Patricia Kelly Yeo

For those who don’t live on the Westside, making the trek to Santa Monica for lunch or dinner can be daunting. Will there be traffic? Probably. Will it be hard to find parking? Unless you’re in one of the public lots around Third Street Promenade, probably. (I’ll take a moment to shout out the E Line, which will drop you right off by Bergamot Station as well as the Promenade.) But will the food be worth it? Yep. From destination-worthy sushi to every price point and type of Italian food under the sun, this small, tourist-friendly beachside city is full of amazing restaurants, some of which are worth the drive across town. In recent years, Main Street has become a hotbed of up-and-coming culinary talent, where more affordable, still destination-worthy eats like Heavy Handed and Crudo e Nudo coexist alongside more upscale eats like Pasjoli. Closer to the Promenade, I’ve visited overpriced old-timers like Capo and touristy chains like BOA and Hillstone to bring you the best of Downtown Santa Monica, as well. Venture to the city’s sleepier areas, like Ocean Park, and you’ll find excellent sandwiches, sushi and bagels. This guide is by no means exhaustive, but these are the Santa Monica restaurants we think you shouldn’t miss. RECOMMENDED: Best restaurants on the Westside

In a city where you can find a farmers’ market any day of the week, finding casual vegetarian—and even vegan—fare is easy. What’s a little harder, however, is finding a nicer eatery for special occasions that satisfies everyone's dietary needs. We’ve combed through the city’s eateries to bring you L.A.’s best vegetarian restaurants—including many that are 100% plant-based, some that are vegetarian (a.k.a. incorporate eggs and dairy) and a few vegetarian-friendly spots we think deserve a shout-out. 

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 Burgerlords or Monty’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 find 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. Editor’s note: After visiting over two dozen vegan restaurants, we’re pleased to add six new additions to the guide, including new plant-based options for kebab, ramen, Chinese food and more. RECOMMENDED: The be

Southern California’s apple picking season, which generally runs from Labor Day through Thanksgiving, draws apple-loving Angelenos to comparatively rural counties nearby for a fresh taste of fall and a change of scenery. The closest apple picking area to Los Angeles is Oak Glen, a small unincorporated town in San Bernardino County where a cluster of longtime orchards allow purists to pick apples straight off the tree and indulge in timeless fall treats like apple cider, apple cider doughnuts and hot chocolate (even if the actual weather outside still hovers above 80 degrees).  While the trek to Oak Glen typically takes an hour to two hours’ drive from most parts of L.A., many of these U-pick farms offer a day of worthwhile family-friendly activities, from fresh cider pressing to petting zoos and archery—hence why they’re part of our guide to the best things to do in the fall. If you’re willing to spend three or four hours in the car, the sleepy town of Julian in San Diego County is an even more charming apple picking town—albeit better suited to an overnight trip or a longer day trip for those willing to get up even earlier to make the drive. From late October (the last few weeks of prime apple picking season) to early November, the remote mountain town also transforms into one of SoCal’s true fall foliage destinations and local bakery Julian Pie Company turns the fall bounty into some of the best pies in Southern California. When to pick apples near L.A. Though it usually r

As one of L.A.’s most high-profile neighborhoods in the midst of gentrification, Highland Park is home to an ever-changing mix of excellent brick-and-mortar restaurants and street food stands. Among them are decades-old family-run restaurants, cash-only taco spots and a critically acclaimed Taiwanese fast-casual spot selling the finest thousand-layer egg pancake wraps outside of the San Gabriel Valley. No matter the time of day, you’ll find great places to eat, with the bulk of them concentrated on York Boulevard and Figueroa Street, and if you extend your search beyond the neighborhood to Glassell Park and Eagle Rock (both located about a 10 minute drive away), there are even more amazing destination-worthy Northeast L.A. eateries. Whether you’re looking for breakfast, lunch, dinner or late-night eats, here are our favorite Highland Park restaurants–plus a few more just outside the area. RECOMMENDED: See more in our guide to Highland Park

Always full of buzzy, new and often expensive eateries, the Arts District circa 2022 might be the landing spot of choice for out-of-town chefs and restaurant groups, but this industrial-adjacent Downtown neighborhood still has plenty in the way of more everyday eats like tacos and burgers geared towards locals and budget-conscious visitors. Most weekend evenings, the entire area experiences generally heavy traffic—and the parking struggle intensifies—but some of the best dining around makes the hassle of going out here worth it for residents and tourists alike. To cut back on chaos, head to the Arts District on weekday evenings, when this restaurant- and bar-heavy neighborhood typically feels more relaxed.  RECOMMENDED: Read more on where to drink, play and shop in our guide to the Arts District

