Patricia Kelly Yeo

Los Angeles has the most diverse, expansive and wide-reaching sushi scene in the country, so how does one even begin? This highly vetted guide, for starters. Over the last three years, I visited dozens of Valley strip malls, Little Tokyo shopping plazas and swanky counters in Beverly Hills in search of L.A.’s best sushi restaurants. These days, pricey omakase experiences predominate my top sushi picks (a reflection of L.A.’s changing sushi bar demographics), but you can still find a few high-quality, affordable à la carte options around the city (if you’re willing to wait, it’s still hard to beat Sushi Gen’s sashimi lunch special).Why should you trust my expertise? I’m an L.A. native who enjoyed my first set of tekka maki at Hide Sushi on Sawtelle (which is still around, by the way) and cycled through love affairs with unagi (freshwater eel), saba (mackerel) and SushiStop’s famous dynamite rolls in adolescence and college. Though it’s hard to turn down freshly pressed Edomae-style sushi, I’m still fond of a good spicy tuna crispy rice once in a while, and I’ve even sampled a few of the city’s vegan sushi options. In the last four years, I’ve tried 52 different L.A. omakases, dined at over 70 different sushi purveyors of various price points, and I’m always on the hunt for new (or new-to-me) places to try.In the high-end realm, I look for places that maximize overall wow factor; even within the upper echelons of L.A. dining, I take price, atmosphere and booking convenience int

There’s almost nothing more intoxicating that the smell of a smashburger—except, of course, the taste. Angelenos are learning this quickly, as pop-ups and even established neighborhood spots have made smashburgers a mainstay in practically every corner of L.A. You can also thank TikTok’s Keith Lee for reigniting the trend in late 2023—but you won’t find Studio City’s Easy Streets Burgers on this list, because we think the highly hyped burgers are just plain ol’ mediocre. The burger style is hardly new, but they harken back to a bygone era in food when patrons reveled in the novelty of dining in their cars and all a burger needed was a good sear and a squirt of ketchup. Seasoned vigorously to tenderize and flavor the almost pancake-flat beef patty, this variety of burger sizzles in its own juices—pressed out during cooktime—and fries on a flat-top grill, practically caramelizing a thin outer shell of crust on the meat.  I’ve got to admit, the interest in simply-prepared and gloriously greasy smashburgers is getting a little tiresome, but if you’re dead set on finding the best frilly, paper-thin patties and melted American cheese, look no further than these spots down here. July 2025: This guide adds new information on Softies’ new brick-and-mortar. All other listings have been fact-checked, with new and upcoming locations being added for Goldburger and Heavy Handed. Time Out has also instituted a sitewide change in review policies. All food and drink venues are now also accom

For lovers of vinegar, pork and fresh seafood, there’s nothing like the bright, flavorful dishes of the Philippines. The Southeast Asian island country’s culinary traditions offer everything from the crackle of the country’s world-famous lechon to the nuanced, complex flavors of kare-kare and chicken adobo. With a unique blend of Chinese, Spanish, Japanese and indigenous culinary influences, modern Filipino cuisine is an ever-changing phenomenon—and though L.A. isn’t the very best place in the country for Filipino cuisine, the sizable Filipino population in Southern California and a handful of modern chef-driven concepts ensure there’s enough lechon, halo-halo, pancit and sweet spaghetto to go around. (Note that we’re not including Jollibee here, given the fast food chain’s ubiquity throughout Southern California.) Why should you trust me? I’m an L.A. native whose parents immigrated from the Philippines, which means I’ve been eating lechon, ensaymada (cheese-covered sweet brioche rolls), sinigang (tamarind soup) and other staples of the archipelago since before I could read. Growing up, I spent a large bulk of my childhood driving to West Covina, where my family would visit Goldilocks and Red Ribbon. Most summers, I’d visit my extended family in Philippines, where I’d feast on balut (fertilized chicken or duck eggs) and usually come down with a terrible case of food poisoning. My favorite foods growing up were fried chicken and (sweet) spaghetti with hot dogs—in other words,

While L.A.’s devotion to sushi and ramen are so extreme you’d think they’re the only type of Japanese cuisine in town, the vast array of barbecue, shabu-shabu, soba and kaiseki are equally worth checking out the next time you’re in the mood for a taste of Japan. Taking into account both old favorites and newer hot spots, as well as price point, we’ve rounded up the city’s best Japanese restaurants. This list is as equally handy for your next special occasion as it is your next cozy meal out in sweatpants—so take heart in the fact that yes, four-dollar-sign transportive sushi and booze-laced izakayas make an appearance, but food court favorites and South Bay mom-and-pop shops do, as well. October 2025: This update adds bang-for-your-buck Kojima (recently featured in a review), Izakaya Tonchinkan, Hakata Izakaya Hero, Wagyu Butcher and Tsubaki; after revisiting and further evaluation, Nobu Malibu, Azay (temporarily closed), Shunji, Shirube and Yazawa have been removed. Furthermore, I’ve included new information on n/naka, Sushi Kaneyoshi, Morihiro, Otafuku and Hannosuke; I’ve also noted price increases at Sushi Sonagi and Mori Nozomi. At a global level, Time Out has also instituted a sitewide change in review policies and listing format. 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, f

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

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.

