Love Local: Time Out supports and celebrates local food, drink and culture

We’ve been all about the renaissance of the drive-in, but as summer weather and a return to (mostly) normal linger on the horizon, we have our sights set on outdoor movies. So editors from Time Out sites across the globe pitched in their picks for the most beautiful outdoor cinemas in the world. We’re not just talking about an open field with The Greatest Showman and Bohemian Rhapsody on repeat: The 40 venues and series we selected show a mix of crowd favorites and deep dives in medieval castles, canyons, palace courtyards, piazzas or right on the water. While we’re certainly a little bit jealous of some of the international picks on the list, we’re unabashedly boastful that L.A. landed three picks on the list, including Rooftop Cinema Club’s luxurious Hollywood terrace, Cinespia’s cult-favorite cemetery screenings and, in the number one spot, the Hollywood Bowl.   Photograph: Courtesy Los Angeles Philharmonic Association/Adam Latham   Where do we even begin when it comes to the Bowl, easily L.A.’s most magical performance space? For starters, there’s simply no bad spot in the hillside amphitheater, whether you’re going big in a box or sitting on a bench and spending the difference on wine (the BYOB policy: also pretty magical). Even the approach to the theater, as you climb your way up through the Hollywood Hills, feels unlike any other venue. Though live albums from the Beatles and Monty Python and annual fixtures like the pyro-filled 1812 Overture top the Bowl’s resume, 

With four new restaurants, 200 outdoor seats and a rooftop, Culver City’s new food hall was already a sight to behold—and it’s added even more. The sprawling 7,500-square-foot Citizen Public Market opened in November in the Citizen Publishing Company building, and now the historic former home of Culver’s most influential newspaper—and even some fictional ones for nearby movie studios—is the site of some of L.A.’s coolest new dining concepts. The building blends Art Deco and Beaux Arts architecture, and under its grand arches, exposed beams and large windows you’ll find a few of L.A.’s coolest culinary names—including Nancy Silverton, who opened her much-anticipated pizza-leaning concept here. In total you can eventually expect eight dining and drinking options housed within the two-story space, such as a new, forthcoming California soul food restaurant from Alta Adams chef Keith Corbin, plus a designated bar. For now only some these concepts are open, and most offer takeout or delivery services in addition to dine-in. Here’s what you’ll find in Culver City’s expansive new food hall.   Photograph: Courtesy Stan Lee   Bar Bohémien Citizen Public Market’s rooftop is now open, and it’s serving Spanish-style tapas and Parisian charcuterie boards alfresco (the bar comes from the team behind Highland Park’s Cafe Birdie, so expect similar vibes). On the drinks side, you’ll find a menu full of refreshing cocktails, as well as a small selection of local beer and wine. The indoor-outd

We may be talking a lot lately about outdoor and, soon, indoor dining in L.A., but most nights we’re still either bringing in food or preheating our ovens—which makes this new delivery service right up our alley. In Good Company just launched in Los Angeles with a pretty novel concept: Each month, you can order a rotating selection of signature dishes from local restaurants that’ve been freshly prepared and then frozen and shipped straight to your door in reusable containers. Each dish should stay good in your freezer for about two months, which means you can have Guelaguetza’s chicken mole negro or Parm Boyz’s chicken parmesan whenever the craving hits. ​​The first L.A. lineup—founder and CEO Ashleigh Ferran debuted the concept in San Diego in December—includes Guelaguetza, Tamales Elena y Antojitos, Angry Egret Dinette, Parm Boyz, Highly Likely, Thunderbolt, Hui Tou Xiang, Petite Peso, Botanica and Knead & Co. Orders opened up on Monday​, March 8 and will stay on sale through Saturday​, March 13 or until supplies run out. Photograph: Courtesy Olivia Hayo/City Proper In Good Company isn’t a subscription service; you order each dish a la carte. But the pricing structure here practically encourages filling up your freezer: Each dish ranges from $25 to $35, and you’ll get a 10% discount if you order five or more. Place an order for three or more and the $5 shipping fee will be dropped. For most dishes, you’ll simply need to pop it in the oven and maybe prep a garnish or two (

