More foodie tips by our International Food Expert, Kate, from We Travel We Eat!
Los Angeles versus the best food in New York.
It’s the battle between two of the biggest foodie cities that will never go away. The caliber of the food, both west and east coast, is exceptional. I might even put LA a bit ahead of NYC- something about it is airier, more fun, somehow more personality fueled.
The list of places I’ve eaten in Los Angeles is probably triple the length of this list. Pulling out my utmost favorites, from a group that heavily veers from very good to excellent, is tough. But here we are.
Here’s my list of the best food in Los Angeles!
Otium
Downtown LA
$$$$ — Fine Dining
New American
Spinach Bucatini
Otium is all in, and you know it the moment you step foot inside. Grandiose and gorgeous, with huge glass windows, it’s the spacious restaurant attached to The Broad, Los Angeles’s contemporary art museum.
The open kitchen is the focal point, creating a social space with a finely curated menu heavy on ingredients like hamachi, crab, burrata, falafel, and wild rice.
Gjusta Bakery
Venice Beach
$$ — Casual
Bakery
Fish Plate
I prefer Gjusta to Gjelina. And to GTA, the takeaway version of Gjelina. Gjusta is the third installment of the trifecta, a mix of cafe/bakery/deli, and has a cheerful Venice beach vibe I can never get enough of.
My personal favorite is the fish plate, beautiful and stocked with trout, mackerel or salmon, egg, pickled veggies, labneh, and organic seeded rye bread.
Jon & Vinny’s
Fairfax
$$ — Casual
Italian
Spicy Fusilli
This restaurateur duo has quite a list of successful spots under their belt: Son of a Gun, Animal, the recently opened Kismet (below), and the aptly named Jon & Vinny’s itself.
Here the aesthetics lean towards modern, yet not uptight.
The food is taken seriously, though moods are kept light-hearted. The gem lettuce salad with chili and breadcrumbs is one for the books, and the LA Woman with local burrata, tomato, basil, sea salt, and olive oil pizza is excellent.
Angelini Alimentari
Downtown LA & West Hollywood
$$ — Casual
Italian
Pasta + Gelato
Know that Angelini Alimentari is a cafe. It’s totally low-key, completely casual, and very unassuming. That right there might be part of the reason why you’ll be so impressed once the food comes out. There are two locations, the one on Beverly having a larger selection.
Order some eggs, pick a few toasts, and you’ll be happy for the rest of the day.
Guerilla Tacos
Downtown LA/Arts District
$$ — Casual
Street Tacos
Mushroom Potato Tacos
It might not be customary to put a food truck on a “greatest hits” list, but when the tacos that are churned out taste like Guerilla’s are, it easily earns its place.
This famous food truck now has a permanent restaurant located in Downtown LA.
Night + Market Song
WeHo + Silver Lake + Venice
$$ — Casual
Thai Wine Bar
Pad Thai
Silver Lake’s Thai restaurant Night + Market Song is colorful and casual, fun and creative. The food has a kick, but not so much that it detracts from the complexity and enjoyment of the dishes themselves.
The Silver Lake location is closed, but you can also find them in WeHo and Venice.
Dive into a traditional Khao Soi, pick a spicy salad, like the papaya, peanut, and lime version, and keep some sticky coconut rice on the side, just in case.
Sugarfish
West Hollywood
$$$ — Pricey
Sushi
DON’T THINK. JUST EAT. TRUST ME.
I go back to Sugarfish over and over again whenever I’m in LA. The West Hollywood location is my favorite, but all have the same menu and the same exceptional yet simple sushi.
Order an omakase box to get he value Sugarfish is so well known for.
Bestia
Downtown LA/Arts District
$$$ — Upscale
Italian
Bone Marrow
Located in the somewhat off-the-beaten-path Arts District, Bestia’s warehouse space fits in perfectly. It made a splash when it first opened in 2013, and it’s still very much alive and kicking.
The menu is massive, divided into traditional Italian sections of piatti piccoli, antipasti, pizze, paste, secondi and dolci.
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Kismet
Los Feliz
$$ — Casual
Mediterranean-Middle Eastern
Tah-Dig (Persian Crispy Rice)
Kismet, which means destiny, or fate, felt like just that. I went here with four people. We looked down at the Mediterranean menu, looked back up at our waitress, and said “We’ll have everything but this.”
Our table crowded quickly, packed with fresh barbari bread, harissa olives, spiced cashews, marinated feta, grilled squid, mashed potatoes, and piles of tahini and labneh. We got the attention of the entire staff and kitchen with our order and left ridiculously full and completely happy.