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.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 housemade noodles topped with shredded cucumber and myoga, or Japanese ginger; and the ever-changing goha

This shockingly affordable, high-quality izakaya lies deep in the San Gabriel Valley. While you will almost certainly need a reservation, the excellent cooking and even better price point ensure that Izakaya Tonchinkan deserves a spot in your destination dining line-up. Run by the same team as nearby Sushi Kisen and Sumibiyakitori Kidori, this small Arcadia izakaya serves a wide array of genre classics with a particular emphasis on sashimi. On my last visit, I enjoyed boiled baby sardines with grated daikon and yuzu, plus grilled beef tongue, monkfish liver with ponzu sauce and a delightful appetizer sampler that included fatty tuna with pickled radish, fermented firefly squid and wasabi-seasoned octopus—a funky trio best enjoyed with a bright, clean glass of sake. My favorite item of the night, however, was the yellowtail and sansho peppercorn donabe. In Los Angeles, most donabe dishes are only offered at high-end kaiseki restaurants, so this more casual option is quite a treat indeed. Be sure to at least glance at the specials menu, which has been known to include market-priced rare delicacies like hairy crab.

It wasn’t until after I experienced the glaring inconsistencies of Venice’s RVR that I’ve come to truly appreciate the chef-driven approach of Charles Namba’s California-style izakaya in Echo Park. The seasonal inflection to traditional izakaya fare adds enough intrigue to warrant a visit the next time you’re in the general area, especially if you enjoy kushiyaki. The vegetable tempura and skillful spin on silken tofu from Gardena’s Meiji Tofu stand toe to toe with homier spots in the South Bay; the charcoal-grilled onigiri and soy-simmered black cod make for an excellent sit-down meal; and who can deny the delight of a Japanese “latke” topped with dry-aged salmon, pickled cucumbers and ikura? For more of a deep-fried snacky situation, I prefer OTOTO next door, which serves chicken karaage, heartier versions of tempura and a potato salad perfect for soaking up sommelier Courtney Kaplan’s award-winning sake program. Order the cornflake-dusted hojicha parfait for dessert—or at least the slightly cheaper standalone soft-serve.

This Little Tokyo noodle shop offers the city's best bowls of the thick, chewy wheat-based noodles, plus mesmerizing sights of noodle-pulling action through the kitchen's picture window. Behind a large glass, the udon master will roll out the dough and cut strands and strands of the thick, chewy noodles for each order. The traditional bowls are great here; try the hot kitsune udon topped with fried tofu, or the cold plum shiso bukkake udon. For a fun mash-up of Japanese and Italian cuisines, go for the popular miso carbonara udon. Just be prepared to wait: As the hands-down best udon shop in Los Angeles, peak dinner time can cause gaggles of groups to queue all the way down the block.

This review was originally published on June 26, 2024 and has since been updated to reflect more recent changes. A sense of restrained elegance threads itself throughout each meal at Mori Nozomi, the newest high-end sushi experience ($280) to occupy the West L.A. space that once housed now-closed Mori Sushi. Somewhat awkwardly located at the intersection of Pico, Gateway and Exposition Boulevards, the restaurant’s exterior has been given a fresh coat of white paint and Japanese-inspired landscaping, including a medium-sized bonsai tree. Inside, the minimalist dining room is largely unchanged aside from a stunning floral arrangement on a glass-and-concrete accent table set off from the eight-seat sushi bar. It’s a familiar enough scene for anyone well-acquainted with L.A. omakase joints, save for one immediately noticeable fact: Head chef Nozomi Mori is female, and so is the rest of her small staff.  Having tried 48 different omakases in Los Angeles, plus the city’s high-profile kaiseki restaurants, I can count on one hand how many times I’ve been handed a piece of nigiri made by a woman. The predominantly male world of highly skilled sushi chefs, or itamae, has long discriminated against women for myriad reasons, including a widely held false belief that the average female core body temperature adversely affects how women handle raw fish. Of course, like all aspects of patriarchy, this idea is utter nonsense, but the end result remains—walking out of my first visit to Mori No

