walks of life gather in the big circular booths and dine on old-school, upscale Italian cooking while listening to live jazz, which begins at 4: The bar is always packed with regulars, and the atmosphere is always joyful. The music's pretty damn good, too. The steaks are the best bet, though if you're in the mood for sauce-slathered pasta, or chicken piccata, there's plenty of that type of thing to be had.

But this isn't a place for serious food snobs. It's a place for reveling in the type of community — and the type of fun — that hasn't been commonplace in L. Let's pray it's here for decades to come. The Inglewood original since was left in the hands of owners Vicente Cossio and his daughter Connie Cossio, and it continued turning out some of the best Mexican seafood in town. It's not surprising — Vicente Cossio was the originator of almost all the dishes that garnered Coni'Seafood so much attention in the first place. A family affair, Connie's daughter Bianka is leading the charge at the Del Rey location.

The menu offers all manner of cocteles , such as the ceviche marinero , a jumble of shrimp marinated in lemon, cucumber, cilantro and tomato, topped with hunks of sweet mango and bathed in a wicked, dusky "black sauce. You can still get the pescado zarandeado , the whole split, grilled, tender white fish that came to be Coni'Seafood's signature dish. And yes, it's still as thrillingly delicious as ever. If you grew up, as Michael Cimarusti did, fishing in the Atlantic and dining on the bounty of the great Northeast, you'll understand the chef's nostalgia for the brine and comfort of that type of seafood.

The large dining room is an immensely convivial place to scarf down chowder and lobster rolls and fried clams, and the bar is one of the best places in town to watch the Dodgers while slurping on oysters from the massive raw bar. On top of all this is Cimarusti's dedication to only the freshest, most sustainable seafood, so you can rest assured that not only is your meal enjoyable but it's also entirely ethical.

Executive chef Sam Baxter's menu includes the popular Hokkaido scallop hot dog. Los Angeles has more plant-based restaurant options than ever before. Crossroads, one of the first and most elegant, celebrates its five-year anniversary this month. Dimly lit and classic Old Hollywood style, it's the first plant-based restaurant with an inspired full bar.

If you pick the right night, you just might spy Mick Jagger sneaking in through the kitchen while you're sipping your Cause for Alarm cocktail, which incorporates tequila and dry curacao. Inspired from day one by chef-owner Tal Ronnen, the diverse and imaginative menu is "defined not by what's missing but what it is," he says. The impossible cigars wrapped in brick dough, a North African pastry sheet, are served with almond yogurt and are a must-order. Ronnen makes his own impossible vegan burger meat. One of the more dramatic items is the romanesco en croute with fonduta and cabernet.

A perfect little cauliflower triangle is encased in a plant-based pastry crust that oozes a cashew cheese sauce when cracked open, commingling in perfect harmony with the demi-glace. The pasta selection is great — try the fettuccine carbonara with a yellow tomato egg that melts into the noodles when broken.

The long, cavernous space has the look of a humble joint you might just stumble upon along the cobblestone streets of Molyvos. The beef and lamb gyro carved from the vertical spit is deeply comforting when paired with tart tzatziki cucumber- and garlic-inflected yogurt sauce. Just like in Greece, the souvlaki marinated skewers of meat can be had in both pork and lamb varieties.

This is one of the few Greek restaurants where you can get a gyro and feta cheese omelette for a filling breakfast. If you're slightly adventurous, the taramasalata , briny red caviar whipped with lemon juice and loads of garlic, is the delicious seafaring cousin to your standard, humdrum hummus. Delphi is a wonderful change of pace from the litany of Persian kebab joints in Westwood. The Greek coffee is strong and bitter with a welcome, subtle earthiness, which pairs perfectly with a bite, or three, of baklava packed with minced walnuts and drenched in honey syrup.

Which brings me to the kelp steamed potatoes with Meyer lemon cream and seaweed salt on the new menu.

Two Yukon gold potatoes are nestled in a warm kelp bed with a side of seaweed salt that's worth cleaning up with your fingers as if it was pixie dust. One of the most popular items on the new menu is the bowl of toasted grains, kale, anchovy aioli, cabbage and black rice chips. The rich broth cooks for 48 hours and is combined with dashi to create a flavor that is onion soup on steroids. For the carnivore, there's a hefty pork shoulder with celery root, Basque cider and apple.

