The best Silver Lake restaurants

Taking over from the Happy Foot/Sad Foot clinic, this Indian pizza parlor in Silver Lake is a razor-sharp distillation of everything great about dining in Los Angeles: fun, not too expensive and, best of all, gloriously unfussy. Though billed as a sports bar with giant flatscreen TVs, Pijja Palace's destination-worthy appeal lies in its playful, delicious menu of South Asian-inspired pizza, pasta, wings and cocktails. (It's also made the red-hot new restaurant busy at all hours, so it's best to try to snag a reservation or walk in right at opening.) Rich in spice, though not necessarily spicy, each simple-but-complex dish tastes fresh and exciting, from the dosa onion rings dipped in mango chutney to vodka sauce-like malai rigatoni.

Vivian Ku's Taiwanese restaurant first opened in 2014, and the lines for Pine & Crane's solidly delicious chilled appetizers, dumplings, noodles and rice bowl haven't seemed to let up since. Though Highland Park's Joy and a second, roomier Pine & Crane outpost in Downtown L.A. have divided the flow of customers away from the Silver Lake original, this eight-year-old counter-service eatery still does a brisk business serving up nourishing bowls of mapo tofu, the most centrally located shengjianbao in L.A. (though by no means the best) and the best boba drinks in the area. Take one bite of the scallion pancakes or beef rolls, and you'll easily understand why Pine & Crane has long been the go-option for Taiwanese/Chinese takeout or a casual dine-in meal among neighborhood locals.

Always packed and always delicious, All Day Baby is the modern diner of our dreams. Run by Lien Ta and Jonathan Whitener of Here's Looking at You, this Silver Lake daytime spot offers chef-driven takes on American comfort foods like their famous biscuit sandwich smothered with strawberry jam and their blueberry-topped hotcakes. To round out the daytime indulgence, there's also pastry chef Thessa Diadem’s amazing baked goods, including a standout ube coconut pie and weekends-only cinnamon rolls slathered in labneh frosting. These days, ADB's rolled out a killer happy hour and dinner menu, though we still prefer it for brunch.

Now with four locations, including one in Las Vegas, Kris Yenbamroong's nationally renowned new-school Thai joint might be a mini-empire today, but the second outpost in Silver Lake ("song" means two in Thai) retains the bold, brash DIY quality that drew Millennials to Night + Market like a moth to a flame back in 2014. Inspired equally by the street foods of Bangkok’s night markets and the pork-centric cuisine of northern Thailand, Song offers a menu of salt-forward dishes that practically beg for a glass of natural wine or ice-cold beer; every drinking-oriented dish goes all gas, no brakes on salt, spice and umami flavors, including the signature "party wings" and fried chicken sandwich.

Silver Lake is now home to surprisingly great sushi, all thanks to this tiny Japanese strip mall joint and its sushi-focused sibling, Omakase by Osen, just down Sunset Boulevard. Both perpetually busy restaurants are led by seasoned chef Damon Cho, who's worked at Matsuhisa and Tao. While the actual $160 counter experience at Omakase by Osen isn't worth much (we found it wholly unremarkable), the donburi options ($28–$36), as well as the two-person chirashi ($70) at Izakaya Osen are so delicious and reasonably priced that I doubt you'll miss eating capital-S sushi. If you're in the mood for actual nigiri and hand rolls, Izakaya Osen has those too—and while they're not the cheapest around, the fish quality and craftsmanship definitely make for tasty à la carte sushi that doesn't break the bank. Also, definitely make a Yelp reservation, since the restaurant is quite small.

Though no longer the hottest thing in Silver Lake, Zach Pollack's neighborhood Italian restaurant still wows with signatures like the tortellini in brodo, radiatori with kale and fennel pollen and the beautifully crispy chicken Milanese sandwich (also available "red hot" style). The minimalist, casual interiors belie the higher than average price point, but if you're fine with spending over $50 a head on delicious small plates like a white bean and emmer soup served with griddled bread and saffron risotto tater tots, there's no better place in Silver Lake for pasta and aperitivo than Alimento.

Health-conscious, airy and bright (but with a tad bit of grunge), this all-day eatery is essentially Silver Lake incarnate. Since opening Botanica in 2017, owners Emily Fiffer and Heather Sperling have built a dedicated following with flavorful, light dishes like Turkish eggs and white bean hummus by day and shaved celery root salad and roast chicken with romesco by night. Throw in the cute, well-curated market out front for natural wines and gourmet goods, the occasional author talk or wine tasting event and a bevy of floral, herbaceous-leaning cocktails and you've got the recipe for an ideal Silver Lake neighborhood restaurant with a little bit of something for everyone.

Formerly known as Freedman's, this Silver Lake restaurant channels the breeziness of Greek island tavernas with a Mediterranean menu that features delicious souvlaki (meat skewers, including a vegan-friendly oyster mushroom option) and other tasty small bites like smoked cauliflower with spicy labneh and grilled octopus. An all Greek wine list showcases a side of vino not normally seen in Los Angeles—though, of course, the unique curation comes at premium price. The expanded patio parklet also transforms into a string-lit oasis after dark, giving the everyday strip mall eatery an unexpectedly romantic feel for date night.