Biannual restaurant week dineL.A. usually rolls out its winter edition in January, but with L.A. restaurant patios still shuttered at the time, the prix fixe tradition decided to delay things a bit. That’s worked out the best for hungry diners, because now you have a choice of either takeout or outdoor dining. DineL.A. is back from March 1 through 14 for its first-ever spring edition. You can find the full list of over 250 restaurants offering fixed-price, multi-course meals over on the dineL.A. website, but we’ve picked out a couple of our favorite deals below. The Courtyard at 1 Pico Watch the sunset over the water and then relax in this leafy courtyard literally steps from the beach. You’ll find a three-course dine-in dinner menu with choices like hamachi crudo, burrata and seared scallops. $55; available for outdoor dining All Day Baby Silver Lake diner All Day Baby is pushing up the ante with a Motörhead-inspired lunchtime meal: the Lemmy Special, a smoked beef and cheese sandwich with fries and a choice between three Jack-and-soda cocktails. $25; available for takeout starting Mar 3 Photograph: Stephanie Breijo Broad Street Oyster Co. Available for both lunch and dinner and with a buy-up option that tacks on shrimp cocktail or ceviche, Broad Street Oyster Co.’s dineL.A. menu will basically just save you a buck on a can of Bud—but we’ll never turn down an excuse to encourage you to grab Malibu’s—and possibly SoCal’s—best lobster roll. $25–$45; available for outdoor din

As Los Angeles and its residents continue to experience its share of challenges in the current climate, there’s one thing that’s clear: Black businesses are pushing against the odds. Amid all of the continuously rising obstacles, there are a handful of Black bakers, creatives and stores in Los Angeles that are either just opening or still standing firm while also positioning their products and services to the greater community at large. From an apparel company to a sandwich shop and from Pasadena to Long Beach, here’s a list of 10 Black-owned businesses that are braving the uncertainty of 2021—and who you can support just in time for Black History Month.

Hibiscus is a rosemallow by any other name, and there’s hibiscus sprinkled throughout the menu at Rosemallows, Long Beach’s new tropical bar and restaurant from the team behind Beer Belly.   The fun concept with a Miami Vice-like setting takes its name from a scientific term for the colorful flower, and the ingredient finds its way into chicken wings and burgers and other beachy bar bites and sips (all of which are available for takeout and delivery right now). Not to be confused with a tiki bar—there’s one of those attached to Rosemallows already—the drinks here are less rum-forward and more explorative; think fewer by-the-books mai tais and more space for general manager, lead bartender and creative director James Squire to experiment. It’s the next evolution for Squire and proprietor Jimmy Han, who flipped the Long Beach Beer Belly space in late November. The duo removed a few tables and chairs from the craft-beer destination, adding a pool table in their place and lining shelves with old VHS tapes and vintage boomboxes. Rosemallows isn’t kicking craft beer out of the building entirely, but now you’re more likely to sip a coffee martini featuring house-made horchata than you are a dozen saisons and IPAs. “I think craft beer—in general—had its moment but now is on its way down,” says Han, “or it’s not that super big draw.” Instead of heading to a beer bar, he says, now people buy straight from the breweries themselves. Photograph: Stephanie Breijo So now there are tropica

