The best restaurants in Highland Park

Just a few minutes southwest from York Boulevard, this upscale dining destination in Glassell Park offers a delicious, historically informed take on Southern cuisine. Run by eponymous chef-owner Brian Dunsmoor—formerly of Culver City’s Hatchet Hall—the restaurant serves a rustic mix of raw seafood dishes, meaty larder sides and larger wood-fired entrées better shared between four people rather than two. Walk-ins and locals can try their luck at the wine bar around the side, but Dunsmoor tends to fill up nightly with reservations (a casual neighborhood spot, this isn’t). Don’t leave without trying the buttery shishito cornbread and the creamy chicken liver; while the menu changes regularly, these two things stick around, and they never fail to deliver.

After years of popping up around Highland Park (and a stint on Netflix’s Taco Chronicles), Victor Villa has brought his critically acclaimed blue corn tacos and mesquite-grilled meats to a strip mall spot along Figueroa. Made with family recipes, these “tacos estilo Los Angeles” are among the very best in the city, with seven different salsas to choose from and excellent guacamole (which is never extra). Three solid vegan taco options further broaden the appeal of Villa’s cooking, but the first-timer’s go-to order is usually the sampler trio of quesotacos with charred, crispy Monterey Jack soldered to each handmade tortilla, drizzles of fresh snow white crema and a shower of cotija cheese. Lines here usually form early, but these tacos are worth the wait.

Run by Vivian Ku, who also runs Pine & Crane in Silver Lake, this sleekly designed, community-focused Taiwanese spot draws sizable lines for some of the best fast-casual food in Highland Park. Efficient staff members will nimbly help you order at the counter, which features a rotating selection of various chilled Chinese starters. On its small menu, the standouts include a thousand-layer pancake with egg, cheese and basil (be sure to ask for chili oil) and the chiayi chicken rice bowl. Our favorite dish, however, is the pillowy clamshell bun, which can be made vegan with bean curd and mushrooms. If you can, save room for the peanut and black sesame hakka mochi.

A graduate of L.A.’s buzzy pop-up scene, this Mexican-Italian restaurant in Highland Park comes from veteran chef Danielle Duran Zecca and her husband Alessandro, who runs front-of-house. Must-order dishes like elote agnolotti and "noprese" (nopal plus caprese) salad reveal a surprising synergy between both cuisines, though you’ll be equally delighted by the rest of the menu. Housed inside an old denim repair shop, the pint-sized dining room and cobbled-together back patio confer a more scrappy neighborhood feel, but the unforgettably delicious cuisine has already made Amiga Amore a veritable dining destination across Northeast L.A.—so book ahead if you’re coming from out of the way.

Since my first visit to Alhambra’s Chengdu Taste, the culinary pioneer that opened over a decade ago, I’ve yet to find a Sichuan restaurant that has captivated my interest more than Mala Class. The tiny, brightly colored red-and-green eatery is a relative newcomer to York Boulevard, but it’s already drawing diners from across the city for its contemporary take on the region’s cuisine. Peruse the small, vegan-friendly menu and zero in on Sichuan native Michael Yang’s phenomenal take on dandanmian, which features a light, subtly flavored sesame sauce, springy noodles, (optional) ground pork and spicy chili oil. A selection of mostly fried appetizers includes craveworthy mushroom fries, pepper-rubbed tofu, and cucumber and bean curd salad. The beef noodle soup and pork dumplings add welcome twinges of heat to two Chinese classics, while those in search of milder, more familiar fare will enjoy the cold sesame noodles and garlic sauce shrimp. 

You’ll need to jockey for a seat and fire the whole menu for a full meal at this ultra-tiny wine bar, but the tasty Iberian cuisine—and the fact it’s one of the only places in L.A. serving Portuguese food—make Barra Santos a great place for a light dinner or an afternoon snack if you’re up for the short drive from Highland Park to Cypress Park. Chef and co-owner Mike Santos draws upon his mother’s recipes and Portuguese American upbringing to bring us the city’s first real taste of piri-piri chicken, bacalao fritters and pork bifana sandwiches, with plans to expand the menu and add seasonal specials down the line. Though the Northeast L.A. spot—brought to you from the same folks behind Found Oyster—doesn’t take reservations and gets quite busy, especially on the weekends, the wait might be worth it if you’d like nothing more than to sip on sherry and watch delicate slices of iberico ham get shaved right before your eyes.

Part of Highland Park’s new culinary guard, Jeff Strauss’s permanent pop-up inside Flask liquor store serves some of the most delicious, one-of-a-kind sandwiches in town. A chaotic mash-up of global ingredients like kimchi (the Kold Kim Cheezy) and chili crisp (the Hainan-Style Chicken Salad) fold beautifully into the shop’s signature creations. For something a little more classic, order the Jubano, which combines thin-sliced smoked pork shoulder with hand-cut pastrami, melted Comte cheese, pickle slices, mustard and aioli; you’ll probably need to take a nap afterwards, but these indulgent sandos make it all feel worth it.