Newly relocated to Victor Heights (the sliver of a neighborhood between Chinatown and Echo Park), Morihiro Onodera’s eponymous Michelin-starred restaurant is a gourmand’s delight. Now, in addition to the chef’s signature omakase ($400), the restaurant offers standout sushi rolls and nigiri made with the same specialized rice, milled daily and on-site, plus aged red vinegar and housemade ceramics. I recommend ordering the chef’s precise rendition of a California roll, plus nigiri by the piece and thoughtfully executed hot items. The kitchen impresses even with standard dishes, from the jalapeño-tinged spicy edamame to the cherrywood-smoked jidori chicken, which puts most other yakitori dishes I’ve had in L.A. to shame. The salmon skin salad, in particular, offers lush farmers’ market produce, perfectly crisped fish and a light, flavorful citrus dressing. Of course, the chef’s magnum opus is still the omakase, which features a mix of kaiseki-style appetizers and a diverse array of fish, both dry-aged and fresh—and if money is no object, I recommend springing for it. What thrills me more as a lifelong sushi lover, however, is the more accessibly priced à la carte menu; starting around $100 to $150 per person (post tax and tip), you can experience some of the city’s best sushi, plus flawless service and excellent desserts to cap off your evening.

After setting up shop in the Bay Area, one of Tokyo’s best ramenyas has landed in L.A. via a prime second-floor corner spot at Westfield Century City. Day and nights, crowds line up for bowls of chef Satoshi Ikuta’s flavorful, dense tonkotsu broth—also available with spice, black garlic and basil. Put your name down, do a little window shopping and when the time comes, customize your bowl to your exact liking via a paper ordering sheet. No matter what, be sure to save room for one or two of Nagi's appetizers, particularly the unlisted pan-fried snack gyoza; when available, the latter arrives in an irresistible crispy dumpling skirt. Other than chicken karaage, chashu rice and edamame, it’s all about the ramen—as it should be.

This review was originally published on February 9, 2022 and has since been updated to reflect changes in price and more recent visits. First things first: To board the tight ship that is Kinjiro, you’ll almost certainly need a reservation. This fundamental aspect of operations ensures those who dine at this small, unassuming eatery in Little Tokyo’s Honda Plaza are in it for the love of informal yet sophisticated Japanese drinking fare. They’re certainly not there for the understated ambience, which skews more casual than most L.A. restaurants that require back-and-forth email booking in advance. Instead, you’ll find minimal decor, plenty of alcohol and laidback service by owner Jun Isogai, whose passion and expertise are evident throughout multiple courses of cold starters, raw seafood and grilled meats. Most importantly, however, you’ll experience the skillful cooking by chef Yoshizaku Kondo, who mans the space’s small kitchen. Despite a pandemic and the unrelenting passage of time, not much seems to have changed for the tiny two-man restaurant, which the late Jonathan Gold named the “most elegant izakaya in Little Tokyo” in 2015. A few of Isogai’s long-prized sake bottles might be unavailable due to supply chain snafus, but the seared dynamite-style uni and bone marrow dengaku are as excellent as ever. We make do with what we have, and what life has thrown at us. In the case of Kinjiro, that means a smaller food menu and a more limited, but nonetheless impressive, selecti

This tiny, family-owned South Bay restaurant offers three different kinds of soba noodles, all of which are made in-house daily. Made with Japanese specialty flour, they're all equally delicious, but Otafuku's all-white seiro noodles are the house signature—and a definite must-try for first-timers. Other than soba, the restaurant also offers plenty of homey Japanese classics, including Spanish mackerel-topped rice bowls (a beloved everyday cut), tempura plates, chicken and pork katsu and bowls of steaming hot udon soup. In the evenings, the menu expands to include sashimi and yakitori, including an excellent plate of mackerel with pea shoots.

This review was originally published on September 27, 2023 and has since been updated to reflect price changes and more recent visits. Nestled between a yakitori joint and an optical shop in a Gardena strip mall, it might be hard to discern which storefront, exactly, contains Daniel Son’s Sushi Sonagi. But like other sought-after L.A. omakase experiences, the tiny crowd of people milling about right before each of the evening’s two seatings typically gives it away. Once inside, all the elements of any high-end sushi experience worth its salt are present: the minimalist bleached wood interior, a well-curated sake list and the chef, standing behind the counter, prepping for the dozen or more nigiri courses that lie ahead. Aside from familiar surroundings, however, Sushi Sonagi is anything but typical. Distinctively Korean flavors and California seasonality set Son’s brand-new South Bay sushi counter apart in the city’s ever-expanding omakase scene. Named after the Korean word for cloudburst, Sushi Sonagi elicits the same sense of wonder—and elation—that a burst of sudden rainfall might evoke on a muggy afternoon. Son sources most of his fish from the same seafood supplier used by Morihiro and Shunji, yet the well-trained Korean American chef fuses traditional technique with hints of bold flavor and seasonal produce in a way that feels fresh and memorable. (This is coming from someone who’s tried 30 different L.A. omakases over the past two years.) If Morihiro and Shunji produce

