Patricia Kelly Yeo

For a city obsessed with youth, it was surprisingly hard for me to track down three emerging chefs in Los Angeles under the age of 30—a testament to the fact that most chefs who have made waves in the L.A. dining scene are hospitality veterans (as they should be, if you ask me). I suspect it’s because many young culinary talents are choosing, instead, to work as private chefs, and who can blame them? The hours are better, the pay higher, even if you’re only really feeding the rich. It takes a certain kind of personality and inner strength to choose to feed the masses, with all the headaches of running a brick-and-mortar operation and the restaurant industry’s razor-thin profit margins.Thus, I find it even more special to announce the Los Angeles class of Time Out’s Best Young Chefs. Despite the challenges of the restaurant industry and the current economic climate, all three upstarts have managed to carve their own path and make a name for themselves, sometimes with the help of social media virality and content creation. Their routes to success have taken on various forms: a viral Pasadena bakery, a Smorgasburg pop-up (with a West L.A. residency) and a high-profile pastry chef gig at one of the city’s best restaurants, now parlayed into a chef de cuisine role at one of L.A.’s buzziest fall openings. Get to know their stories below, and you’ll quickly understand why these emerging chefs are poised for culinary greatness.

L.A. sports bars are packed with fans ready to throw down for their team. With the right vibe—and plenty of TVs—the best bars have the power (and libations) to squash even the fiercest Lakers vs. Clippers battle. If swanky hotel bars or dressed-up cocktail bars are more of your thing, these fan-heavy watering holes may be a step in the wrong direction. But if you’re looking for a makeshift stadium, we’ve rounded up the city’s quality sports bars and rowdy dives—some of which are on our list of the best beer bars—where you can grab a drink, enjoy bar food and cheer for your team. October 2025: In this annual update, I’ve removed bars that have closed (LAces) and trimmed the list down to 11 outstanding sports bars. Time Out has also instituted a sitewide change in review policies and formatting. Food and drink venues included in most guides now have star ratings, with five stars corresponding to “amazing,” four to “great” and three to “good,” and we’ve also standardized how most listings are structured. For more on our new policies, feel free to check out How we review at Time Out.

If beer and sausages are your idea of a good time, look sharp: Oktoberfest is upon us. With all the beer Los Angeles has to offer—from craft breweries to Bavarian-style biergartens—you’d be remiss not to celebrate Oktoberfest here in Los Angeles, but we’ve also rounded up larger, rowdier events a little farther away in Orange County and San Bernardino, if you’d rather make a day trip out of it. So put on your lederhosen, brush up on your oompah dancing and welcome autumn with a bratwurst in one hand and a stein in the other. Prost! What is Oktoberfest? A massive, centuries-old beer festival in Munich that’s now celebrated around the world. When is Oktoberfest? Though the German originator starts in mid-September (September 20 this year, to be exact), most Oktoberfest events in L.A. run throughout October, with a few that kick off in early September and last till mid-November.

When you think of all the glitzy stars that have strolled along its boulevards, all the legendary actors and musicians who have held parties and all the universally-adored movies that have been churned out over the decades, it doesn’t really get more iconic than Los Angeles, does it? The city is a sprawling metropolis of celebrity lore and attractions to match, and whether you’re paying this place a visit for the first time or you’re beginning to lose count, it’s important to find the right spot to stay. So, go ahead and browse our freshly curated roundup of L.A.’s most spectacular hotels, from historic Art Deco boutiques to elegant, ocean-adjacent properties, with new additions for Fall 2025 including The Hollywood Roosevelt, Hotel Bel-Air and Chateau Marmont. Which area is best to stay in Los Angeles? West Hollywood, Koreatown, and the Downtown Arts District are some of our top picks for first-time visitors to L.A. who are keen to soak up some of this legendary city’s most vibrant and colorful spots, but if you’re after somewhere a littler cozier, try Venice, Los Feliz or, if budget allows, Bel-Air.  Check out our shiny new neighborhood guide for more insight from local editors.  L.A.’s best hotels at a glance: 💎 Most luxurious: Hotel Bel-Air 👛 Best budget: Hotel Per La 🏊‍♀️ Best swimming pool: Casa Del Mar 🌃 Best rooftop: Hotel Erwin 🤩 Most iconic: Chateau Marmont 📍 Discover our ultimate guide to the best budget-friendly hotels in L.A. How we curate our hotel lists

