The best dishes and drinks in Los Angeles in 2018

Take one part tradition and another part California seafood, and you have Ma’am Sir’s spin on lumpia. Charles Olalia shakes up Filipino classics at his first full-service spot, but none are as fun as the spring rolls he fills with lardo and shrimp mousse, then finishes with an entire piece of uni and a sprinkling of chives. Try not to guzzle the accompanying garlic vinegar. $14. —SB

Australia’s Roy Ner brings years of experience in Israeli kitchens to his first California concept, one of the highlights of the new Fields LA food hall. At Akko Port, the menu is limited and looks predictable (mostly wraps and hummus bowls), but the smoked hummus is silken and earthy in a way we’ve never tasted before. When paired with its topping of bright Turkish salsa and creamy baba ghanoush, it forms a healthful, hearty dish we can’t get enough of. $8. —SB

Imagine the best burrata-and-tomato salad of your life, then cover it with wisps of grated truffle, chilled plum wedges and a house-made Japanese dashi gelée. It’s sweet, salty, creamy, earthy and a definite always food. You’re in Reika Alexander’s house now or, more specifically, her low-lit bungalow at the edge of the Chateau Marmont. The restaurateur behind this classy new stunner brings Japanese staples to the table, done with California flair. (We’ll take an order of that uni ice cream, too.) $28. —SB

Oriel’s ceramic cauldron of decadent beef-and-onion soup rivals even the most established takes around town (and, trust us, it’s hard to compete with Petit Trois’). Settle in at the bar or at a table under the neon-pink lighting and tuck into this classic done right. Are you in Paris? Are you in a rose-hued scene from Drive? Who even cares? What matters is that you’re witnessing the cheese pull of your dreams, starring the broiled, 15-month-aged Comté that’s draped over the soup. $11. —SB

At his first West Coast restaurant, David Chang has given L.A. a little bit of everything, and that is exactly how you should order. Every meal here ought to begin with the mix-and-match bing—Chinese wheat discs somewhere between pancakes and flatbread—which allows you to pick and choose from a rotating cast of accoutrements. Go simple with the hozon (fermented chickpea spread), go classy with the box of uni or the cave-aged butter and sturgeon caviar. Or go baller and spring for it all. $6–$52. —SB

There’s a lot to love at chef Casey Lane’s new Italian spot, and while a number of the dishes lean traditional, it’s one of Viale’s innovations that keeps us craving a visit to the ground floor of the La Peer Hotel. Fried rice makes a rustic appearance in Italian street food (take the fried balls of suppli or arancini, for instance), but it’s rare to see a refined Italian dish of fried, just-crispy grains of rice. Enter this heaping bowl, which includes rice or fideos with pepper, saffron, clams, ample garlic and a dab of aioli for a wholly unique dish that’s worth an order on every trip. (There are also mushroom and calabrese versions, also delicious, but the clam is the winner.) $34. —SB

A giant bowl of “whatever’s fresh” (verbatim from the menu) that somehow tastes a million times better than anything we’ve ever made at home. Local greens, raw veggies, maybe some spicy herbs or seasonal fruit if you’re lucky, all tossed in a lemon vinaigrette and portioned to share. Our new favorite “simple” salad in the city. $14. —Kate Wertheimer

Southern comfort, meet bold Korean flavor. Practically everything at Kevin Lee’s electric and eclectic restaurant slams you in the face with spice (and that’s a good thing), and one of our favorites of the bunch is the little skillet of fried, tender pork ribs, which arrive sticky with a caramelized gochujang BBQ sauce. Lee’s dip into the South doesn’t end there; the ribs are gently stacked atop a spicy kimchi mac and cheese, which alone is so good that it’s worth inclusion on this list. Top it off with crushed peanuts, chilies and ribbons of green onions and you’ve got yourself a hot take on a few classics. $23. —SB

Chef Ria Barbosa blends her Filipino heritage with Paramount Coffee Project’s Aussie ethos, resulting in the kind of culture-crossing cuisine that makes L.A. food so exciting. Case in point: Barbosa’s take on the sausage roll, a Down Under classic, here made with her family recipe for lumpia filling, served with a sweet fish-sauce chili dip. The whole dish is hearty and funky and bright, and a perfect snapshot of our dining scene's surge in flavor innovation. $10. —SB

To learn more about Barbosa's family recipes, where she eats Filipino food in L.A. and just what's in this sausage roll, click your way right over here.

