Patricia Kelly Yeo

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.

Though we consistently cover new restaurants with killer cocktail offerings, new bars in L.A. are few and far between—but deserve just as much attention. To keep you up to date on the city’s bar scene, we’ve got a quarterly guide to the city’s best new bars, where you can find the city’s freshest places to drink that are actually worth checking out.  Plenty of newer drinking-oriented establishments straddle the line between bar and restaurant, but on this list we prioritize venues where it’s not strange at all to order a single nightcap or aperitivo—without your server trying to upsell you on bar bites when you aren’t hungry. We also strive to include establishments that stay open past 10pm on weekends, though we of course make exceptions for standout spots.  While these fledgling watering holes and lounges might lack the storied reputations of the city’s best bars and cocktail dens, they make up for it with stylish interiors and unique booze offerings. Some even have delicious bar bites perfect for whenever you’re feeling peckish, but this list focuses on destination-worthy venues with excellent drinks or first-rate atmosphere for going out (ideally, a combination of both).  So just how new are these drinking dens? We limit our list to bars, lounges and breweries that have opened in the past nine months. We check out each bar personally to make sure it’s worth your time and hassle—since there’s only so much booze money to spare. Oct 2025: This quarterly update includes two n

Given the fact that it’s home to the luxury-oriented Rodeo Drive, is it any wonder that the vast majority of dining options in Beverly Hills are expensive? From steakhouses to high-end sushi spots, Beverly Hills is home to plenty of restaurants perfect for power lunches, birthdays and celebrations, as well as a handful of places that won’t totally break the bank. I’ve been dining in Beverly Hills on and off for the last half decade, thanks to having family in the area and the neighborhood’s never-ending parade of glitzy new restaurant openings. The 90210 is also home to some of L.A.’s most venerated old-school dining institutions, including Spago, La Scala, the Grill on the Alley, the Beverly Wilshire and of course, Old Hollywood favorite the Polo Lounge.  These days, the place that seems to draw the most crowds is Erewhon, which I’ve included in this most recent update since it is actually, funnily enough, one of the most affordable places to grab lunch in the neighborhood. After revisiting most of Beverly Hills’ most classic restaurants, I’ve opted to drop La Scala from this update (yes, the chopped salad is still good; the rest of the menu isn’t). Check out my guide to the best restaurants in Beverly Hills for meals that are worth their price tag, big or small.September 2025: This update adds Erewhon Beverly Hills as a casual lunch option and includes new information on pricing, menu additions and other operational changes at Funke, Spago, Nozawa Bar, Yazawa, Il Pastaio, C

For a city supposedly full of gluten-sensitive diners, L.A. has far more than its fair share of Italian restaurants. Dizzying in scope, the city’s Italian dining scene offers pizza, pasta, antipasti, grilled meats and gelato in every subgenre of the cuisine under the sun, with more than a few hyper-regional spots, pasta or pizza specialists and Americanized red sauce joints to keep any carb lover happy. Quick Picks: Best Italian restaurants in L.A. Osteria Mozza – Nancy Silverton’s Michelin-starred restaurant, complete with mozzarella bar (Hancock Park) Funke — The swanky 90210 crown jewel of Evan Funke’s pasta empire (Beverly Hills) Bestia — A Downtown L.A. pioneer-turned-staple that’s beloved across the city for its bone marrow gnochetti, among other iconic dishes (Arts District) Cento Pasta Bar — A minimalist, globally inspired pasta concept with a trendy but overhyped raw bar sibling next door (West Adams) Gjelina — A market-driven Cal-Italian restaurant and must-try for any first-time visitor (Venice)  While there’s excellent Italian food in just about every part of L.A., certain spots really take the cake—er, cannoli, as it were. Worth traveling out of your way for, these standout Italian restaurants in Los Angeles go above and beyond your average neighborhood trattoria when it comes to food quality, ambience and service. Buon appetito!Sept 2025: This update adds Spina, Gjelina, Il Pastaio and Maccheroni Republic and includes new information on Funke, Cento Pa

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.

While Silicon Beach gentrification and longtime area bohemian beach culture might be Venice’s current competing claims to fame, the Westside neighborhood is also home to Abbot Kinney Boulevard, where you can find some of the city’s trendiest boutiques, coffee shops, restaurants and bars. Named after Venice’s first real estate developer, the full length of Abbot Kinney runs from Washington Boulevard to Santa Monica’s Main Street, but the bulk of its shops and restaurants are located where the street meets Venice Boulevard. Starting at upscale health grocery store Erewhon on its eastern end and ending around L.A.’s only Everlane at its Main Street terminus, the bourgeois chic, beach-adjacent street offers a full day’s worth of people-watching, shopping and dining. Throw on your best “effortless” athleisure and hop on your beach cruiser (or let’s be real, your e-scooter): Here’s our guide to the best spots along Abbot Kinney. RECOMMENDED: See our full guide to Venice.