Plant-based dining in L.A. has come a long way from the days when Annie Hall parodied the Source, one of the city’s trendiest (and cult-iest) vegetarian restaurants in the ’70s and ’80s. The word “vegan” hasn’t raised eyebrows or prompted jokes about granola or nut loaf for years, if not decades, and there’s more 100% plant-based options on menus at regular restaurants than ever before. National chains like Veggie Grill have made animal product-free dining easier, if not necessarily healthier, and the last five years have seen an explosion in the city’s plant-based fast food options, whether you’re eating an Impossible patty at Burger King or Carl’s Jr or opting for a local joint like Monty’s or Mr. Charlie’s. These days, you can find slices of pizza piled high with veggies and faux meats; fully plant-based takes on Mexican cuisine; L.A.’s always trusty Ethiopian restaurants; and more vegan Italian dining than you can shake a stick at. For those who seek it out, you can also dine on amazing Asian cuisine sans animal products, including Thai, Vietnamese and Japanese cooking that rivals the city’s best restaurants. In our humble (and vegan-vetted) opinion, here are the very best of the best places for plant-based eats—though some places do serve a few dishes containing egg. September 2025: Since February, a few restaurants have sadly closed, including Crystals Soul Cafe in Compton and Berbere in Santa Monica. This update adds new plant-based options Ipuddo V and Men & Beasts,

Year-round, L.A.’s cocktail bars not only offer some of the best ambiance in the city—they’re also home to some of the best tipples in the country. From bespoke libations made with farmers’ market-fresh ingredients to the revival of classic cocktails like espresso martinis and old fashioneds, cocktail bars in L.A. are mixing up undeniably phenomenal drinks. In 2025, three bars (Mírate, Thunderbolt and Bar Next Door) have even received recognition from North America’s 50 Best Bars; more recently, Mírate made the longlist for the World’s 50 Best Bars. Whether you’re looking for a drink in Culver City, Downtown, Highland Park or Santa Monica, there are spots to imbibe all across town. Check out our list of the best places to grab a cocktail in L.A. right now from Eastside to Westside, and all the pockets of town in between. October 2025: In this annual update, I’ve removed bars that have closed (the Alley Lounge and the Varnish) as well as Old Man Bar, Employees Only, Gold Line, Las Perlas, Oy Bar, the Spare Room and 1886. New additions include Bar 109, Bar Benjamin, Capri Club, Night on Earth and Daisy Margarita Bar. Time Out has also instituted a sitewide change in review policies and formatting. Food and drink venues included in most guides now have star ratings, with five stars corresponding to “amazing,” four to “great” and three to “good,” and we’ve also standardized how most listings are structured. For more on our new policies, feel free to check out How we review at Ti

L.A. is great and all, but sometimes you need a change of scenery. If you only have one day to spare, consider one of these quick day trips from Los Angeles to some amazing nearby destinations. Luckily, living in L.A. means it’s an easy (well, depending on traffic) and often scenic drive to SoCal’s best beaches, small towns, wineries and gorgeous desert landscapes—all within three hours of the city. Oddly enough, taking advantage of the ease with which you can get out of L.A. is easily one of the best things to do in L.A. From wine tasting in Santa Barbara and vintage hunting in Palm Springs to camping in Joshua Tree or feeling the sand between your toes in San Diego, you’re sure to find a short trip (as opposed to a longer road trip) worth taking on this list. Note that all of our commute time estimates are based on a trip originating from Downtown L.A. in light traffic (so your mileage may quite literally vary). RECOMMENDED: The best weekend getaways from L.A.

There’s no question that Los Angeles has one of the largest offerings of dim sum in America. In the San Gabriel Valley—a place once advertised to would-be immigrants as the “Chinese Beverly Hills”—dim sum restaurants are the de facto brunch spots, drawing lines of people attracted to the hustle and bustle of this culinary tradition. But dim sum’s reach has grown to encompass neighborhoods within the city's official limits, including serviceable options available in Hollywood and parts of the Westside. Whether you flag down dumplings from a push cart or opt for a more upscale dining experience, here’s your guide to the best dim sum restaurants in L.A. October 2025: In this annual update, I’ve reformatted and fact-checked existing listings. Time Out has also instituted a sitewide change in review policies. Food and drink venues included in most guides now have star ratings, with five stars corresponding to “amazing,” four to “great” and three to “good,” and we’ve also standardized how most listings are structured. For more on our new policies, feel free to check out How we review at Time Out.

Before the Yelp ratings and “best of” accolades start to roll in, how do you know what’s actually good or not among L.A.’s just-opened eateries? Every month, I put myself through the wringer attempting to visit every new, notable restaurant around Los Angeles. Usually, I enjoy revisiting the city’s best eateries and sipping cocktails at tried-and-true bars, but scouting for the best new restaurants and bars in L.A. is, to put it nicely, kind of a grab bag. Whenever I’m out scouting for the latest openings, I’m just as likely to blow hundreds of dollars on an overhyped dud as I am to stumble upon the city’s next truly great restaurant. With Time Out’s guide to L.A.’s best new restaurants, you don’t need to sift through pay-to-play influencer videos and user-generated reviews to decide where to head next—I’ve done the work for you, from looking for parking and waiting in line to trying those ultra-pricey tasting menus, since there’s nothing worse when dining out than wasting your precious free time and, of course, money. I also strive to include valet prices and parking information for every restaurant—further taking the headache out of trying the next great new spot. Questions I ask myself before including a spot on this guide: Does this new restaurant offer something more interesting, delicious or unique than any of L.A.’s existing restaurants? Is it worth the hype (and money)? Is it worth going out of the way for? If the answer to any of these is “No,” I don’t include it. Ge

