Workshop Kitchen & Bar Los Angeles

Striking Brutalist design elements and farm-to-table small plates made Michael Beckman's Palm Springs restaurant popular among Angelenos visiting the touristy desert destination; now, the L.A. native chef has expanded to a hometown outpost on La Brea complete with all-encompassing dining "cocoons," excellent cheese service and a relatively approachable $90 tasting menu—vegan option ($75) and all. While the imposing architecture and traditional European-cooking techniques (yes, there's foam involved) might sound like a bad late-’90s time warp, the fine dining dishes at Workshop manage to stay far from rote with creative tweaks and skillful uses of SoCal’s finest produce. A separate á la carte menu adds flair with equally compelling standouts.