In 2024, the Mid-Autumn Festival falls on Tuesday, September 17, meaning Los Angeles will hit peak mooncake time shortly before the autumn equinox. For those who celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival, fall in L.A. doesn’t just mean wildfire season, apple picking and Halloween. It also means mooncakes: the dense, fluffy and divisive Chinese, Taiwanese, Thai and Vietnamese pastries stuffed with all kinds of delicious sweet and savory fillings, from salted duck egg yolks to red bean and freshly cooked pork.  Although many regional variations exist across China and parts of Southeast Asia, these substantive wheat-based pastries come shaped in rounds that resemble the full moon to symbolize prosperity, harmony and unity. Hong Kong and Cantonese-style mooncakes typically have their tops pressed into molds, sometimes with the character for prosperity, while Taiwanese-style mooncakes are rounded on top and topped with black sesame seeds or a dot of red food dye or bakery seal. Thai-style lava mooncakes come stuffed with runny salted egg yolks that overflow like molten magma when you bite into them. In any case, the cake’s overall shape mimics the fall harvest moon in the evening sky.  In Los Angeles, you can find these sweets pre-packaged in red-and-gold boxes in Asian grocery stores like 99 Ranch and made fresh daily in the city’s best Chinese bakeries on a seasonal basis. In recent years, they’ve become so popular that some places even make them year-round. Celebrate the start of fall,

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 L.A. is one of best places in America to experience the most game-changing restaurants and pop-ups. (Note that we’re not including Jollibee here, given the fast food chain’s ubiquity throughout Southern California.) Whether you want to sample chef-driven takes on the classics, or just want to chow down at a cafeteria-style turo-turo (named for the “point-point” ordering method), here’s where to find the city’s best Filipino cuisine—from Long Beach to West Covina, and everywhere in between.

It’s been years since Popeyes released its fried chicken sandwich, but L.A.’s chefs and restauranteurs keep dreaming of new ways to put a piece of crispy, deep-fried yardbird into a sandwich. The city is already full of amazing fried chicken options, but we went one step further and found the very best in sandwich form. While there’s some overlap between the two, a few restaurants around town make standout fried chicken sandwiches without necessarily frying up wings and tenders—so read on for the 15 best places to crunch your way through the city’s best fried chicken sandwiches. Stacked with outrageous sauces and slaws, these sandos will make you rethink your allegiance to a juicy burger the next time you’re craving a quick, greasy bite.

There are plenty of things to do in Silver Lake, but the most important thing seems to be eating. Walking around this trendy, hilly L.A. neighborhood will probably work up an appetite, but there are countless eateries, coffee shops and bars hoping to sate your hunger or thirst at a moment's notice. These days, the area's full-tilt transformation to gentrification is nearly complete (peep the Shake Shack, Sweetgreen and even Habit Burger along Sunset Boulevard), but just as many locally owned independent restaurants are still thriving in Silver Lake, so we rounded up the best of them—and man, was it difficult to choose—for the neighborhood's best grub options.  RECOMMENDED: See more in our neighborhood guide to Silver Lake

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 for awhile, if not forever. And 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 20 Italian restaurants in Los Angeles go above and beyond your average neighborhood trattoria when it comes to food quality, ambience and service. Buon appetito!  

Mexican food is probably the official cuisine of Los Angeles, with a taqueria or taco truck on seemingly every corner and freshly made agua frescas the summer drink of choice for thirsty Angelenos. What can we say? We’re blessed. But fare from south of the border runs so much deeper than tacos, with flavors and preparations that can vary depending not only by seasonality and provenance, but simply by which L.A. neighborhood we happen to be in at the moment. We tasted our way through every taco, mole, tamale and more to round up L.A.’s best sit-down Mexican restaurants, from old-school traditional to modern and back again.

If you’re vegan, you probably already know and love Follow Your Heart, one of the best plant-based cheese options available at major supermarkets. But did you know the brand started as a Canoga Park sandwich counter that’s still around today? Founded in 1970, Follow Your Heart Market & Café serves some of the best hippie-style vegan cuisine I’ve had anywhere in Los Angeles. The well-stocked aisles alone render it a worthwhile destination for plant-based home cooks, but the excellent café makes FYH a worthwhile pit stop for anyone in search of a great meal. Menu highlights include the baked mac and cheese, the chicken pot pie and the Nutburger, which features the increasingly elusive housemade veggie patty. To visit the café, head to the back of the market, where you can grab a table or sit at FYH’s original wooden counter, or ask to be seated on the spacious outdoor patio. Save room at the end of your meal for the delicious baked goods, including a delectable whoopie pie.