Move over, New York City: You might have dollar-ish slices, but these days, the Los Angeles pizza scene has grown to encompass dizzying variety of pizza styles, including Detroit-style squares, classic NYC-style triangles, Tokyo-style Neapolitan, Roman pinsas and yes, the California-style flatbreads first made famous by Spago and later, California Pizza Kitchen. Since the pandemic, it’s become easier than ever to grab a slice of great pizza in L.A., no matter where you live—almost as easy as stopping by a taco stand or stumbling across some great strip mall sushi.In researching this guide, I've tried (and retried) over 70 different L.A. pizzas, pitting imports from elsewhere like Phoenix’s Pizza Bianco, New York City’s Emmy Squared and Naples’s very own L’Antica Pizzeria da Michele against beloved hometown favorites and up-and-coming newcomers. While they all make wonderful pizzas, I also excluded more upscale, less specialized restaurants like Bestia, Gjelina, Jon and Vinny's and Evan Funke’s powerhouse trio (Felix, Funke and Mother Wolf) since while they all make great pies, pizzas generally a nice-to-have at these restaurants, not an essential part of your meal. I’m always on the hunt for the latest and greatest pizzas in L.A., and I’m not afraid to drop old-timers from the list if quality has dropped off. Gourmet or lowbrow, takeout or dine-in, thin crust or thick—these places are serving the best pizzas in Los Angeles right now. September 2025: Since I last updated this

After years of struggling through the pandemic, L.A.’s bar scene has learned to roll with the punches, and there’s always no better time than now (or this weekend) for a good, well-made drink, preferably with a side of good, old-fashioned camaraderie with slightly buzzed strangers. After all, bars, like restaurants and public parks, give rise to the sought-after sense of belonging and community that characterizes what sociologist Ray Oldenburg called “third spaces.” Best Los Angeles bars at a glance: For impeccably made cocktails: Thunderbolt – a casual, no-frills atmosphere and the best drinks in Los Angeles, hands down (Historic Filipinotown) For standout martinis with a sunset view: Dante Beverly Hills – the ritzy 90210 outpost of an award-winning NYC cocktail bar (Beverly Hills) For drinks on the Westside before midnight: Accomplice – a standout restaurant bar program with killer non-alcoholic options (Mar Vista) For a classic night out in Koreatown: Dan Sung Sa – a divey, always bustling classic known for its sprawling food menu and soju selection For Italian spritzes and a trendy crowd: Capri Club – an aperitivo and amaro specialist housed in a former red-sauce joint (Eagle Rock) Right now, L.A.’s drinking scene is back and better than ever, and we’re glad to be back at a busy bar, credit card in hand, hoping to flag down a bartender. L.A. might have cozy dives near the beach, happy hours with views of the Hollywood Hills, and plenty of buzzier new watering holes, bu

Despite the ever-rising cost of doing business, Los Angeles is still home to one of the most innovative, exciting and most importantly, culturally diverse food scenes in the country. Brick-and-mortar restaurants, Instagram pop-ups, street vendors and food trucks: No matter the form, you can find amazing food in a city whose reputation is built as much on off-the-beaten-path tacos and pop-ups as it is on classically trained chefs making quick work of farmers’ market produce and mainline access to top-notch Pacific seafood.Decades of immigration from Asia and Latin America have translated into genre-bending formats, eclectic hybrid cuisines and some of the country’s best omakase restaurants, fine dining institutions and strip mall hidden gems.  Best Los Angeles restaurants at a glance: For a great first bite of the city: Mariscos Jalisco – a no-frills mariscos joint whose signature shrimp tacos dorados live up to the hype (Mid-City, Boyle Heights, Downtown, Pomona) For trendy, red-hot Southern cuisine: Dunsmoor – an ambitious live-fire restaurant in Northeast L.A. that attracts diners from far and wide (Glassell Park) For L.A.’s best new tasting menu: Restaurant Ki – Ki Kim’s newly Michelin-starred modern Korean fine dining experience (Little Tokyo) For the best pasta in the city: Funke – Evan Funke’s dazzling, eponymously named eatery, recently reopened after a minor kitchen fire (Beverly Hills) For classic L.A. soul food: Dulan’s on Crenshaw – a longtime, beloved South L.A.

This review was originally published on May 5, 2022 and updated again for factual accuracy and more recent changes on March 5, 2025. Backed by a wall of orchids that celebrates a decade in business, Shunji Nakao settles in behind the six-seat bar of his eponymous Michelin-starred sushi restaurant, now located on a sleepy stretch of Ocean Park Boulevard. His wife, beverage director Yuko Sakurai (who also runs front-of-house), and another server weave in and out, taking drink orders from guests at the bar. Smooth, unadulterated jazz pipes into the room as patrons pick from a curated list of expensive sake and wine. Nearly five years after the pandemic, a change of address and a full menu shift later, all is well at the newest iteration of Shunji Japanese Cuisine: a streamlined, more exclusive approach to top-notch sushi that brings the focus back to seasonal inflections and pristine nigiri, as well as the customers who can—somehow regularly?—afford its significant price tag. Gone are the vegetable-focused creations, the affordably priced set tasting menu, the various à la carte options; $295 omakase is all that remains. Even the restaurant’s former home, the Chili Bowl in West L.A., has been dismantled (the distinctive building’s final fate is yet unknown). The critically acclaimed chef, however, is still very much here, his focus honed and sharpened with an omakase-only menu after crafting some of the city’s most popular bento boxes at the height of 2020’s lockdown. While it’s

