How to eat like a local in Los Angeles

Los Angeles runs on tacos. On a quick lunch break, at 3am, beneath an underpass or in some of the city’s most upscale restaurants, Angelenos chow down on traditional regional varieties and modern interpretations alike. While most locals swear by corn tortillas, it’s not hard to find flour factions popping up around town; Tex-Mex bastion HomeState makes a compelling argument, as do Northen Mexico-inspired taco destinations Salazar and Sonoratown.

For a tried-and-true L.A. taco experience, head to any of the three Leo’s Taco Trucks—especially the iconic location, along La Brea in a gas station parking lot. At $1.25 apiece, the al pastor street tacos can’t be beat. Another go-to is the family-owned Guisados chain, which stews an array of meats and vegetables for hours before packing them into thick, handmade corn tortillas. (Can’t decide? Get the sampler of six mini tacos.) Wes Avila’s Guerilla Tacos racks up acclaim and lifelong customers by slinging distinctly California tacos, utilizing the best and most in-season of local ingredients such as butter clams, blue corn, yellowtail and lamb. And perhaps most iconic of all is the combination of clam and lardo at B.S. Taqueria, a temple to the modern taco.

With so much ground to cover, it’s no surprise that L.A.’s sprawling terrain—and food-obsessed Angelenos—kickstarted the food truck craze. Handmade pastas, lobster rolls, decadent grilled cheese, genre-bending pho and fresh-from-the-frier hot chicken sandwiches all make their homes here, rolling from Venice Beach to the SGV. While the hunger for roaming restaurants may be dying down everywhere else, it’s alive and well in L.A. 

Roy Choi’s been propelling the movement since 2008 with Kogi, and his small fleet of three trucks (Roja, Verde and Naranja) continues to draw crowds for the Mexican-Korean mashup fare. Catch the ever-irreverent Yeastie Boys slinging hand-rolled bagels, spicy schmear, breakfast sandwiches and limited-run collabs with local chefs, usually parked in front of the city’s top coffee shops. One of L.A.’s most old-school players is known for its deep-fried shrimp tacos—“TACOS DE CAMARON” is painted on the truck in giant letters—but Mariscos Jalisco also serves fresh-to-death ceviches, toastadas and oysters on the half shell.

L.A.’s history with burgers traces back more than a century, to when the beloved handheld meal was but a humble “Hamburg Beef Steak” that simply placed ground beef between two buns. In the 1930s, ’40s and ’50s, McDonald’s got its start here, forever modernizing the burger and creating fast food as we know it, and Rite Spot, in Pasadena, claimed to have invented the cheeseburger.

Today, L.A.’s burgers come piled high with house-made cheese, caramelized onions, small-batch sauces, gourmet bacon and farm-fresh produce. The possibilities are endless, and some iterations have become so iconic they’re synonymous with California itself. Even Angelenos can’t escape regular trips to In-N-Out, long lines be damned, and as these burgers—and the words “Animal style”—spread to the rest of the country, they’ll forever be ours. Plan Check Burger’s PCB revolutionized the game by swapping raw tomatoes for a house-made dehydrated-tomato ketchup, while Petit Trois’s Big Mec is a decadent reimagination of a Big Mac—here made with a foie gras bordelaise, American cheese, caramelized onions and garlic aioli. But real Angelenos know that a classic burger can’t be beat, which is why The Apple Pan’s iconic Hickory Burger still forms lines. 

Look, we know. Sometimes we do fall into that health-conscious stereotype, but when we do, it’s because we’re onto something. Most scoffed at smoothie bowls when they first hit social media feeds, but not L.A., and look at them now. You can’t open Instagram/Pinterest/any lifestyle blog without seeing a glamour shot of a rainbow-hued mix of puréed fruits and veggies that’ve been topped by bee pollen, toasted nuts, granola, honey or even flower petals. Enjoying these won’t mean you’re “basic.” It’ll mean you’ve figured out that adding toppings to your blended meal means texture, flavor bombs and, yes, a way more photogenic smoothie than whatever you’ve go going on in your glass.

Amazebowls serves some of the city’s prettiest concoctions, filling fresh coconut shells with signature combos or build-you-own-bowl options that include pitaya, acai, chocolate granola, chia seeds or, well, you name it. In Venice, take a break from the beach and hit Great White for its shockingly vibrant smoothie bowl, which derives its color from live blue algae. 

If L.A. had an official street food, there’s no doubt it’d be the danger dog. You can smell them from blocks away, the grease sizzling on an open flat-top grill. These bacon-wrapped hot dogs  pop up along beachside bike paths; near the Walk of Fame; outside of sporting events; at protests and rallies; really, anywhere there’s bound to be a crowd.

Hunger conquerors in the daytime and lifesavers after a long night of drinking, these flavor-packed dogs can be topped by any number of accoutrements sizzling next to them—namely bell peppers and onions and whole jalapeño or poblano peppers—plus ketchup, mayo, mustard and even cilantro. Are these approved by the health department? Definitely not. Will you be OK to eat one? Probably. And it’s worth the risk? Absolutely.