While many L.A. ramenyas now offer plant-based broths, almost none of them offer a vegan version of tsukemen, the rich dipping-style broth that first took the city by storm over a decade ago. One of the few exceptions is Amaze Ramen, which recently took over the longtime Kotoya Ramen space in Palms. The plant-based ramen joint serves a luxuriously creamy tan tan tsukemen with thick, bouncy housemade noodles, plus a flavorful, creamy garlic ramen—with a spicy option available—that would stand up to even the tastiest traditional tonkotsu in a taste test. Both options use sunflower seeds and mushrooms to flavor the broth, making them suitable for those with tree nut allergies as well. While I’m still partial to the fairly vegan-friendly Rakkan Ramen or Tatsu’s ultra-popular hippie bowl, Amaze Ramen offers the sort of knockout flavor worth coming from across the city for. Just know that the pint-sized restaurant is fairly casual: You’ll need to order at a kiosk outside—no cash accepted—and fetch your own water.

At most of L.A.’s Middle Eastern restaurants, the only substantial, filling option for vegans is falafel, the deep-fried balls of herb-and-chickpea dough that often come out dry and tasteless. (You can also make a meal of rice, bread, sides and dips, but that’s not always what you’re in the mood for!) The only place in Los Angeles you’ll find plant-based “lamb” and “beef” kebabs is this homey Eagle Rock eatery located in a former diner. Served with creamy hummus, cucumber salad, a whole roasted green pepper, basmati rice and naan, the soy-based imitations capture all of the flavor and 90 percent of the texture of the real deal. BeeWali’s menu also features a handful of straightforward curries, a well-executed Daring chicken shawarma and excellent cheeseburgers that use their housemade “lamb” patties. The reason to make a trek here, however, is the kebab, whether you’re opting for the generously portioned plates, the lunch-friendly bowls or a handheld wrap.

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.

Long before plant-based meat substitutes became mainstream, the San Gabriel Valley has maintained a small but compelling collection of Chinese and Vietnamese eateries catering to the traditionally vegetarian Buddhist diet. Among them is Vege Valley, a vegan-friendly restaurant in a San Gabriel strip mall serving excellent soy-based mock meats and all manner of stir-fried Asian vegetables, including hard-to-find long xu cai (chayote shoots). Most items on the menu are vegan and some of those that aren’t can be made vegan; just ask your server. Other menu highlights include the mock fish in bean paste sauce, mock kung pao shrimp and the shredded “pork” with bamboo shoots. During lunch hours, Vege Valley also offers a trio of reasonably priced combo meals, all of them well under $20.

Run by chef and vegan activist Wo’se Kofi, this Black-owned daytime spot in South L.A. serves flavorful mixed plates and other creative items that’ll keep you coming back for more. The plant-based Jamaican-style patties that first put Kofi on the map back in Baba’s catering days are generally only available by the dozen and via preorder, but they’re well worth the advance planning for dinner parties and family gatherings. Walk-ins can savor the Welcome Plates, which come with fried cauliflower, rice and beans, curried vegetables, kale salad, steamed purple cabbage and your choice of macaroni salad or (my recommendation) hot mac-and-cheese. Nutrient-dense and homey, it’s the kind of meal that won’t weigh you down afterwards. Other options include tacos, smoothies, sandwiches and “bachos,” which consist of thick corn chips topped with chopped mushrooms, beans, salsa, kale salad and cashew cheese.