Tucked beside longtime jazz club the Baked Potato, this newer Valley-style sushi restaurants  delivers seriously great bang for your buck. Open since 2023, Sushi Tomoki. offers three omakase options ranging from $80 to $200. You could ball out with the pricier options, but even the entry-level offering will satisfy most diners with two kinds of sashimi, 10 pieces of nigiri, a hand roll and miso soup. In usual Valley sushi fashion, the nigiri portion of the omakase comes out two or three at a time—all immaculately sliced pieces of fish brushed with ponzu, yuzukosho and other delicate seasonings that serve to amplify the unique texture and flavor of each seafood variety. When I visited with a friend who lives in the area, we particularly liked the albacore belly and nodoguro (blackthroat seaperch). If you’re not in the mood for a full-blown omakase, Sushi Tomoko prepares a straightforward spicy tuna crispy rice and a selection of familiar and nimbly prepared specialty rolls, both of which only further complement the excellent nigiri and sashimi. Make a reservation for dinner on the weekends or during peak dinner hours on weekdays. Otherwise, it’s fairly easy to walk in and grab a seat at the bar.

Located in the old office of Marilyn Monroe’s talent agent, this tiny craft cocktail bar on the Sunset Strip serves impeccably crafted drinks named for nearby L.A. icons. There’s a clarified paloma rosé spritz inspired by the Beverly Hills Hotel and a pisco and passion fruit ode to the Viper Room—and given the good-for-the-area prices ($18–22 for house specialties, $16 for classics), it’s no surprise Bar Next Door fills up nightly with drinkers enjoying the vintage reel-to-reel sound system and neighborhood watering hole atmosphere. Arrive early to claim a booth for you and a friend, or come later on to watch the youngish see-and-be-seen crowd collide with locals of all ages ending their night with a well-made nightcap.

Back in the day, Lunasia used to be one of the best dim sum restaurants in L.A. County. Unfortunately, the pricey dim sum spot has become a shell of its former self, with mediocre takes on siu mai, har gow and other standard dim sum fare. I visited two out of four Lunasia outposts (Pasadena, Alhambra, Cerritos and Torrance) before arriving at this conclusion. Nevertheless, there are still bright spots, like the dainty golden egg buns, which sport runny, sweet yolk centers that ooze from each bun’s fluffy white exteriors. The almond milk with puff pastry is another one of their signature (and still excellent) creations, with hot and just-sweet-enough almond milk beneath a fluffy, flaky top. Housemade dumplings are aptly labeled “jumbo”—though they’re not of the best quality anymore —and their sticky rice wrap has exceptional flavor and just the right texture. Make a reservation if you’re in a party of eight or more or head here early to avoid the inevitable brunch rush. But latecomers, take solace: unlike other dim sum spots, Lunasia serves the Cantonese tradition well into the evening. I wouldn’t recommend visiting the Cerritos location, but it will do if you are in a pinch and craving dim sum.

This San Gabriel Valley push-cart dim sum restaurant is an ode to Chinese banquet style dining, with golden pillars, plush chairs and essential dim sum carts stacked high with steaming plates of deliciousness. Mouthwatering scents of barbeque pork and shrimp har gow waft through the packed banquet hall as hungry diners wait for tables. You’lla also find two kinds of chicken feet (pickled and in black bean sauce), as well as other dishes not commonly found at L.A. dim sum restaurants, including a pan fried meat-stuffed bitter melon, beef tripe and dried squid. Later in the day, NBC Seafood expands its menu to include large-format dishes like Teochew-style shrimp and pork meatballs, clay pot chicken marinated in rice wine and stir-fried duck’s tongue with mint leaves. Come time for dessert, be sure to order the sponge cake layered with salted duck egg yolks.        

After all these years, Sea Harbour in Rosemead is still a crowd favorite; the sprawling dining room has been offering made-to-order dim sum of the highest order since 2002. Dare to visit on a weekend morning and you’ll find a line that formed long before opening. With a menu of more than 100 items, you’ll do best to stick to the well-executed basics, like crystal shrimp dumplings and pork dumplings. The vibrant pork soup dumplings are hot and juicy in their tins on arrival, while the springy rice noodle rolls nail the ideal filling-to-rice-paper ratio and are some of the best in the city. Highlights beyond the basics include fried whole smelt, steamed black fungus in vinegar, and celery-and-fungus dumplings. I also like the pan-fried shredded taro cake and juicy pork buns, if you’re looking to further diversify your order.