Shirley Chung’s cheeseburger potstickers first made an appearance on Top Chef, but now that she’s opened her first L.A. restaurant and slid them onto the menu, you can bet they’re making an appearance at our table during every visit. These massive handmade dumplings, served three to an order, are juicy and meaty and ooze cheese—like any great burger—and come adorned with crispy cheddar and bacon jam. Of all Chung’s Chinese-American food mash-ups, this is the hands-down winner. $10. —SB

We know you’ll get to next year’s Renaissance Pleasure Faire and go straight for the turkey legs and meade, but divert thine quest for a stop at Raw Kine’s stand, where there’s fish and chips aplenty. There are oysters on the half shell, too, but keep your eyes on the oyster sliders, a plate of five plump Willapa Bay Washington oysters that’ve been sautéed in butter, garlic and parsley, and sit atop slices of baguette absolutely soaked in the sauce. It’s one of the pricier items at the faire, but they’re worth the splurge—and the mess. Grab a few extra napkins to catch all that butter from running down your arm and onto your linens. $14. —SB

Of course the Lodge Bread Co. team’s hummusiya would serve some of the best pita in the city, but, truth is, we’ll scoop up their creamy, tahini-heavy hummus with anything we can find. The Israeli- and Moroccan-leaning restaurant sports an all-kosher menu of pita sandwiches, shakshuka, and roasted and pickled vegetables, all worth an order. Our pick? One gargantuan bowl of hummus decorated with either wild mushrooms, stewed chickpeas, smoked paprika or seasonal veggies. No matter your choice of topping, a hearty squeeze of the restaurant’s own hot sauce is always the pro move. $10–$13. —SB

Production starts at 6am, and only a few hours later, the dumplings might already be gone. Ker Zhu’s fast-casual restaurant, Mason’s, made waves in Highland Park earlier this year with its sold-out pan-fried potstickers and steamed, pleated dough purses full of meat and seafood and leeks. But because Mason’s shares an offsite prep kitchen with Zhu’s Monrovia spot, Luscious Dumplings, once HLP’s items are out, there’s no way to make more until the following morning. Fortunately, production is running more smoothly now, and now that Mason’s is a few months in, you’ll most likely get whatever you hope to order. Our advice? Go for the steamed snow crab and pork soup dumplings, which are lighter and even slightly floral in comparison to traditionally pork-centric xiao long bao. $9.50. —SB

Forget the half-pound burgers and artisanal condiments you’ll find at a steakhouse: Burgers Never Say Die makes pure, unadulterated patties smashed so thin with crisp edges so fine, they practically disintegrate on your tongue. They’re your childhood summers incarnate. American cheese runs down the freshly ground beef, which is topped with plain old yellow mustard, ketchup, pickles and white onion—that’s all she wrote, and that’s all we need. No wonder fans wait up to four hours during BNSD’s popular pop-ups. Thankfully, the hot spot is expanding to its very own brick-and-mortar shop, which will open any day now—a godsend for burger purists everywhere. $7.25. —SB

Most chicken parmesan sandwiches suck, skewing towards an overstuffed mess that squirts sauce with every bite or a measly chicken nugget with a slice of cheese. But this Arts District pizzeria has struck the perfect balance: a tender breaded cutlet topped with a gob of cheese and sauce with just a touch of spice, sandwiched between two crackly pieces of bread. You can order it as a plate with a side of greens, too, but carb-craving gourmands should opt for the sandwich. Sandwich $15, plate $16.50 (pictured here). —Michael Juliano