This review was originally published on November 9, 2022 and has since been updated to reflect more recent visits. Though touted as an informal neighborhood izakaya, the odds of successfully walking in without a reservation are low at Hakata Izakaya Hero, at least on weekends. The traditional Japanese eatery in Westwood fills up nightly with locals tossing back cups of sake alongside traditional Japanese drinking fare. Reservations, while not technically required, are all but paramount on a Friday or Saturday evening, a testament to its popularity—or perhaps Hakata Izakaya Hero’s small size. Since opening, the six-year-old restaurant has attracted a dedicated following with its excellent variety of traditional bar bites, including bright red sacs of mentaiko and chicken wing "gyoza" stuffed with ground pork. What Hakata Izakaya Hero hasn’t done, however, is upset the status quo. Compared to L.A.'s other Japanese drinking establishments, the Westwood restaurant offers relatively standout cuisine, which means I can forgive the occasionally gruff service.  There’s a nonzero chance that your server will bluntly mention when they need the table back for the next reservation; the allotted time is always more than enough, since the kitchen, manned by the eponymous-ish chef Hiro, fires your order in record time. Signatures like the chicken wing "gyoza" and the tsunami plate—a selection of rotating appetizers—are pleasant accompaniments to Hakata Izakaya Hero’s extensive collection of

This mid-range Japanese yakiniku chain with three L.A. locations offers a level of quality and refinement you won’t find at the more maximalist-inclined national chain Gyu-Kaku. Though the specialty is beef tongue with negishio (a mix of salt and green onions), most omnivores would be equally pleased with Manpuku's other cuts, like the prime rib eye and Angus tri-tip. For the best bang for your buck, order one of the restaurant’s tasting menus, which include a selection of side dishes like kimchi and edamame and Manpuku's signature hot stone garlic-fried rice. While more affordable than the likes of Yazawa in Beverly Hills and insider-only Totoraku, à la carte ordering at Manpuku can still add up quickly, so be mindful if you decide against a set menu.

She may have yet to open Lapaba, her hotly anticipated Koreatown pasta bar—though it’s slated to debut by end of year—but L.A. culinary icon Nancy Silverton has already announced plans for another high-profile culinary venture. This time, the James Beard Award-winning chef is betting big on the still-recovering Pacific Palisades with Spacca Tutto, a more casual Chi Spacca spinoff inside Rick Caruso’s yet-to-reopen Palisades Village. Rather than Mozza Group, the restaurant will be in partnership with River Jetty, a primarily Orange County-based hospitality group behind A PCH, a new-school steakhouse in Long Beach. It’s a notable choice for Silverton to sign a lease with Caruso, who also recently attempted a run for mayor in 2022. During the devastating Palisades Fire last January, the billionaire real estate developer hired private water tankers to protect the ritzy outdoor shopping mall—a controversial decision that likely led to Palisades Village being one of the few major commercial structures in the area to survive the wildfires. The commercial complex is slated to reopen sometime in 2026. Photograph: Courtesy Laura GrierFrom left to right: Joseph “McG” Nichol of River Jetty, Nancy Silverton and Rick Caruso. “The name Spacca Tutto reflects resilience, creativity, and courage—the same qualities driving the Palisades community to come roaring back in 2026,” said Rick Caruso, speaking via press release. In Italian, “spacca tutto” roughly translates to “go for it” or “give

Time Out L.A.'s 2025 class of Best Young Chefs, Yazeed Soudani, Ashley Cunningham and Sarah Durning are three of L.A.’s most exciting rising talents, all under the age of 30. They helm buzzy and popular concepts, and have made an impact on the city’s restaurant scene with less than a decade of experience under their belts. We sat down with the chefs to find out their favorite places for sushi and tacos—arguably, two of L.A.’s most iconic food groups—plus their top picks for a good cup of matcha. Here's what they told us. Favorite tacos in Los Angeles? Tacos Los Cholos (South L.A.) and Taqueria Frontera (Cypress Park) Photograph: Patricia Kelly Yeo for Time Out “I would have went for Ricky’s Fish Tacos as well, but he disappeared. I need to make sure they hear about Ricky’s Fish Tacos, because that was the GOAT.” – Yazeed Soudani Villa’s Tacos (Highland Park) and Angel’s Tacos (Sylmar) Photograph: Stephanie Breijo for Time Out “Number one, Villa’s Tacos. Number two, Angel’s Tacos. I specifically love the Sylmar location. Those are my two favorites.” –Ashley CunninghamMariscos Jalisco (multiple locations), Tacos Guelaguetza (East Hollywood) and Brothers Cousins Tacos (West L.A.) Photograph: Patricia Kelly Yeo for Time Out “Mariscos Jalisco, number one. Tacos Guelaguetza outside of Pavilions on Melrose and Vine. Brothers Cousins on the Westside. I watched that place blow up and it is so good. I’m never over there anymore, but I crave it all the time.” –Sarah Durning Favori

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