Make no mistake: This is no dine-in, head-over-heels-in-love-with-the-space dim sum spot, but Capital BBQ is one of Monterey Park’s hidden gems. It serves the same exact collection of dumplings as Capital Seafood—plus affordable combo plates—for $5 and under a few doors down in the same Monterey Park strip mall. Roast duck hangs behind the plexiglass from the “roast” section, where you can also snag golden chicken, soy sauce squid and BBQ pork for around $12. This takeout joint is no-frills, but it’s not to be overlooked for a quick, inexpensive stop when your dim sum cravings hit. Plus, after 5pm, the two-item combo plate is 20 percent off, and all dim sum is buy two, get one free.

In Arcadia, eponymous chef Tony He is crafting gourmet dim sum of the highest order. While his original dim sum destination Sea Harbour offers a wider array of dishes and more cozy environs, his cooking shines just as bright at his sleeker, more youthful concept with truffle-laced shumai; translucent, fish egg-topped scallop and shrimp dumpling; and not just one, but two jet-black dishes topped with edible gold: shrimp har gow and salty-sweet lava egg yolk buns—the latter best eaten extremely carefully. Among its desserts, you’ll also find a trio of darling sesame-eyed coconut jelly bunnies. Although the final bill is likely to raise an eyebrow among dim sum aficionados, a meal here justifies both the price and the wait, which can get long on weekends if you don’t come early.

There’s no way around it: At the wrong time, the wait can be hours long at Happy Together, a best-in-class dim sum joint located inside a Holiday Inn in El Monte. Luckily, the cuisine here is more than worth it—and you can also add yourself to the restaurant’s Yelp waitlist ahead of time. Originally from Chino Hills, Happy Together serves flawlessly executed standards like har gow, char siu puffs and lotus leaf-wrapped packets of chicken and sticky rice. The kitchen distinguishes itself further with an excellent poultry and barbecue selection, including a unique coconut crispy chicken and classic juicy red pork, which are cooked in small batches to maintain quality. Just don’t come here for the ambience. Despite white tablecloths and somewhat tacky banquet seat covers, the end result is still a fairly casual yet utterly delicious dim sum experience.

Featuring a counter for takeout alongside tables for dine-in service, this efficient, no-frills dim sum joint in El Monte caters to all kinds with classic dishes like barbecue pork buns, chicken feet in black bean sauce and fried taro puffs, plus turnip and taro cakes. I also enjoyed the shark’s fin dumplings (though at the price point, it’s almost certainly made with imitation vermicelli) and the pineapple buns here come with a generous portion of the crumbly, bright yellow sugar crust. Not a single item faltered in terms of quality, and compared to the other dim sum restaurants I visited, Ocean Bo was also the cheapest, with most items uniformly priced at just under $5 apiece.

With a luxurious ornate banquet interior and surprisingly delicious dim sum standards, this cavernous Temple City eatery was one of the most underrated finds on my most recent quest to find L.A. County’s best dim sum. Not only does Grand Harbor offer a well-executed, dizzying mix of standard and unique dishes, the restaurant also takes advance reservations—a boon on weekend mornings, when dim sum restaurants are usually busiest. During my visit, my party of eight particularly enjoyed the corn-and-chive pancakes, steamed durian buns and mango pudding. The cheung fun here was appropriately thin and silky, the sticky rice meaty and flavorful and the kitchen stuck the landing on entrées like scallop fried rice and mixed seafood chow mein. On weekdays, the restaurant also offers discounts for early-bird diners.

Of all the dim sum restaurants I’ve tried in Los Angeles, I’ve never seen such eye-poppingly large pieces of dim sum as the ones produced at Rosemead’s Longo Seafood. The per-item menu prices might run on the higher side, but the restaurant delivers in terms of bang for your buck with heftily portioned har gow, siu mai, pork buns and other classic items. Nothing disappointed me here, and I appreciated the presence of hot almond milk soufflé on the menu—a comforting puff pastry-topped dessert soup that contains gingko nuts. Entrées like the lobster noodles and mixed seafood chow mein were also faithfully executed, while the slightly glitzy interiors add a touch of a class to a meal here. It’s also worth noting the restaurant takes reservations, unlike many dim sum joints.

The first time I walked into RVR (pronounced “river”) last fall, I felt the usual rush of excitement that accompanies visiting a well-regarded chef’s newest culinary concept. In many cases, a proven name’s follow-up effort more than delivers—the cadence of the menu familiar yet novel enough to inspire newfound delight. Highs are all but guaranteed, lows are few and far between.  This has not been the case at Travis Lett’s new-but-old seasonal “izakaya” on Abbot Kinney, which just celebrated its first year in business on October 1 and has garnered recognition from the New York Times. Every time I’ve visited RVR in the last year—now four times over—something or the other has gone terribly awry. Here, within the same cramped space that held Lett’s all-but-identical Japanese concept, MTN (pronounced “mountain”), Gjelina’s founding chef applies the same breezy-yet-upscale, distinctly Californian approach to Japanese cooking as he once did for Italian cuisine back in 2008. Unfortunately, Lett hasn’t been nearly as successful this time around. Photograph: Patricia Kelly Yeo for Time OutThe ambience at RVR during a reservation later in the evening. Pork gyoza arrives cloaked in a delicate skirt, but the dumplings themselves completely disintegrated on more than one occasion. Coursing between dishes lag with no apparent explanation; the harsh cacophony of the dining room, at least at peak hours, all but ensures you have to yell out your order. A “jammy” strawberry shochu highball ta