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Republique
Wilshire
$$$ — Upscale
Modern French
Brunch
Located in a gorgeous high ceiling building that feels like it used to hold medieval banquets and balls, Republique is great for any time of the day.
Go for the bubbling shakshuka at breakfast, the lobster spaghetti with uni for dinner, or the huge slice of salted caramel chocolate cake at dessert.
Petit Trois
Hollywood
$$$ — Upscale
French
Big Mec Burger
This is a professional operation brought to you by the previously mentioned award-winning Chef Ludo. There are only about 20 seats to be had, all of which are lined up against two different bars spanning the length of the small space.
Petit Trois gave me the Parisian omelette of a lifetime, full of Boursin pepper cheese and sprinkled with chives. Other menu standouts are the walnut, avocado, and endive salad, the french onion soup, the double cheeseburger, and of course, those frites.
Source: Here’s Looking At You
Here’s Looking At You
Koreatown
$$$ — Upscale
New American
Share Plates
Here’s Looking at You is awesome. It’s fun, it’s flirty, it’s different, and though it’s a proper restaurant in the heart of Koreatown, it feels like a funky bar you’d be happy to spend your entire night in.
The shishito peppers lying in a bed of tahini sauce and the stracciatella cheese on bread with pepitas were both particularly memorable.
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Destroyer
Culver City
$$ — Casual
Modern European
American Wagyu Beef Tartare
Oh my god Destroyer, you are one of a kind. Your dishes look like they are from the future but I want to be in the present-day with you now and forever.
The spiced bread with creme fraiche and black currant could be the dish of the year.
Malibu Seafood
Malibu
$$ — Casual
Seafood
Fish & Chips
“The reason we don’t open for breakfast is we’re out catching lunch.” If you want to eat somewhere where this is their motto, Malibu Seafood is for you.
Located literally off the side of the PCH, I have never been or gone by here without seeing a pretty sizable amount of people waiting to place their order. The line moves quickly though, and whatever wait time there ends up being is worth your while.
Plates are served simply and in abundance, served at whatever picnic table you can grab. Choose from salads, fried or grilled sandwiches, variations of fish and chips, chowders, and freshly grilled seafood plates with sides.
Bavel
Downtown LA/Arts District
$$$$ — Fine Dining
Middle Eastern
Oyster Mushroom Kebab
Bavel is the next, and I think even better iteration of Bestia. Also located in the rapidly developing, warehouse-stocked Arts District, where you’ll find a Middle Eastern focus rather than an Italian one.
The menu houses creative twists on staple dishes, bringing to life old classics in exhilarating ways. The farm cheese with za’atar and olive oil alongside a warm buckwheat loaf and the grilled prawns laid on top of a zucchini tzatziki dip are combinations that’ll blow you away.
The space is bright and colorful with a sprawling indoors and lovely patio if you prefer outside dining. Either one will make the perfect backdrop to a meal you’re going to want to have over and over again.
Osteria La Buca
South East Hollywood
$$ — Casual
Italian
Short Rib Ravioli
I eat out all the time. Usually multiple times a week. If something stands out for weeks, months, even years after I’ve eaten it, I know it’s a good one.
The spaghetti cacio pepe at Osteria La Buca is one of these dishes. It’s perfectly al dente, perfectly creamy, and when eating it in the lovely candlelit room upstairs, the combination is a major stand out.
Alimento
Silver Lake
$$$ — Upscale
Italian
Chicken Liver Crostoni
Every city has “that” restaurant that feels uber relaxed and neighborhoody but delivers food that sits at the highest of quality. For LA, Alimento in Silverlake is that spot.
It’s the type of place you could easily revisit on a monthly basis, order slightly differently each time around, and leave happy and satisfied over and over again.
Alimento is Italian at its core, but the range of dishes span beyond just pasta. The menu is quite big, and a healthy array of them should be sampled.
Start with the flavorful cracked farro salad or a lighter crudo, followed by the octopus with charred carrots or yellowtail collar affumicato, and then dive on into those delicious sauced-up carbohydrates.
What are your favorite restaurants in LA? Did I leave any off this list that deserves a mention?
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I lived so close to these delicious places for years and I missed them!?!?! Good thing I move back to SoCal sometime in 2019 (after a 1-year road & backpacking trip!). Still, I’ll try to drop in on one of these when I come home for Christmas. Anyone in particular you think is the best Kate?
They are all pretty amazing 😉 Destroyer is very very different, so if you’re into that would definitely suggest that one!
Food is a huge part of my travel experiences too! Hence, I was thrilled with this list – definitely good reasons to visit LA again!
So happy you like it!! Hope you get back there soon!