Home to one of the most accessible beaches in Los Angeles, Venice is a longtime artist and bohemian enclave whose colorful characters have managed to stick around despite more recent waves of gentrification and an influx of white-collar tech workers. Having grown up on the Westside, I’ve seen the neighborhood change from a sleepy, somewhat trendy artist’s enclave with more than a few sketchy corners into a gleaming collection of expensive homes and tech company offices.  These days, there are fewer affordable, locally owned restaurants than ever before—and more specialty coffee shops than you can shake a stick at—but Venice is still worth a visit for the always vibrant boardwalk; charming historic canals; and collection of shops, cafés and eateries that line Abbot Kinney, which can get quite crowded on the weekends. No matter the reason you’re in the area, this increasingly pricey beach neighborhood still offers plenty of delicious eats. But be warned: Aside from being home to one of L.A.’s only Panamanian restaurants, I wouldn’t say it’s the most interesting dining neighborhood in Los Angeles. The neighborhood’s full of breezy, all-day Californian restaurants serving grain bowls and avocado toast, plus more Italian and pizza joints than you could possibly need or want. Nevertheless, this guide includes the standout options in those genres, plus a handful of Thai, Vietnamese and Indonesian strip mall standouts. March 2025: Since my last update, Willie Mae’s has unfortunately

While plenty of Angelenos are still discovering Koreatown’s hidden gems, there’s no denying that Korean barbecue is a known dinnertime entity all over the city. In our humble opinion, the best place to take a group of hungry out-of-towners—at least, if they eat red meat—is a Korean barbecue joint. The sizzling tabletop grills add a little extra drama to dinner, the various small bowls of banchan (side dishes) always delight a newcomer and, by the end of the meal, everyone involved is happily full. For all your meat-centric dining needs, I’ve rounded up the city’s best Korean barbecue restaurants for any and all occasions, including both casual and upscale.Why should you trust my judgment? I grew up in Los Angeles eating Korean barbecue in at long-gone restaurants like Shik Do Rak (which still has locations in Orange County) and Dong Il Jang, and I’ve spent the better part of the last two decades trying every Korean barbecue restaurant in Los Angeles. Though I’ve long graduated from only visiting all-you-can-eat spots, I’ve tried every major AYCE option in Koreatown, plus most higher-end à la carte concepts and the major specialists. While meat and banchan quality and distinction are my top priorities, I also factor in ambience, service and overall value—ensuring readers get the most bang for their buck.Though most of my favorite places are in Koreatown, one of the densest dining neighborhoods in the city (it has everything from South Asian cuisine to classic steakhouses), I’v

Within the densely populated blocks of Koreatown, you’ll find the most diverse and highest-quality selection of Korean restaurants in the United States. If you’re wholly unfamiliar with Korean cuisine, there’s no better place to start your exploration than the neighborhood’s various strip mall restaurants—a task that might take the better part of a lifetime. Still, there are a few eateries outside Koreatown worth paying attention to, including a few Korean barbecue restaurants and new-school fine dining options in the Arts District and Little Tokyo. As a starting guide, we’ve rounded up the city’s very best Korean eateries, both inside and outside of Koreatown. While many do offer bulgogi, bibimbap and galbi, now known and loved across the country, we’ve also included a great many other restaurants that specialize in equally worthy options. Think seafood, bubbling cauldrons of tofu soup or kimchi stew, noodle dishes, dumplings and more. If you’ve only experienced the barbecue side of things, consider this a solid introduction to the rest of L.A.’s Korean cuisine.August 2025: In this annual update, I’ve added Restaurant Ki, Jang Choong Dong Jokbal, Damsot LA, ABSteak and Gol Tong Chicken. Since last year, Yangban has also sadly closed, while Chosun Galbee and Genwa have slowly gone downhill and/or raised their prices, so I’ve removed these listings. Time Out has also instituted a sitewide change in review policies. All food and drink venues included in guides now have star rat

In love with all things pounded, breaded and fried? Head to the third iteration of h.wood Group’s Tenderfest. During the daylong food festival in Beverly Hills, enjoy all-you-can-eat chicken tenders from Box Chicken, Chimmelier, Delilah, Happies Hand Made, LaSorted’s, Le Coupe, Pioneer Chicken and even Popeyes. Stop at the sauce station, and pair your poultry with cocktails, beers and a variety of desserts. Plus, celeb chefs Marcus Samuelsson, Tim Hollingsworth, Alex Guarnaschelli and Bun B will go head-to-head in the conTENDER Competition, to be judged by a VIP panel consisting of Diplo, Michael Symon, Alison Wonderland, Rick Lox and Jack’s Dining Room. 