Over the last few months, word has slowly trickled out about Kojima, a new no-frills omakase counter on the second floor of Sawtelle Place. Run by Hayato Kojima—previously of Tokyo’s Michelin-recognized, now-closed Nishi-Ogikubo Hayato—the West L.A. restaurant’s signature offering, a $200 omakase, is a bit of a misnomer, at least here in the U.S., where the term has largely become synonymous with high-end sushi. The boorish omakase bro in search of an endless cavalcade of nigiri and a hand roll or two to finish is likely to be disappointed.  What Kojima offers, instead, is something far more quietly thrilling, especially for those of us who actually glance at the bill after dining. Although untethered from the form’s rigid constraints, the restaurant presents a dozen courses that are loosely but distinctly inspired by kaiseki—the traditional Japanese multi-course dining experience emphasizing seasonality and harmony. In both spirit and substance, if not always pacing, the meal bears more than a passing similarity to two-Michelin-star Hayato in the Arts District ($450) all for a fraction of the price.  Photograph: Patricia Kelly Yeo for Time OutHayato Kojima with a gohan course in late August. Aside from a lone server, Kojima-san singlehandedly pulls off a tasting menu that may contain, at any given moment, creamy whorls of shirako with fried taro and ankake, a thick, velvety sauce made with dashi; the best grilled chicken heart you’ll ever have in your life; chilled housema

On the face of it, Tomat is an unlikely place for some of the city’s most interesting new California cuisine. Hidden inside a sprawling shopping complex, the four-month-old London-inspired restaurant is located less than a mile away from LAX. A giant tomato decorates the exterior of the three-story building; Tomat derives its name from a childhood nickname coincidentally shared by married owners Harry Posner and Natalie Dial. After dark, the bright red neon sign draws in hungry neighborhood locals and in-the-know diners from across the city hankering for an eclectic, unforgettable combination of global flavors most Angelenos have never seen or tasted before. While Posner and Dial’s intentions might sound fairly common—they want Tomat to be an upscale neighborhood fixture, worthy of date nights and the like—the painstaking efforts that went into the making of Tomat, along with each meal, reveal a restaurant that is anything but. Five years ago, the couple moved to L.A. from London, abandoning careers in medicine (Posner) and global health (Dial) in order to take advantage of an unmissable lease opportunity in Westchester, where in the late 1940s Dial’s late grandfather started Drollinger Properties, the area’s oldest, largest commercial real estate group. (Her mother now presides over the company today.) The couple have pored over every aspect of the fully renovated building, from the open kitchen to the dining room’s pale wood, dark green and burnt-orange color scheme. Photo

If you know the ins and outs of Los Angeles’ sprawling food scene, you probably know and love Kato, Holbox and Providence. At a September 25 awards ceremony in Las Vegas, all three critically acclaimed L.A. restaurants were the awarded spots on the inaugural edition of North America’s 50 Best Restaurants list—a brand-new regional offshoot of World’s 50 Best Restaurants recognizing restaurants in the United States, Canada and the Caribbean. (Mexico is represented on Latin America’s 50 Best Restaurants list.) They’re also, according to us over here at Time Out, some of the best restaurants in Los Angeles,  After being awarded the Resy One to Watch award by the World’s 50 Best organization last year, Kato was ranked the 26th best restaurant in North America—the highest ranked restaurant in L.A. and thus all of Southern California. Chef Jon Yao’s Taiwanese fine dining restaurant in the Arts District also possesses a Michelin star and, if you’re asking me, one of the best cocktail programs in Los Angeles, courtesy of bar director Austin Hennelly. The critically acclaimed tasting menu spot has also been named the No. 1 best restaurant in L.A. on the Los Angeles Times’ 101 Best Restaurants list for the last two years in a row. Photograph: Courtesy Jeni AfusoKato Per the awarding body behind North America’s 50 Best Restaurants, the eatery offers “refreshingly original Taiwanese American fare with [an] elevated drinks offering.” The listing also describes Kato’s dishes as “some of t