We’re partial to the Nancy’s Grilled Cheese—which oozes cave-aged gruyère, tart pickled onion and a tangy mustard—but you can’t go wrong with the Ruth Reichl, packed with bacon, Tillamook cheddar and onion. Either way, we’re smitten with the triumphant return of Nancy Silverton’s decadent grilled cheese sandwiches, which had nearly disappeared since the 2012 closure of Campanile and are easily some of the best in the city. Thankfully you can find them again, but note the hours: These ooey, gooey delights can only be found during late-night service at Pizzeria Mozza, from 10pm to midnight, Sunday to Thursday. $8-$9. —SB

True, it’s not an eggy brunch item, but you can only get this baby on the brunch menu. It’s hard to believe it took this long for a chef in L.A.—the alleged birthplace of the cheeseburger—to invent a bolognese-dripping patty. But who are we to look a sauced-up sando gift in the mouth? Rossoblu’s brunch has a few stars, but none shine brighter than the prime beef with pork-and-beef bolognese, gooey fontina and a slaw salad, all on a fluffy, house-baked milk bun. Insert Italian chef’s kiss here. $17. —SB

At this all-day café, eating your vegetables is something that the picky child in all of us can look forward to. The dish starts with a hearty plank of Bub and Grandma’s sourdough bread, which gets a smear of locally sourced, roasted-then-puréed carrots. From there, chef-owner Royce Burke adds a rainbow of herbs and seasonal accoutrements, including organic roasted beets, mushrooms, leeks—you name it—for a slab so stunning, it’ll excite even the most toast-unfazed Angeleno. $9. —SB

Even if your world doesn’t revolve around the L.A. food scene, there’s a good chance that one—or all—of Konbi’s katsu sandwiches found their way into your Instagram feed or your social circles this year. Some of the city’s most talked-about and aesthetically-pleasing stacks, Akira Akuto and Nick Montgomery’s creations have become the stuff of Echo Park legend: Lines outside the Japanese-inspired coffee shop sometimes stretch down the block and items can sell out like crazy. And while the croissants and the Japanese take on horchata are well worth an order, it’s the katsu sandwiches—made with custom Bub and Grandma’s milk bread—that you need. The pork katsu is crispy and salty and features a smear of tangy Bulldog sauce. The omelet is made with a flavorful, light dashi. The egg salad includes not only a creamy mash, but a whole, jammy egg at the center.Grab some friends and order them all. $10–$14. —SB

Santa Monica may get Bay Cities, but at least for those of us who live eastward, we’ve got an Italian deli sandwich that comes close to the Godmother. At Zach Pollack’s hearty, no-frills Italian joint in Echo Park, you can snag the Stepmother during lunch and brunch, and if you can believe it, it’s stacked even higher than the O.G. inspiration. The bread is softer, ciabatta and house-made, and the pile of fennel salami, spicy salami, capocollo, prosciutto, mortadella, provolone, giardiniera, lettuce, shaved red onion, mustard, aioli and tomato makes for a messy meal that you can’t put down. No, really, once you pick it up it’s too messy to let go of—you’re in it until it’s completely gone. $14. —SB

Is a hot dog a sandwich? For the sake of this list, it absolutely is. And as of this August, no one in L.A. slings a better chili-topped hot dog than Adam Perry Lang. The Double Beef Chili Dog is one of the city’s best newcomers, and it ain’t your canned-chili variety: There are roasted Mexican hatch chilies involved, not to mention hand-cut prime-beef chuck and sweet onions, which all simmer away for hours to make a thick, textured chili with depth. Topped with pickled jalapeño and copious cheddar, this is an indulgent weekday lunch we can always get behind, and a cheaper way to sample Perry Lang’s expert, meaty cuisine. $6. —SB