The breads — sourdough, fig and seeded — are all still made in-house by Peng, as is the cultured butter. In addition to California wines, there are plenty of Spanish, Italian and French selections as well. Restaurant concepts are getting bigger and bigger in L.

It's Disneyland for foodies. Tables are on a first-come, first-served basis; they don't take reservations. There are separate counters for fresh pasta, cheese, produce, pizza, chocolate and butchery, and stations devoted to meatballs, mozzarella, lasagna, frito misto , salumi and cheese. On the second floor, Italian chef and Eataly partner Lidia Bastianich is dean of La Scuola di Eataly by Valcucine cooking school, where you can learn how to shape gnocchi and cook regional Italian dishes.

If it all seems too overwhelming, you can get the lay of the land on one of the walking tours held Thursday through Sunday, which include a taste of everything. The first Eataly opened in Turin, Italy, in Since then the franchise has grown to a total of 39, with four in the United States. Inspired by the pan-Asian cooking prevalent for years in the sophisticated cuisine of Australia, the two-level E.

P serves up everything from tasty Filipino-influenced ceviche napped in coconut milk to the distinctively Thai larb , which is essentially a salad of grilled duck showered with Thai herbs. The fusion-style menu here runs the gamut from Vietnamese to Chinese to Thai to Fijian.

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The food is tasty, or rather better than you expect it to be considering this is more of a supper club where the cuisine might normally play second fiddle to the various cocktail concoctions. The see-and-be-seen rooftop bar, the L. You can get an old-fashioned or a simple Manhattan with a vivid Luxardo cherry. But the bartenders here excel at drinks such as the rose-based California Love and the Bittersweet Symphony, which uses gin and house-made Pimm's.

There are even alcoholic versions of the tea drinks loaded with chewy boba pearls. And it goes without saying that the view can't be beat. Did you know, for instance, that the FO burger was the first truly chef-driven, gourmet burger in the country? Did you know that before Yoon took over the original Father's Office in , the word "gastropub" wasn't really a part of the American vernacular? In fact, so many food and drink trends were spawned by this chef and this place, it deserves a plaque, a holiday, a parade. Even without its historical import, either location of Father's Office or the new one opening downtown this summer offers a great place to eat and drink, with fantastic beer selections and a menu of modern bar food that will knock your socks off even if you avoid the burger completely.

All you have to do is obey the rules: Good, now go pay homage to a piece of American food heritage. If the panzanella is available, you should absolutely order it, because it means chef Evan Funke has come across enough beautiful summer produce to create the perfect bright and snappy salad, set off by the grounding pleasure of crispy bread.

But you're here for the pastas. Every table seems to have a plate of the pappardelle, which means Funke is often in the pasta room early in the evening rolling out rounds of dough and cutting the thick noodles, knowing he'll run out by mid-evening if he doesn't get ahead. Bathed in a mellow Bolognese, the pasta is practically silky, making the pappardelle of your past seem rough and clumsy by comparison. The new cuisine and locale are just another example of Feniger's exciting evolution.

Because much of the menu is locally crafted and contains products raised by small, locally owned food businesses using environmentally responsible practices, items are seasonal. Some favorites are pork and water cabbage dumplings, crispy Shanghai-style mushroom spring rolls and Tianjin noodles. Vegan and gluten-free items are clearly marked.

If you get the black pepper shrimp with broccoli and jasmine rice, be sure to order a lychee lemonade or Huntington signature iced tea to wash it down. The cafe is family-friendly and doesn't require reservations. Her flavors are an interpretation and reflection of her adopted city — from ube jam—filled pastries in Historic Filipinotown, to black sesame buns in the San Gabriel Valley, to the abundance of Mexican food at every corner that inspired her best-selling jamaica agua fresca sorbet.

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Originally from Baku, Azerbaijan, Nasibova came to L. She embedded herself with local farmers like her favorite, Murray Family Farms, securing locally sourced ingredients to produce her mostly water-based gelati daily. Using spreadsheets to perfect her seasonal recipes, her small batches made from scratch include such flavors as grapefruit my favorite , coconut lemongrass inspired by years of dinners at Jitlada , Thai iced tea, California pistachio and persimmon sorbet. The textures are smooth without a hint of ice crystals. The pizzas have crispy edges and are topped with ingredients such as burrata and wild nettles; the lamb sausage and mixed mushroom versions also are popular.