September 24 update: Monsieur Dior will not actually be Dominique Crenn’s first L.A. restaurant. That title actually goes to Santa Monica’s short-lived, critically panned Abode, which Crenn first opened in April 2007 before departing the restaurant in October of the same year. The headline has been updated to include the qualifier “in nearly two decades,” and additional information has been added below on Crenn’s experience in the L.A. culinary world. It’s not every day that a Michelin-recognized, world-renowned chef like San Francisco’s Dominique Crenn opens a restaurant in Los Angeles—and with Dior, no less. In a surprise Sunday morning news post on WWD, the international luxury fashion house announced plans to open a Beverly Hills rooftop restaurant this fall in partnership with Crenn, who made history in 2018 as the first female chef in the United States to earn three Michelin stars for her eponymous San Francisco restaurant, Atelier Crenn. Many may also be acquainted with the French American’s work through season two of Netflix’s Chef’s Table or the on-screen culinary wizardry featured in The Menu (2022), a horror-comedy satirizing the absurdities of fine dining. Crenn also has deep roots in Los Angeles. Back in the 1990’s and early 2000’s, she spent nearly a decade of her early career cooking in Los Angeles, serving as executive chef of Manhattan Beach’s Manhattan Country Club from 1998 to 2006. In 2007, she briefly served as the opening chef for Abode, a short-lived,

In spite of the mythos surrounding chefs and the intangibles of hospitality, the success of a restaurant often boils down to a few smart real estate decisions, and the three-month-old Baby Bistro is no exception. The buzzy, self-described “bistro of sorts” is the final piece of the puzzle completing Alpine Courtyard, located in Victor Heights. As of writing, the trendy commercial complex is single-handedly gentrifying the tiny, oft-forgotten neighborhood at the border of Chinatown and Echo Park, just north of the 110 freeway.  The place’s vintage charm is obvious before you even spot Baby Bistro, which you’ll find tucked away towards the back of the complex. Owned and painstakingly developed over several years by preservation-minded architect-developer Jingbo Lou, it consists of six converted buildings, including a 1908 Craftsman house and three Victorian era homes (one of which houses Baby Bistro), arranged around a brick-lined central courtyard with a lush, carefully maintained garden full of banana trees, bougainvillea and plenty of herbs and vegetables. Photograph: Patricia Kelly Yeo for Time OutAlpine Courtyard’s garden during the day. In a city of sun-bleached asphalt, minimal shade cover and other hostile urban features, it feels downright heavenly to step into Alpine Courtyard. By day, Angelenos pick up plant-based pastries at Bakers Bench, specialty caffeinated drinks from Heavy Water Coffee and gourmet banchan from Perilla LA. After 4:30pm, when Perilla closes up

Say it ain’t so: Birdie G’s in Santa Monica is closing at the end of 2025, as first reported by the Los Angeles Times. According to chef-owner Jeremy Fox (who also runs nearby Rustic Canyon), the critically acclaimed restaurant—and Time Out’s pick for the best restaurant in Santa Monica, as well as No. 22 across all of Los Angeles—has not been immune to the economic downturn related to this year’s devastating wildfires, among several other long-term factors, including location and the overall size of the space. Birdie G’s first made its debut in June 2019, about nine months before the Covid-19 pandemic struck. From the get-go, the sprawling, industrial-modern restaurant located steps away from Bergamot Station earned recognition from local and national media for Fox’s family-friendly, farm-to-table comfort food, which draws inspiration from the chef’s experiences growing up in a Jewish family in the Midwest. Photograph: Patricia Kelly Yeo for Time Out The restaurant is named for Fox’s daughter Birdie and grandmother Gladys. Over the years, Birdie G’s has earned local and national recognition for its inventive dishes and cooking techniques. Personally, I always looked forward to its seasonal dishes made with housemade hoshigaki, or Japanese-style air-dried fuyu persimmons. From where I stood, the upscale restaurant provided a unique, largely satisfying mix of comfort, value and creativity—a total rarity in Santa Monica, a land of mostly boring Italian restaurants, fast-casua

Correction: This article originally stated that the Original Pantry Cafe would reopen on September 11. This was incorrect; on Thursday morning, Unite Here Local 11 and new owner Leo Pustilnikov held a press conference announcing the restaurant would aim to reopen by New Year’s Eve, per original reporting from Eater. In a rare win for L.A.’s struggling restaurant and bar scene, Downtown L.A.’s iconic Original Pantry Cafe will once again reopen its doors after shutting down a little over six months ago, per a report from LAist. The 101-year-old diner, which for most of its original run was open 24 hours a day, has fed generations of Angelenos affordable cups of coffee alongside plates of pancakes, spaghetti with garlic bread and other hearty American fare. How did this come about? Unite Here Local 11, the union representing the restaurant’s staff, was able to reach a deal with Leo Pustilnikov, the prolific local real estate developer who purchased the building earlier this year.  The Figueroa Street greasy spoon originally closed its doors on March 2. Shortly thereafter, former employees revived its menu at East Los Tacos in nearby East L.A., according to Boyle Heights Beat, through a breakfast pop-up known as East Los Pantry. In a Thursday morning press conference outside the Original Pantry, Unite Here Local 11 and Pustilnikov announced the restaurant would aim to reopen by New Year’s Eve, a.k.a. the end of the year. Why did the Original Pantry Cafe close in the first place