Kwang Uh and Mina Park filled nearly 200 half-pint containers with their luxurious banchan for opening weekend. By Sunday evening, only one remained. The husband-and-wife team heralded for their genre-bending Korean restaurant, Baroo—and then its 2019 reprise, Baroo Canteen—soft-opened their long-awaited food stall within Grand Central Market last weekend and, unsurprisingly, the new homestyle products and packaged goods flew off the shelves of Shiku. Starting this weekend, expect even more to try.  Shiku launched with an array of banchan, each one a labor-intensive side dish bursting with ingredients like sesame, house-made gochujang and perilla seed, as well a line of Baroo-branded soy sauces, chili pastes and fermented-plum jams. Starting on Friday, which marks the food stall’s grand opening, Uh and Park will unveil a menu of doshirak—or Korean packed meals—that each include Korean steamed rice, three banchan and one main dish. You might find galbi, as well as pork belly marinated in a thick ssamjang, with doshirak priced between $11 and $15 per box.  Photograph: Stephanie Breijo Eventually there will be family-style meals, as well as a value doshirak planned at a priced below $10 that sports house-made spam. While Baroo, which might return again one day, buried its ratatouille-inspired “Jangtatouille” under artful tangles of mustard leaves and a sprinkling of parilla powder, Shiku will showcase comforting, more straightforward classics just when we all need a little com

Bold layers of Korean texture, flavor and and color will unfold at a new restaurant pop-up this week, but first you’ll need to unwrap that bojagi.  At Naemo, a new West L.A. venture from two vets of tasting-menu–driven Atomix in New York City, the ikura gets marinated in soy. The mandu trade dumpling dough for hollowed-out chicken wings. The japchae is served with wagyu, and the namul is topped with Santa Barbara uni—each delicate banchan filling a square of boxes imported from Japan, all wrapped up in a patterned, folded cloth to untie. The thoughtful new curbside-pickup operation is a joint concept from executive chef Ki Kim and operations manager Arnold Byun, both of whom recently landed in Los Angeles after years in some of the world’s most famous Michelin-starred kitchens and dining rooms. It’s also a contender in a growing fine dining movement, one where Korean flavor is finally front and center in exquisite forms and exciting new presentations. “A lot of the Michelin-starred restaurants we’ve worked in are honestly not Korean—they’re either Japanese or French, Italian, what have you,” says Byun. “So the concept is: Let’s take California cooking and produce and apply our identity as Korean-Americans and what we know, and try to put Korean flavors at the forefront of our minds as we build out the menu for our pop-up. [It’s] California cooking with Korean flavors and finesse.” Photograph: Courtesy Naemo/Ben Hon The format is simple, the pricing, affordable: Each meal i

In the wake of a public health emergency and economic downturn, one of the nation’s hardest-hit realms is indisputably the restaurant and bar industry. Millions of restaurateurs and employees working this essential service are struggling to navigate labor, food costs, rent and their own safety through modified re-openings, mandated closures and the sporadic announcements of dining regulations, and the cost and uncertainty are proving too great for some—resulting in the closures of some of the best restaurants and bars in all of L.A.  A few of the city’s restaurants have pivoted to takeout and delivery specials, while others launched to-go cocktails and patio dining. Some are waiting to reopen in any form, hoping to weather the pandemic without business or staffing; the restaurants below have found that despite their best efforts, their restaurants or bars can no longer hold on. 

As we sort out our at-home New Year’s plans and brace ourselves for an evening of sky-filling, not-so-legal pyro, we thought the time was right to share some brief thoughts about the year that must not be named.  First, a parade of “thank yous” is in order: to the frontline workers and the social justice demonstrators. To the distilleries who started making hand sanitizer and the restaurants that flipped into corner pantries. Thank you to every independent venue that makes us Love Local. And thank you to the People’s Bodega and L.A. Community Fridges for keeping Angelenos hydrated and fed, the Broad for bringing a bit of infinity to our homes, the Getty for classing up our Animal Crossing islands, Disneyland for blessing us with Dole Whip and churro recipes and the Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve for streaming its bloom. And actually, that last one reminds us that we want to extend an extra thank you to nature, basically the only living thing outside of our own house that we could touch without fear in 2020. In a year that made most indoor activities an impossibility, we’ve never been more grateful to live in a city whose best assets are outdoors anyway. The brief closure of beaches and trails in the spring aside, being able to hike up a hillside, walk through a street lined with jacarandas, escape into the mountains, relax at a botanical garden or dip our feet into the ocean (especially when it was turning a shade of Lisa Frank blue) provided instant mood-lifting pi