The vegetable dishes might include roasted fennel with white wine, blood orange and fennel pollen; the rib-eye is from Niman Ranch; the wine list is long and engrossing. The magic trick of Gjelina is that food this serious and it is, seriously good can be served in a room so effortlessly casual, the brick back patio all leafy and twinkly, the crowded dining room looking like a wood cabin met the beach and they fell in love. You only have to walk past this restaurant and see the crowds of people waiting outside, and peek through the windows at the people snacking on charcuterie and bowls of house-made pasta, and you'll find yourself thinking, "I want to be them.

I want to be there. It offers vegan Mexican cuisine under a California pepper tree on its outdoor patio in WeHo. The airy and open indoor dining area next to the bar is bathed in sunlight at lunch and in romantic candlelight at dinner. The stunning, huge courtyard is rustic and comfy, with communal seating and smaller tables, perfect for celebrity spotting.

The biscuits and gravy are made with tempeh "bacon," caramelized onion and cracked pepper. Top it off with a tropical smoothie with mango, spinach, coconut milk, lime, pineapple, ginger and agave, or try the sangria adorned with a chocolate-dipped strawberry. Plant-based dinner selections include flautas de camote made with sweet potatoes, caramelized onion, guacamole, black beans and cashew nacho cheese. The tacos are a pocketful of barbecue jackfruit carnitas, cashew crema , pickled cabbage, crispy onion and black beans.

The escabeche is made fresh daily and a tangy accompaniment to anything. There's so much to love about Guelaguetza, the long-standing Oaxacan restaurant in Koreatown, that it's hard to know where to begin. The restaurant was honored by the James Beard committee in as part of its America's Classics awards, which should give you some idea of how important this place is to its neighborhood, its community, our city and the country. The thing we love most, though, is the feel of the place on weekend evenings, when the sprawling restaurant fills with families, mainly sharing the giant platters of memelas , chorizo, tasajo and cecina , fried pork ribs and more.

An ancient-looking man may be playing the xylophone onstage with his band, with kids and grandparents bouncing appreciatively in their seats to the music. There's a lot of bang for the buck in those platters, but you'd be remiss to leave without trying the mole. Order the negro , and you'll be rewarded with a dark, bitter, gloriously slick mole — get it with chicken or chorizo.

The estofado , made with tomatillos, chilies, raisins and olives, is a worthy alternative — it's utterly seductive in its sweet and funky depth. You can get goat barbacoa on weekends, swimming in a deeply rich chili sauce and served with giant, homemade tortillas, and there are fruity, smoky mezcal cocktails to toast the restaurant and the celebration happening around you. Here's where you come to eat from a truck that parks in front of the city's best coffee and sometimes wine shops, where you might find gooseberries on your wild boar taco.

These beautifully made creations from chef Wes Avila defy our expectations of what an incredible meal should be made of and where we should find it, mixing street food with fine dining in a way that's totally uncontrived. Gus's originated in Mason, Tennessee, as a family business that dates back to the s, but it's now a bona fide national chain, with 24 restaurants across the South and Midwest.

It has since been joined by locations in Burbank and Long Beach. Unlike the Nashville-style hot-chicken joints, Gus's does not have different categories of spiciness. There's only one level: The coating on the chicken is thin and shattery. It seems as if they have somehow taken the skin of the chicken, imbued it with a slow-burning heat and lots of salt, and crisped it to the point where the fat has liquefied and re-fused and created a perfect amalgamation of crackling schmaltz and cayenne. Yes, the interior is juicy, even on the white meat, and if you order the three-piece dark meat plate, you may find yourself dazed and covered in red and brown grease and wondering where all that chicken went when you had planned to take at least one piece home with you.

And maybe you want another piece. Maybe you could just sit here and eat this chicken indefinitely. It's a meat importer, a butcher shop, a cocktail bar, a chop house of sorts and a return to serious, glitzy Hollywood dining the likes of which we haven't seen in decades. Unlike Stone's other restaurant, the exceedingly intimate Maude, Gwen is large and brash, with one of the most breathtaking dining rooms in the city.