After four years, Belle’s Bagels has finally opened its hotly anticipated Highland Park brick-and-mortar, and the wait was well worth it. Vintage memorabilia and at-scale dioramas behind the bar add a sense of style to the space. You’ll have to wait some more, however, regardless of when you visit this new-school deli: As of writing, long lines form daily for breakfast and lunch, though they tend to thin in the evenings, when the menu winnows down to latkes, pickles, schnitzel and other light bites that accompany the affordable, Jewish-inspired cocktail menu. In the morning, grab one of L.A.’s best bacon, egg and cheese sandwiches and scallion latkes, but pastrami sandwiches, matzo ball soup and patty melts are only available after 11:30am. After nightfall, order the briny Pickle Martini and delightfully herbaceous Cel-Ray Chaiball, which comes with an entire stalk of fresh dill.

Made with minimally processed ingredients like beans, chickpeas and tofu, the deli “meat” sandwiches defy all flavor and taste expectations at this daytime-only vegan spot. Owned by namesake chef Maciel Bañales Luna and her husband, Joe Egender, the storefront offers fully plant-based takes on classics including a delicious Italian cold-cut sandwich made with vegan cheese from Follow Your Heart. Before noon, there’s a delicious breakfast burrito and French toast, and a small selection of desserts and sides (we recommend the chicharrones made with tofu skin). A cold case towards the back also offers packages of housemade deli meats, if you’re interested in bringing home a taste of Maciel’s.

Since 2015, Bub and Grandma’s has provided bread to many of L.A.’s finest restaurants, but it wasn’t until quite recently that bakery owner Andy Kadin opened a daytime-only deli in Glassell Park serving all kinds of heavenly sandwiches, pastries and side salads. A carb lover’s dream, and a weekend brunch destination that draws Angelenos from all over, this isn’t quite a neighborhood spot—you’d be hard-pressed to walk in, even on weekdays, and not wait half an hour or more to order. Still, for diners willing to put up with a longer wait, Bub and Grandma’s delivers the perfect mix of retro-cool vibes and a delicious, gluten-based meal.

The second location of Highly Likely offers something a little something for everyone, plus a beautiful patio filled with olive trees, greenery and an outdoor bar. As with the West Adams original, it's a neighborhood coffee shop with delicious grain bowls, salads and other all-day fare, plus a fully loaded espresso, tea, beer and natural wine. During the day, the U-shaped indoor bar is a haven for local remote workers. Unlike the original Highly Likely, however, the Highland Park location stays open until 10pm, when the space transforms into a mood-lit dinner spot perfect for casual date nights and get-togethers. After dark, snack on tasty dishes like koji chicken schnitzel, crispy brown rice salad and harissa meatballs. 

Six days a week, this well-established daytime-only food truck off Figueroa serves delicious Sinaloa-style seafood, including an excellent red aguachile, freshly shucked oysters and deep-fried shrimp empanadas stuffed with cheese. No matter what you order, every bite is a party in your mouth, from the tostadas to deli containers of cocteles filled with plump shrimp and hefty chunks of avocado. A few tables and stools on the sidewalk means you don’t have to take your food to go—all the better to sit a spell and enjoy one of El Faro’s refreshing micheladas.

​​For those hunting for pizza on Fig—and really, some of the best fast-casual pizza anywhere in L.A.—head to Triple Beam’s original location in Highland Park. Helmed by local culinary icon Nancy Silverton and former Mozza chef Matt Molina, Triple Beam sells Roman-style pizza by the whole, half and “big” slices. You’ll find close to a dozen varieties, and they’re all great. (There are even a few vegan options.) Thanks to a partnership with the team behind Everson Royce Bar and Silverlake Wine, this spot also serves beer and wine. Although the team typically slices up several varieties at a time, we love their vegan-friendly pomodoro and the truffle-laced fontina, mozzarella, potato and sage; they also offer pre-ordered gluten-free whole and half-size pies.

Often erroneously listed online as Dos Mujeres, Jenny’s Tacos is a small, cash-only sidewalk cart selling tacos made with six kinds of meat and vegan-friendly nopales, or prickly pear cactus pads on some of the best handmade corn tortillas in all of L.A. Open nightly from 8pm to 2am on a quieter stretch of York, Jenny’s typically offers mouthwatering juicy cuts of asada, al pastor, pollo, buche, chorizo and tripas as well as cups of at least one type of horchata or aguas frescas. Paired with a few pickled onions and jalapeño peppers, they’re quite possibly the most perfect post-drinking late-night snack.