This upscale live-fire restaurant and hi-fi lounge in West Hollywood comes from Sean Brock, the Southern chef behind award-winning Husk (Nashville, Charleston and Savannah). Located in the old Soulmate space, Darling offers a different seasonally inspired menu every month and a platonic ideal burger only available in limited quantities. Not every dish during my two visits in September were successful, but the ambition and vision were clearly there. The seasonal cocktail menu by Baroo alum Jason Lee included interesting drinks incorporating eggplant, bonny melon and seaweed—and while Lee also has plans to turn over the entire drink menu every month, I’m confident that drinks and dinner at Darling has the potential to delight and possibly even wow veteran diners. Unfortunately, as with the early days of Curtis Stone’s now-closed Maude in Beverly Hills, it’s impossible for me to comprehensively assess a restaurant that keeps changing its menu. Then again, depending on what kind of diner you are, that’s just part of the fun. With guest DJs and enormous speakers, the adjacent hi-fi lounge is also an audiophile‘s dream and more conducive to a drop-in meal—but if Darling intends to become an enduring fixture of L.A.’s increasingly competitive upscale dining landscape, it’s going to need a little more overall cohesion.

The slop bowl is alive and well in L.A.’s ever-shrinking weekday lunch landscape, but the well-composed, health-conscious renditions are notable at this fast-casual Chinese American restaurant from Bryant Ng and Kim Luu-Ng, the couple behind Santa Monica’s now-closed Cassia. Combos (two bases, two vegetables and a main) start at $13, with upgrades for premium proteins like garlic chili shrimp, a lomo saltado-inspired beef and broccoli, and Sichuan-flavored spicy minced lamb. For Ng, Jade Rabbit also represents a culinary homecoming; both his parents and grandparents operated Chinese restaurants in the L.A. area. After decades of upscale cooking, the Chinese American chef is bringing it all back with Jade Rabbit. I also enjoyed the almond roca chocolate chip cookie and Cantonese-style lemon iced tea. Everything I tried on the main menu was delicious, and some of it was even healthy; most importantly, however, everything I tried was affordable. At a time when dining out is more expensive than ever, it’s places like Jade Rabbit that represent the sweet spot for the average diner, offering a little cheffy flair without breaking the bank. For those on the Westside, it’s a worthy way to spend your lunch break and a great spot to pick up dinner on the way home.

This upscale chain inside Westfield Santa Anita comes from northwestern China. Taking over the old Meizhou Dongpo space, Xibei offers Angelenos a unique glimpse into the culinary world of Inner Mongolia, which relies heavily on wheat, oat and lamb as staple ingredients. Technically, the Arcadia outpost isn’t the first of its kind in L.A. County; its umbrella hospitality group, Xibei Catering Group, also operates a smaller, takeout-oriented outpost in Silver Lake that serves a mere sliver of the same menu. For the full experience, though, you really need to get out to Arcadia, where regional delights like honeycomb-shaped oat noodles and an entire lamb shank combine with more familiar dishes like Xinjiang-style big plate chicken and sizzling cumin lamb for an eclectic, family-style meal you can only find out in the San Gabriel Valley. ersonally, I liked the shredded chicken with chilled oat noodles, reminiscent of Bistro Na’s mixed spicy cold noodles and Japanese hiyashi chuka; Tthe delicate shumai filled with leek and shrimp (which you can also find in Silver Lake); and the sweet-and-sour whole fried fish, skillfully fileted to resemble a blossom. For best results, come in with a party of four or more and follow the trail of stars on the menu to get a signature taste of Inner Mongolia. Time Out tip: The restaurant only accepts reservations over the phone for parties of six or more on weekdays with a minimum spend of $300. On the weekends, that number increases to eight or mor

This breezy Mexican concept has taken over the old Standard hotel rooftop space, which now has a Tulum-inspired design job. While it’s nice to see one of Downtown’s most iconic hotel rooftops being given new life, nothing here blew my mind. Then again, most diners in search of dinner with a view will likely be happy with the tasty agave-based cocktails (get the dessert-like Street Mango and spicy marg-like Carrot Dorado) and dutifully executed starters, tacos and entrées. Standouts include the queso fundido topped with pork longaniza and branzino marinated in achiote. However, you can’t go wrong with the juicy steak and longaniza, served with the traditional blistered green onions and peppers. I also liked the tangy mango habanero salsa, served with every main, and the horchata tres leches for dessert. The area’s nightlife scene might be struggling overall, but Uca is worth the trip downtown for the next time you’re searching for a vibes-first night out.