Where Maude trades in delicate luxury, Stone's rallying cry here is "primitive elegance. Courses come in great flurries of dishes, all served on little plates that spread across your table like puzzle pieces, and many of those dishes are stunning. Whichever way you go, it's incredibly fun to take part in this monument to one guy's glorious, meaty Hollywood dream.

If there's any chef in L. Hatchet Hall's menu is long and wide-ranging, and sometimes its Southern-ness is unmistakable: Dunsmoor's collard greens are funky, his grits creamy. Other dishes are slightly more subtle in their Southern-ness: Spoonbread comes heaped with a cornucopia of mushrooms; hunks of yellowtail are sandwiched with thin-sliced habanero and juicy peach, all wrapped up in a sliver of translucent fat shaved from a Johnston Mangalitsa country ham; wood-grilled octopus is kissed with lemon aioli and salsa verde.

This is a diverse, ambitious menu, and it is being executed incredibly well. The sprawling building encompasses an appealing series of dining rooms and bars, with a patio that looks like a garden party that's spilled out of the restaurant. And hidden in back is the Old Man Bar, which opens at 8 p. Here's Looking at You, like an increasing number of compelling places to eat in Koreatown, is not a Korean restaurant.

It's the brainchild of two Animal veterans: Jonathan Whitener, the former chef de cuisine, and Lien Ta, a former manager. If you're familiar with the food served at Animal, it's easy to see the Dotolo-Shook fingerprints on Whitener's cerebral, postcultural cooking: But Whitener's style is distinct, too; his food has a lighter, more subdued touch, with less of that smash-mouth decadence that defines many of Animal's greatest hits.

His ground brisket tartare, crowned with egg yolk, toasted chili powder, shaved turnips and sprigs of watercress, is so ethereal that it turns a dish associated with luxuriousness into something that feels downright healthful. Whitener shows a keen understanding of textures, especially when it comes to his gorgeously complex salads. Though not without its idiosyncrasies, Here's Looking at You is overflowing with as much raw creative potential as any restaurant in the city.

Popular with the power-lunch crowd, the restaurant also serves dinner, which is more of a zen experience and nice for date night. The wild boar ribs are good for sharing, and everybody loves the roasted yam, which makes the perfect side to the roast duck with tamarind jus. The bar is friendly and great for happy hour. Or try a Miyagi mule, made with lemongrass-and-ginger—steeped vodka and cucumber wasabi boba.

This new kid on the block is the brainchild of owners Kat Hu and Justin Yi. Hu grew up in Nanjing, China, where she learned to make traditional noodles and bao with her two grandmothers. Yi learned to make traditional Korean food at home and Mexican food in the food-court kitchen of his parents' swap meet in Las Vegas.

Some items come as large plates, meant to be shared family style and serving two to four people. The smoke option features juniper soju, sweet vermouth, orange bitters and white oak smoke. The juniper-infused soju with osmanthus honey, lemon juice and egg whites with a granola garnish is getting a lot of buzz. Part of the allure of Howlin' Ray's is undoubtedly the dare that lies at the end of its infamous, hours-long wait in line: How hot can you handle? There are six levels of heat, and anything above the third level, called "medium," is hot enough that it comes with a warning.

Even if you order the "country"-style chicken — that is, level one, no heat at all — you'll find that this is incredible chicken, with or without the heat: The way the skin shatters and gives way, the utterly perfect spicing of the batter, the way it's indistinguishable from the skin of the bird, the juicy flesh underneath, all goes to show that there are far worse things you could do than spend half a day with your fellow weirdos, waiting in line for chicken so good it's made us all lose our collective minds.

And if you're looking for a lot of food, considering placing a pre-order online, to avoid the wait. The original Hungry Cat is still our favorite place to eat in Hollywood proper, the place we most heartily recommend to folks looking for a pre-Pantages birthday dinner, the most welcome escape from the tourist mayhem of the neighborhood.