Is there a food more Los Angeles, more Instagrammable, more linked to the millennial housing market than avocado toast? We’ve been piling slices of grilled and toasted house-made bread with so much more than avocado, and we’ve been doing it long before the rest of the country decided to ride the toast wave. California’s absurdly long growing season means we’ve got access to colorful, crunchy, rare and elsewhere-limited fruits and veggies year-round, which means our toasts come stacked like nobody else’s.

Visit Sqirl for the city’s most famous toast, and perhaps its most delicious: the thick slab of brioche topped with house-made ricotta and your choice of daily, seasonal jam, house-milled almond-and-hazelnut butter, cocoa nibs or chocolate pudding, or a combination thereof. The savory here is just as good; opt for the avocado toast, with wood sorrel, za’atar, hot pickled carrots and a zingy green garlic crème fraîche, or the Scandanavian-inspired rugbrød (Danish rye) toast with pickles, fresh herbs and comté.

You can find dim sum across the length of the city, which is of course thanks to both L.A.’s sizeable and skilled Chinese and Southeast Asian populations, and Angelenos’ insatiable hunger for dumplings. San Gabriel Valley—once billed as the "Chinese Beverly Hills"—is undoubtedly home to the highest concentration of dim sum spots, but you’re likely to find them here and there, if you know where to look. 

Alhambra’s Lunasia Chinese Cuisine is a destination that always feels busy, with good reason: Dim sum’s served all day here, which means everyone’s constantly flocking to those perfect shrimp rolls and shumai. Din Tai Fung blessed us with not one but four Hong Kong-style dim sum houses, in Arcadia, Glendale, Torrance and Century City; the famous xiao long bao (soup dumplings) live up to the hype and are worth the wait. In Mar Vista, Little Fatty’s Taiwanese dim sum brunch rivals some of SGV’s best, with enormous shumai and wonton noodle bowls galore. 

Point to nearly any L.A. neighborhood and we’ll point you in the direction of a quality ramen house. Los Angeles is far from the birthplace of this comforting, brothy noodle dish, but its history is a long one, having been one of America’s early adopters decades ago. As the ramen scene caught on nationwide, L.A.’s exploded, and now we’re home to some of the country’s best. 

Sawtelle is the go-to neighborhood, but you’ll find great ramen everywhere. At nearly any permutation of Tsujita Ramen, the tsukemen—thick noodles dipped in a concentrated pork broth—are hearty, filling and artful. Even our chain ramen is spectacular; look to any Jinya for a range of styles and broths done well, and if you visit the Studio City location, you can even order the cult-icon lobster ramen, featuring lobster wontons and a half-lobster garnish. And no visit to Little Tokyo would be complete without a visit to Daikokuya or Hakata Ramen Shin-Sen-Gumi.

Known the world over, this is the sandwich that launched a 100-plus-year feud, but a little friendly competition’s never hurt anyone—especially fans of the French dip. Both Philippe the Original and Cole’s Pacific Electric Buffet claim to have invented this classic, which thinly shaves roast meat, then slaps it onto a French roll and gives it a dunk in au jus. 

Philippe’s still maintains its original recipe, while Cole’s—under the ownership of nightlife group 213 Hospitality—brought in Redbird chef Neal Fraser to perfect theirs. Today, both sit only a few blocks from each other, which means trying one from each restaurant and picking a favorite isn’t a bad idea. Determining who invented it, though—that’s another story.

Koreatown often feels like the West Coast’s karaoke epicenter, but let’s be real: While we’re all about long, soju-fueled nights of song, it’s all about the Korean BBQ. Grab your friends or really anyone off the street because no one’s going to argue with these marinated meats grilled at the center of your table, nor the array of banchan (various pickled accoutrements) you’ll be sharing family-style. We’ve got dozens of quality KBBQ spots here in L.A., and were this meal not so filling, we’d suggest a crawl to try them all.

Park’s BBQ is where the locals go for high-end cuts like prime and kobe beef, which fills the entire modern-designed restaurant with the smoky smell of meat. (By god, that meat.) Soot Bull Jeep may not have the flash that some KBBQ newcomers do, but this reliable hole in the wall serves some of the best charcoal-grilled meat in town, of any variety. 

You don’t have to break the bank to enjoy great sushi in Los Angeles, which is plentiful and varied in price, setting and focus; even the Valley developed its own proud style, serving high-quality, often garnished and sauced rolls in more casual settings. 

Mori Sushi, a sushi omakase, is pricey but borders on iconic; you’ll understand as you progress through the 20-plus piece meal. Conversely, Shunji Japanese Cuisine is one of the city’s best values, and incorporates L.A.’s produce into its mix of classic sushi and small plates—it also offers a killer lunch sushi omakase. Sugarfish is perhaps the best sushi chain in the world, and keeps its method fresh by keeping its rice warm under meaty cuts of flown-in-daily fish (go for the prix-fixe “Trust Me” menus).