Updated September 2025: Since we first tried the omakase-style tasting menu at Pizzeria Sei in June 2024, the Pico Robertson pizzeria has been crowned ninth-best in the world.  Outside of Italy, Japan and a short-lived pop-up in the Philippines, the idea of a pizza omakase, or chef’s tasting menu, hasn’t exactly caught on across the globe. Until quite recently, Americans needed to travel outside of the country to experience the likes of Pizza Bar on 38th at the Mandarin Oriental, Tokyo and Pepe in Grani just outside Naples. Now, L.A. is home to one of the country’s only pizza tasting menus, courtesy of William Joo, the Korean American pizzaiolo behind Pizzeria Sei in Pico-Robertson. The so-called $150 “omakasei” menu, which debuted last month, is slated to run every other Tuesday evening at 7pm, with reservations for each subsequent tasting menu generally dropping on Resy at noon the following day. Each menu includes a rotating half-dozen-plus parade of Tokyo-style Neapolitan slices that might be inspired by everything from Pizza Hut to some of the world’s best pizzerias. I’m going to be honest here: I’ve spent the last two years trying about 50 different pizzerias across Los Angeles, and I still think Pizzeria Sei serves the best pies in town. It’s the reason I’ve ranked the no-frills Pico Boulevard storefront number one on Time Out’s guide to the best pizzas in L.A. and included it among the city’s best restaurants. I’ve yet to revisit Tokyo for Seirinkan or Savoy Tomato &

Pizzeria Sei does it yet again! In 50 Top Pizza’s newly released annual list of the world’s best pizzerias, L.A.’s award-winning Tokyo-style pizzeria came in at an astoundingly high No. 9, beating out several other American pie shops in New York and Chicago. The tiny Pico-Robertson pizzeria was named America’s second-best pizza joint earlier this year by the same organization, which has roots in Italy and describes itself as the “first guide of the best pizzerias in the world.” At some point in the near future, the extremely popular restaurant (which is also Time Out’s pick for the best pizza in L.A.) is slated to move to a larger space in Palms, where chef-owner William Joo says he will also serve a new kind of pie. To determine its regional rankings—a recent ranking also dropped for all of Europe—the 50 Top Pizza judges use anonymous inspectors to sample pizzerias across the globe in search of high-quality dough, toppings, service and overall experience. Within California, Tony’s Pizza Napoletana in San Francisco also cracked the top 10, coming in tenth on the global list. If you believe the judges at 50 Top Pizza, there are actually two different best pizzerias in the world: I Masanielli – Francesco Martucci in Caserta, Italy and Una Pizza Napoletana in New York City. Both restaurants earned the No. 1 spot.Outside of L.A. County, one other Southern California pizzeria also made 50 Top Pizza’s worldwide pizza list: Dana Point’s Truly Pizza, which came in at No. 48. Recentl

There are two vital pieces of information you should know about my tastes as a critic: I don’t have the largest appetite, and I believe there's nothing worse than leaving a tasting menu hungry. Most days, when I’m planning on a tasting menu for dinner, I stick to an extremely light, homemade lunch—or I will not make it through dessert, period. And nothing will disqualify a prix-fixe menu faster in my heart (or in my notes) than when I leave a restaurant in need of a few street tacos to ward off any stomach grumbling in the middle of the night.  Beautifully plated dishes made with impeccably sourced ingredients might taste good and look impressive, but if I’m literally left wanting more, you’ve already lost me. No matter how difficult the economics might be, a rumbling stomach is one of the fundamental tenets of hospitality: Restaurants are meant to nourish guests, not deprive them. This is why I was never the biggest fan of Koreatown’s now-closed Kinn, a wildly ambitious starter pack of a restaurant run by Ki Kim, a South Korea-born, Colorado-raised chef who cut his teeth cooking in Michelin-starred kitchens in New York City and San Francisco. In both cities’ fine dining scenes, upscale modernist Korean cuisine has firmly taken root among more traditional Japanese and French interpretations—including several kitchens Kim has personally passed through. Photograph: Courtesy Jesse HsuA hen of the woods mushrooms and uni dish at Kinn. To anyone remotely familiar with national f

If the global supply shortage is any indication, the world has reached peak matcha—and the Gen Z predilection for sugar-laden, cream-topped viral drinks that are associated with performative males might partially be to blame. For centuries, the powdered green tea leaves have been mixed with lukewarm water and reserved largely for special occasions in Japan, including the tea ceremony. These days, however, you’ll find the finely ground leaves of Camellia sinensis whisked into batches of whipped cream and sweetened with simple syrup, occasionally gracing the tops of fruity, over-the-top drinks that sometimes contain so much matcha the caffeine content begins to rival that of their espresso-based counterparts.  As someone on the cusp between Millennials and Gen Z who has been drinking matcha lattes and sea salt cream drinks for a little over a decade, I don’t quite understand the recent surge in interest in matcha among the latter. Mostly, I laugh about it and blame the rise of little treat culture as a population-wide coping mechanism for general pessimism about the future. But when my editor asked me to put together an L.A. matcha drink guide in line with Time Out’s sitewide Gen Z theme for August, I jumped at the chance to go deep on a subject I’ve been quietly passionate about for years. Personally, I’ve been drinking matcha lattes since the days when the only place you could reliably find a decent option was Alfred Coffee & Tea (the quality there has since gone downhill)—an