Intended as the more casual, no-reservation counterpart to Brian Baik’s soon-to-open tasting counter Corridor 109, Bar 109 serves a menu of refined, classically inspired cocktails and reasonably priced wine and beer, plus elevated bar bites like a decadent Wagyu hot dog and a crispy fish sandwich inspired by McDonald’s Filet-O-Fish. The Tuesday 10pm Burger is the ultimate culinary Easter egg—true to its name, the juicy, bistro-style creation is only available after 10pm on Tuesdays, with area locals grabbing seats at the bar well beforehand to ensure they get their hands on one. Before decamping to Bar 109, head bartender Kayla Garcia helped open Thunderbolt’s Valley sibling, Night on Earth, and previously oversaw the drinks program at Chicago’s Kumiko, which has earned both regional and global recognition from World’s 50 Best Bars. On my visit, I enjoyed the non-alcoholic Chic Hey (inspired by Korean sikhye, a fermented malt and rice beverage) and the Marine Layer, Garcia’s seaweed-infused take on a dirty martini. Boozier options like the Mikan Old Fashioned and the rum-based Sanshito will appeal to those who enjoy darker spirits, though the bartenders here also more than know their way around fruitier, lighter options if the Ichigo Punch (vodka, mezcal, strawberry, basil, clarified milk) is any indication.

Some of the best things in life are lowkey, and that couldn’t be truer than with Force of Nature, a hidden rooftop bar above Venice’s Only the Wild Ones. Run by Leena Culhane of Crudo e Nudo, Force of Nature isn’t your average rooftop; it’s on the second story of a century-old home, for starters, and the drinks menu focuses exclusively on female vintners and distillers. The average crowd tends to consist of casually dressed Venice locals rather than starry-eyed tourists and couples on dates. While Force of Nature currently closes up shop at a relatively early 9 or 10pm, it’s still a worthwhile pit stop for those hoping to catch the sunset or a quick pre- or post-dinner drink. For nibbles, you can also order charcuterie plates from Only the Wild Ones downstairs.

This upscale Persian concept from London takes the standard kebab house formula—dips, skewers, stews, rice, bread—and elevates it with winning details, including two kinds of housemade bread and light citrus dressing on the panir sabzi (or cheese and herb platter). Since opening the first Berenjak in London back in 2018, chef Kian Samyani has expanded to Qatar (Doha), the UAE (Dubai, Sharjah) and NYC, but the glitzy, wide-reaching expansions have seemingly done little to detract from the flavorful, beautifully presented platters of kebabs and gleaming silver plates carrying mast-o-musir (shallot-topped creamy yogurt), salad olivieh (a Persian spin on Russian salad olivier) and hashk-e bademjan (roasted eggplant and whey dip). An equally interesting beverage menu includes a clarified, boozy take on doogh, a classic Persian savory yogurt drink; a refreshing vodka watermelon cocktail playfully named “shumpine”; and a Persian-style black lime soda known as sharbat. While the L.A. outpost isn’t the first Berenjak in the US, it’s the first one that’s available to the public. This is some of the best, if not necessarily the most interesting, Persian cuisine I’ve had in Los Angeles; and that’s coming from someone who’s been to essentially every major sit-down Persian restaurant in the county twice over. 

Looking for a no-frills, better-than-average slice? Joe’s has you covered. Dig into a slice at Joe’s in Hollywood, Downtown, Beverly Hills, Mid-City, Sherman Oaks and the Sunset Strip. Thin-crusted, loaded with toppings and garnished with Joe’s special pizza sauce—the Grandma Pizza with house-made marinara is something else, topped with a healthy smattering of fresh basil—this pizza is your old-school antidote to the fancy-schmancy pizzas around town. Order by the slice or a whole pie, and just try to say no to the garlic knots. Personally, I wouldn’t go out of the way for a Joe’s slice, but I’d be happy with it if I were in the area.