Chef-owner David Lentz has been a pioneer of Pacific-focused seafood as opposed to the odes to New England that have proliferated in recent years for more than a decade, serving cold oysters on the half-shell, fresh Santa Barbara uni and modern, creative seafood dishes that sometimes hint at Maine or Massachusetts but more often celebrate the bounty and spirit of the California coast. Rather than classic fish-house fare, your Manila clams come with house-made chorizo, sofrito and shell beans; your raw kampachi with tangerine, shiso, Fresno chili and peanuts in a sweet chili sauce.

The bright and airy restaurant tucked away in the center of the block is perfect to enjoy a brunch of crab cake Benedict, or as a place to drop by the bar for a lobster roll and a very good cocktail. If you have a hankering for some upscale comfort food, Jar Beverly Grove is still one of the best chop houses in town. There's also a pan-roasted wild king salmon. Start the evening in the elegant dining room with a Hendricks' Gibson infused with rose and cucumber and finish it off with the sublime butterscotch pudding with salted caramel or a classic banana cream pie with caramel sauce.

There's a lot going on at the newly remodeled Westfield Century City mall in the dining space. Javier's has opened its latest outpost here, in the old Houston's spot, adding to its stable of locations in Mexico, Las Vegas and Southern California, and it's at the other end of the spectrum from the food court choices. The upscale, multiregion Mexican restaurant on the ground level is dotted with fireplaces and palms throughout the main dining room; there are also al fresco patios, intimate private dining rooms and a sprawling bar.

Javier's offers an extensive ceviche menu and seafood specialties such as the popular shrimp, crab and lobster enchiladas. There's a ounce tomahawk pork chop topped with chile negro and guajillo sauce served with esquite -style fresh corn. The casually elegant Jean-Georges Beverly Hills in the brand-new Waldorf Astoria on Wilshire Boulevard may be one of the priciest places in town but it's nonetheless essential to Los Angeles and its ever-changing skyline. There are three dining space options at the Waldorf, including the Rooftop by JG, which has panoramic views of Beverly Hills, Hollywood and downtown on a clear day.

Vongerichten's French-American menu includes caviar creations such as a softly poached organic egg with Oscetra caviar, yogurt and herbs as well as egg caviar, served with softly scrambled organic eggs and vodka whipped cream — and that's the dinner menu. There's also pizza and pasta, including a spring pea and smoked mozzarella pizza with pickled chili. Choices from the wood-burning grill include Ora king salmon, grilled California lamb chops, Snake River Farms Wagyu skirt steak or beef tenderloin, which are served with blistered shishito peppers and citrus chili sauce.

One of the fun games to play when dining at Jitlada, outside of celebrity spotting, is to watch as customers around you try to eat the things they've ordered after they've proclaimed, "I love spicy food! The competition for the city's best Thai food gets fiercer by the day, but Jitlada remains the O.

There are curries here in myriad varieties, complexly spiced salads made with crispy catfish or morning glory, fragrant soups, fish balls stuffed with salted duck eggs, and around other things on this dizzying menu. People come here for the ebullient company of co-owner Sarintip "Jazz" Singsanong as much as for any other reason — once you get in her good graces, there's hardly a more welcoming place to eat on Earth.

At their Italian-American joint across the street from their flagship of awesomeness, Animal, Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo have declared their intention to create a restaurant like the ones in which they grew up eating. And, man, what great pizza it is. Woman is an instant classic; its crust is firm enough that its burrata topping doesn't collapse your slice, which can be delivered to your mouth with grace and ease. The meaty Roman Gladiator — bacon, Italian sausage pepperoni and smoked ham — is popular these days. For the most part, the chefs shy away from the kind of creativity you find across the street.

Instead, you get meatballs that are an absolute paragon of the form, a blend of short rib and pork shoulder that's mild and tangy in all the right ways, served with deep-red marinara. There are touches of L. At Kali, which comes to us courtesy of former Patina chef Kevin Meehan and former Providence wine director Drew Langley, part of the conceit is that the restaurant features only ingredients sourced from California. As you'd imagine from a kitchen whose boundaries lie at the state line, Kali's roster of dishes changes often. If you were to judge it from the Instagram feed alone, Meehan's cooking would seem more avant-garde than it actually is — much of the food here aims for comfort rather than shock.