Wes Avila may be known for his genre-bending tacos, but when the chef traded his food truck for a brick-and-mortar shop, he expanded the menu—and our waistlines. Avila’s new specials sometimes take the form of cemitas, the piled-high Mexican sandwiches, here served on freshly baked buns (though they’re more like pan de elote). They come stuffed with thick wedges of pork belly, fried egg, juicy carnitas and more, but whatever the protein, there’s always a rush of flavor from the pickled onions, chile de arbol purée and other fixins. Around $12. —SB

Be warned: This might just be the messiest item on our list. Grab a more private seat in the corner and face the wall to hide your shame.

This weekend special is worth rolling out of bed and coping with Santa Monica’s mayhem—and early, at that. The wood-fired oven at the heart of the restaurant makes only 16 of these massive cinnamon rolls during brunch. What’s more, they are an off-menu item, which means they’re only available to those in the know. First, the treats are baked, then smothered with a tart frosting of cream cheese, buttermilk and crème fraîche; when you order one, it hits the oven again, so it’s served hot and perfectly caramelized. At around six inches wide and three inches tall, these beauties are big enough to share with the table, unless you dare to tackle it all by yourself. $6. —SB

Josef Centeno has more than cornered the great-food market on a few corners in DTLA, and this year, the tasting-menu hub of his small restaurant empire launched a brunch that rivals even the most established in the city. Duck into Orsa & Winston for yuzu-cream croissants, an omakase Japanese breakfast plate and a donabe for two, but it’s this porridge that lingers in our minds. Sure, you can find the green barley porridge on the weekday lunch menu, but this silky, miso-touched bowl topped with a poached egg is exactly what we want to wake up to every weekend. $12. (Add smoked fish for $4.) —SB

If you’ve wandered into this cheeky pastry shop— sporting neon that reads “I got baked in Los Angeles”—you might know that Mr. Holmes Bakehouse always carries a seasonal danish, tucked in alongside its usual mix of whimisical cookies and croissants. But what you might not know is that if you see a savory danish and you don’t order it, you’ll be cursed for 40 years. Just kidding. But you will around carry something even worse: You’ll have missed out on the consistently best item there. Toward the start of the year, Mr. Holmes launched a danish with a savory, rich center of sautéed shiitakes, spring onions and garlic, all made creamy thanks to some sour cream and gorgonzola (and probably a lot of butter). Sadly, this variety is out of season, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t stop by to see what else they’ve got in that pastry case. Around $5. —SB

There’s something about a beachy breakfast that makes lighter and breezier dishes all the more appealing. While we’re not saying you should skip Little Ruby’s Big Breakfast (their take on the Aussie/Brit full English breakfast), we definitely argue that your table’s going to need a bowl of the coffee granola parfait—just go ahead and get both. This creamy, crunchy dish combines finely ground coffee with Greek yogurt and house-made granola, then tops it all with seasonal fruit such as poached pears (pictured). It’s been a year or two of Aussie-café takeovers, and with dishes like these, that’s just fine by us. $8.50. —SB

We’d bet dollars to dry-roasted cuttlefish that Scratch Bar’s tasting menu would impress you, but our money’s better spent on another dinner for ourselves. The highlight of the 15-course meal? The whimsical, eccentric desserts from pastry chef extraordinaire Margarita Kallas-Lee. Her most arresting dish is the hollowed-out bone marrow piped with a white-chocolate–and–bone-marrow custard that’s been dotted with pine-needle meringue and candied parsley. If you’re squeamish about bones, we’ll gladly take this one off your hands. Tasting menu $145. —SB

Even the most ardent cake-over-pie enthusiasts can agree that a slice of Nicole Rucker’s honey-and-peanut pie is what dessert dreams are made of. The center? A golden, mellow, custardy base that’s smooth and sweet and slides over the tongue. The top? An almost toffee-like, crunchy sheen of whole roasted peanuts and sugar. The blend of crunch and cream, of sweet and savory, makes this an unforgettable slice (though come on, you know you want to buy the whole pie). $7 per slice, $42 per pie. —SB