Looking for a no-frills, better-than-average slice? Joe’s has you covered. Dig into a slice at Joe’s in Hollywood, Downtown, Beverly Hills, Mid-City, Sherman Oaks and the Sunset Strip. Thin-crusted, loaded with toppings and garnished with Joe’s special pizza sauce—the Grandma Pizza with house-made marinara is something else, topped with a healthy smattering of fresh basil—this pizza is your old-school antidote to the fancy-schmancy pizzas around town. Order by the slice or a whole pie, and just try to say no to the garlic knots. Personally, I wouldn’t go out of the way for a Joe’s slice, but I’d be happy with it if I were in the area.

This Neapolitan-style national chain has brought a taste of Italy to East Hollywood since 2014. With a cavernous, no-frills industrial space and excellent pizzas, DeSano is perfect for children, large groups and everyday meals. Originally from Nashville (with all other locations in the South), DeSano’s pies here will upend your pre-existing notion of “chain” pizza with imported ingredients, including Italian flour and cheese, plus Mediterranean sea salt. Cooked in massive wood-burning ovens, the affordable, high-quality product remains a sleeper hit among the city’s many Neapolitan-style pizzerias. For those who love sweets, the ricotta-stuffed crust dessert pizza topped with Nutella and broken cannolis is a must-order. Plus, unlike most eateries in the surrounding area, DeSano has an enormous free parking lot.

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 (you can’t miss the giant flatscreen TVs), Pijja Palace’s destination-worthy appeal lies in its playful, delicious menu of South Asian-inspired pizza, pasta, wings and cocktails. 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. Top the green chutney pijja (Hindi slang for “pizza”) with a shake of masala spice for extra kick, and don’t miss the soft serve, available in two flavors: cookies and cardamom or mango lassi creamsicle.

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

Sean Brock, the nationally renowned chef behind Husk (which first opened its doors in Charleston and now has locations in Nashville and Savannah) will open his first restaurant on the West Coast this weekend—and it happens to right in the heart of West Hollywood. This Sunday, August 31, the James Beard Award winner and Chef’s Table star will debut Darling, a California-style live-fire cooking restaurant and hi-fi listening lounge that represents a marked conceptual departure from Brock’s previous projects, which have focused on Southern cuisine and preserving Appalachian culinary traditions.  Photograph: Courtesy Ron de AngelisSean Brock inside Darling's hi-fi listening lounge. After a summer of ICE raids, seemingly endless closures and relatively few buzzy openings, Darling could be the breath of fresh air the L.A. dining scene needs as fall begins—at least according to the calendar—and we near the end of the year. The Robertson Boulevard restaurant takes over and incorporates design elements from the previous inhabitant, Soulmate, a scene-y Spanish-Mediterranean dining destination. Similar to Brian Dunsmoor’s eponymously named Dunsmoor in Echo Park, Brock plans to use a custom-made wood-burning grill to cook all of the restaurant’s produce, seafood and meats, albeit without the distinctly Southern culinary slant. If all goes according to plan, the 12-dish menu will change in its entirety on a monthly basis, with the opening menu featuring dishes like venison tartare with

If you spot a seven-foot-tall Spam musubi barreling down the streets of L.A., you’re not imagining things. In partnership with supermarket giant Kroger, the iconic luncheon meat brand widely beloved in Hawaii, the Philippines and South Korea (yes, for American imperialism-related reasons) is celebrating National Spam Musubi Day (August 8) with a larger-than-life food truck shaped like Hawaii’s iconic handheld treat. Earlier this year, Spam began selling sushi products at Kroger property sushi counters, including at various locations of Ralphs, one of the corporate grocer’s most visible outposts in L.A.  On Thursday—today—from noon to 2pm, you’ll find the Musubi Mobile at Ralphs at 260 South La Brea Avenue in Central L.A., one of the locations close to Miracle Mile and the Grove. Then, from 5 to 7pm, the Musubi Mobile will pop up in West L.A. at the Ralphs at 11727 West Olympic Boulevard. Tomorrow, on National Spam Musubi Day, the Musubi Mobile will make an appearance at the Ralphs at 2600 West Victory Boulevard in Burbank from noon to 2pm. At all three pop-ups, L.A. shoppers can score free samples of Spam musubi and norimaki, play outdoor games, pick up Spam coupons and more. Photograph: Patricia Kelly Yeo for Time Out Photograph: Patricia Kelly Yeo for Time Out For those who can’t catch the Musubi Mobile in person, don’t worry: You can now score Spam musubi at Ralphs stores across L.A. County and the rest of the country, plus other Kroger outposts, with a digital coupon