It's tempting to find a label that applies to Meehan and Langley's very personal project — the laid-back neighborhood gem, the freewheeling chef's counter, or maybe the ambitious temple of haute cuisine — but it's probably more accurate to simply call it a well-polished restaurant. With a name loosely translated as "fate," the East Hollywood restaurant from Sara Kramer and Sarah Hymanson proprietors of the Madcapra falafel stand in downtown's Grand Central Market is one of the toughest reservations in town. Despite the hefty price tag, the feast is a deliciously rustic preparation that perfectly encapsulates the ethos of the restaurant.

The distinctive salads, loaded with fresh produce and laced with aromatic herbs, are the type of cuisine health-conscious Californians love. The menu is full of ingredients such as harissa, rosewater and za'atar. Kramer and Hymanson take exotic Middle Eastern cuisine and put their idiosyncratic stamp on it. The jeweled crispy rice, laced with a runny egg yolk that coats the rice as you plunge your fork in, will remind you of Persian tahdig. The freekeh fritters looking awfully similar to expertly fried falafel balls are paired with a bright green sauce surely inspired by Israeli zhug , an addictive dressing based on fiery hot chili peppers.

The talented duo, who previously worked at a groundbreaking restaurant in Brooklyn, have reimagined humble Middle Eastern cuisine, meticulously attuning it to urbane, contemporary L. And Kismet serves a refreshingly killer rosewater lemonade spritzer to boot. Venezuelan-born Nathan Dakdouk's passion for baking started at an early age. Raised with his siblings by nuns at boarding school, he would sneak out of his room at night to watch the nuns bake in the kitchen. By age 12, Dakdouk had already mastered his own starter made from local grapes.

You can also find the breads at some Whole Foods stores. There are 25 varieties of breads, including the signature blueberry boule, which makes a wonderful last-minute dessert toasted and topped with cream cheese and a drizzle of honey. That also works great for the date walnut or the cranberry pecan boules. The olive loaf is perfect with an afternoon cheese platter. With some of the best Mediterranean cuisine in Los Angeles, its signature baby rack of lamb with garlic and rosemary is perfection, as is the arnisio kotsi , lamb shank braised in Dionysian wine sauce.

A personal favorite is the gyro pizza — gyro meat, tomatoes, mozzarella, feta, red onion and oregano on flatbread — and there's a huge selection of Greek wine to go with it. Perfect pairing for dessert: For lunch we love the incredible gyro selection and the Elliniko piato, or Greek plate, a combination of moussaka , lemon chicken, spanakopita , hummus, tzatziki and house-made pita.

Owners Tom and Dimitri Houndalas have created a beautiful white and green dining room dotted with baskets of lemons reminiscent of the Greek Isles. The walls are covered with black-and-white photos of Greece. It's true that you can order a whole pig's head here with 48 hours' advance notice , which comes with condiments and toast, but to me, the value lies in the menu's slightly less confronting pleasures. Popular dishes include the duck egg pizza, with pancetta, panna, potato, rosemary, mozzarella and Parmesan; and the bucatini pasta, with fennel sausage, black kale, Parmesan and bread crumbs.

Fiorelli used to serve many of his best dishes only as large-format sharable plates, but now most things come in more manageable serving sizes, making it easier to explore more of the menu. Extra kudos to the staff, who provide the kind of friendly, breezy capable service that's weirdly and infuriatingly rare this close to the ocean. Suzanne Goin and Caroline Styne transformed the rustic old carriage house of the Harold Lloyd estate into a cozy WeHo neighborhood spot with ever-changing seasonal menus and cocktails. The Sunday Suppers at Lucques are legendary, thanks to chef Javier Espinoza's imagination, and the menu changes every week.

Master mixologist Christiaan Rollich creates most of his own spirits, bitters and liqueurs for such signature drinks as the Lucques negroni with gin, sweet vermouth and house-made Italian-style bitter liqueur. Try the house specialty, Christiaan's G 'n' T, a floral concoction of house-made gin and tonic with lemongrass and aromatics. Ribfest is an annual event featuring smoked lamb, beef and pork ribs, with scents wafting up and down Melrose for two days. Wire services contributed to this report.

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Here are the newest places to check out the next time you're in the mood for some juice and smoothies. From wine battles and craft brews to vegan cheese and LA eats, there's plenty to explore and enjoy if you're hungry for something new. We've found a lineup of new spots worth checking out.