Located next door to Highland Park’s very own Chicken Boy, La Fuente serves a budget-friendly all-day menu that includes huevos rancheros and chilaquiles—otherwise known as our favorite way to eat chips for breakfast. Inside, you’ll find a pretty casual restaurant with a checkered floor, pink vinyl booths and a hodgepodge of Mexican and Wild West-themed prints on the walls. In addition to attentive service and generous portions of delicious, old school Mexican American food, each table receives a seemingly endless shower of chips accompanied by two types of red salsa.

The retro Italian charm might be slightly contrived, but the spirit of la dolce vita is wholly genuine at this Eagle Rock bar located in a former red sauce restaurant. Unlike most L.A. watering holes, the bar sits at the nexus of casual, stylish and cool—and best of all, the reasonably priced bar bites are tasty enough to turn into a full-on meal. Though the bar fills to the brim (and spills out onto the sidewalk) nightly with well-dressed patrons sipping away on aperol spritzes, natural wine and cocktails, those who head here on the earlier side can snag a table and enjoy meatballs, fried pasta and larger plates of lasagna on Monday nights.

With reasonable prices, flavorful cooking and a charming dining room, it’s no surprise that Kitchen Mouse has stuck around in Highland Park for so long. Run by punk-singer-turned-chef Erica Daking, the vegetarian café and bakery—with a separate walk-up window in Mount Washington—serves delicious buckwheat pancakes, a selection of grain bowls and other thoughtfully executed brunch fare. While eggs are still available as an add-on, the entire menu is meat- and dairy-free. Popular items include the Buffalo Bowl (which tops black beans, mashed yams and braised greens with buffalo sauce and cashew cheese) and the Psychedelic Daalipop (red lentil daal paired with curried mushrooms and garlic herb chapati). Both the newer bakery counter and nearby walk-up window also offer tasty, fully plant-based bagels, pastries, cookies and sandwiches.

The slices at this new pizza shop from Last Word Hospitality (of Found Oyster, plus Barra Santos next door) makes us jealous that we don’t live in Cypress Park. If we did, we’d be regulars at Shins Pizza, where an airy, ultra-chewy New York-inspired crust combines with Asian ingredients for a uniquely L.A. slice joint. Sure, Shins does the classic cheese and pepperoni varieties justice, but you’d be remiss not to try the meat lover’s slice, topped with fiery sambal, Chinese sausage and speck. Shins also rides the current mortadella wave with a unique white pie that plops an entire slice of the trendy Italian luncheon meat on top. Side dishes like Asian pear salad, Japanese karaage-like chicken nuggets and barbecue pork arancini add an extra edge to a casual meal here, but be sure to make it quick: You’ll be sitting on milk crates or, during the day, unused patio tables from Barra Santos.

Though this all-day Tex-Mex L.A. restaurant now has five locations across the city, HomeState’s Highland Park location features a charming string-lit brick patio—the perfect place to dip their excellent breakfast tacos into queso with a swig of housemade frozen margarita or paloma, or perhaps their Ranchwater cocktail made with tequila, orange liquor, Topo Chico and lime. While you can’t go wrong with any of their tacos, the must-orders are the Trinity (bacon, eggs, potato, cheddar) and Guadalupe (chorizo or soyrizo, eggs, cheddar) on HomeState’s award-winning flour tortillas, made fresh daily. For fork-and-knife fare, look towards their migas and their take on the classic Frito pie in a bag.

Abbreviatorily named after the space’s previous tenant—the Highland Park Post Office—Hippo is a full-service neighborhood Italian restaurant from the same Mozza-partnered crew behind adjoining Triple Beam Pizza. Indoor diners are likely to get an earful of early 2010s alt and indie rock as they dine on starters, pasta and wood-grilled proteins alongside well-made cocktails or a glass of wine from its small, curated selection of sparkling, white, orange, rosé and red wines. Although most of its pastas are made in house, Hippo also sources from Semolina Artisanal Pasta in Pasadena. Come dessert, there’s scoops of Silverton’s famous “Nancy’s Fancy” gelato, as well as a seasonal fruit-topped custard brioche tart and a passable Basque cheesecake.

Run by Highland Park’s Maritza Gomez, this casual, takeout-friendly Figueroa Street restaurant serves massive portions of Peruvian food at budget-conscious prices, including lomo saltado, a delectable arroz chaufa with customizable protein, and tallarín saltado (stir-fried linguini noodles). Here, you’ll also find traditional Peruvian dishes like papa a la huancaína and a zesty pollo a la brasa, served with choice of side. For a show-stopper, order the la copa nostra. Served in a giant goblet, it’s a mixed ceviche consisting of both raw and sauteéd seafood in a spicy leche de tigre.