Sure, this new spot serves some of the best pizza Atwater has ever seen, but don’t even think about leaving without a slice of the grilled Basque Cake, a holdover from predecessor Journeymen. Instead of filling the Spanish dessert with a layer of fruit preserves—per tradition—Hail Mary serves house-made seasonal curd with a dab of tart yogurt on the side, balancing the dense almond-cake slices. $8. —SB

You could opt for more typical flavors like mango jasmine tea or pandan soy milk—“typical” being a relative term at this Monterey Park spot—but why not try tofu in soft-serve form? It’s equal parts savory and sweet, with an extra-silky texture that pairs perfectly with the potato chip topping option. $3.75–$4.50. —KW

You cannot share this dessert. Sure, you can try, but you’ll be stabbing your friend’s hand with a fork the second they go in for a bite. No one wants bloodshed at their dinner table, so it’s probably best to order a few plates of Minh Phan’s lightly chewy mochi cakes that come slightly caramelized on the edges and drizzled with a salty miso caramel sauce. And hey, at $5 a plate, you can afford to. Who knew avoiding all-out war was so inexpensive? —SB

If you stop by Christina Tosi’s new bakery at peak hours, the long line may make you feel like you’re at Disneyland, but the treats inside are far more delicious. In her move to L.A. from NYC, the two-time James Beard Award–winning pastry queen has crafted a few L.A.-only items, including her spin on the Adventureland classic, Dole Whip. The Fo’Sho Whip is a dairy-free soft serve that whirs together pineapple and lime juice for a slightly tarter and creamier take on the Tiki Room’s iconic treat (with no squawking birds in sight). $5.50. —SB

The everything–in-house ambition of Downtown’s knockout of a new bar is a marvel: All the drinks include small-batch, made–on-site liqueurs, vermouths or bitters, and some of the cocktails contain up to 60 ingredients. The Banana Cream is a rich, funky blend of bourbon, fermented bananas, dill-and-caraway liqueur, lavender-and-rose vermouth, orange crème fraîche, grapefruit, lemon and vanilla bitters. $16. —SB

It starts with a base of house-made sheep’s milk yogurt, because of course it does. This is the bar at the NoMad, after all. Inarguably one of the strongest beverage programs now on either coast, the NoMad’s bevy of 40-or-so cocktails never skimps on effort or creativity. In the Sakura Maru, their house-made yogurt mixes with aged cachaça, genever, Macchu Pisco, lemon and green tea for a bright, refreshing but still creamy and dessert-leaning drink. Topped with lime zest, it’s tart and fresh—and a definite go-to when we can’t pick from the bar’s dozens of cocktails. $17. —SB

Is it strange that one of the city’s most modern restaurants is giving us an 18th-century throwback? Not at all, considering that Benjamin Franklin’s crystal-clear, sherry-based milk punch, served here in a sleek milk carton made of glass, looks about as contemporary as it gets. In mid-2018, Bar Centro launched a six-drink cocktail tasting menu, complete with Franklin’s 1763 recipe. Unusual for the Bazaar, there’s no molecular gastronomy at play: The tart, creamy concoction becomes opaque thanks to the natural mingling (okay, curdling) of milk and fresh lemons, resulting in a soft, citrus-forward punch. Tasting menu $55. —SB

Whether you’re catching a plane, a train or an automobile, Union Station’s new arrival will get a drink in your hand without delay to get you on your way. Helmed by vets from the Varnish, the Streamliner’s program is classics-oriented, with efficiency in mind: Take the mint mojito, which combines rum with premade “bricks” of lime, sugar and water, then whips it all together with an immersion blender for a quick-and-easy drink that takes seconds to make. Who says travel has to be stressful? $8. —SB