The quintessential Sichuan flavors of numbing and spicy are just right at Mala Class, a tiny, brightly colored red-and-green Highland Park eatery that opened at the end of June. Five years in the making, the fast-casual York Boulevard restaurant is led by front-of-house partner Kevin Liang and chef Michael Yang. The pair first met while working at Han Dynasty, a tri-state Sichuan specialist that my NYC counterpart named one of the city’s best Chinese restaurants. Similar to their former employer, Mala Class aims to tap into the popularity of the southwestern Chinese province’s fiery cuisine and make it accessible to a wider audience. Unlike more traditional Sichuan restaurants in the San Gabriel Valley serving dishes like cumin lamb, pepper fish and la zi ji (a.k.a. mala chicken), the vegan-friendly menu offers a reasonably priced, contemporary take that hits all the right notes, even for someone well-acquainted with the region’s cuisine. Sichuan-born Yang—who’s also worked at Bistro Na’s in Temple City—takes obvious care in the kitchen. Finer details like noodle texture and the crispiness of deep-fried items like tofu and chicken wings elevate the fast-casual menu from good to great. I particularly enjoyed Mala Class’s phenomenal take on dan dan mian. The subtle sesame sauce, optional ground pork and spicy chili oil are tossed tableside with chewy, slightly springy noodles. The vegan-friendly dish is ubiquitous in L.A.’s Chinese restaurants and most renditions tend to feel r

Border Grill’s Susan Feniger and Mary Sue Milliken have returned to the city where it all began with Socalo, a casual spot serving the seasonal, California-inspired Mexican cuisine that put their original concept on the map over two decades ago. While times have certainly changed—L.A. diners now usually gravitate towards Mexican restaurants led by Mexican chefs—the citrusy, rainbow-colored tacos, crudos and entrées still make for a solid Mexican lunch or dinner option on the Westside. On our visit, we enjoyed the pescado zarandeado, marinated in adobo sauce, as well as the cheesy, decadent vampiro steak and shrimp tacos. Always-trusty potato flautas get an upgrade with zippy green aguachile, and you can’t go wrong with Socalo’s chicken tacos dorados, which come with creamy guacamole and some excellent housemade salsas.  

Molly and Rick Gean, the couple behind Harry’s Berries, are retiring, and chef Suzanne Goin is throwing a sendoff dinner party at A.O.C. Brentwood in their honor. (Strawberry superfans, don’t worry: their grown children are taking over the farm!) Meet the Geans and enjoy one-night-only à la carte specials made with late-summer tomatoes, beans and strawberries from the certified organic family farm based up in Oxnard.

It’s hard to deny the cool-kid vibes at Zizou, a French-Moroccan wine bar in Lincoln Heights. The indoor-outdoor space is lined with plenty of foliage and mood lighting, there’s an excellent sound system inside and the interior design is nothing short of immaculate. Even if the cuisine were bad (which it isn’t), you’d still probably find this place packed to the gills every weekend with see-and-be-seen types sipping on Aperol spritzes and natural wine. Fortunately for those of us who care about what we eat, not just who we’re sitting next to, straightforward dishes like steak frites and almond-apricot tagine are delicious enough to satisfy anyone’s craving for Middle Eastern cuisine. Most people come here for the drinks and ambience, and I recommend that you follow their lead.

With Eastern European flourishes, moderately priced cocktails and some of the only pierogies in town, this all-day eatery in Atwater Village is the kind of stylish, affordable Swiss army knife of a restaurant I wish I had in my neighborhood. Unfortunately, everyone else seems to have the same exact thought—which is why this tiny watering hole is jam-packed at all hours with Angelenos from all over jonesing for those excellent potato and cheese pierogies (available only after 5pm), the standout bistro-style burger and a rotating selection of tasty tartines. Before 11am, Bar Sinizki also serves a simple breakfast menu, including pastries and cardamom French toast. If you’re planning to come here for lunch or dinner, I recommend arriving early and steeling yourself for the wait.

This Caribbean-Angeleno lockdown pop-up has finally opened its long-awaited brick-and-mortar in East Hollywood. Founded by Rustic Canyon and Botanica alum Rashida Holmes, Bridgetown Roti now serves a brightly flavored fast-casual mix of rotis, patties and sides, plus an all-new menu of “Caribbean tings” like cod fish cakes, honey jerk wings and chickpea doubles (the last of which is only served on Sundays and Mondays). The tiny space fills up quickly during peak lunch hours, but the excellent rotis—served as either a wrap or in a bowl—and wealth of vegan options make Bridgetown a worthwhile citywide dining destination for lunch or an early dinner. On my visit, I particularly enjoyed the decadent oxtail patty, curry shrimp aloo (potato) roti and red pepper goat with peanut sauce, which I ordered as a bowl for maximal enjoyment with the many house sauces. In truth, however, you can’t really go wrong at Bridgetown Roti, since almost everything is delicious.

For several months, Highland Park area residents speculated about what would take over 5816 York Boulevard. A yoga practice, perhaps? Once signage for “Mala Class” appeared, some wondered if the former Salvadoran restaurant might transform into an arts and crafts studio. (In addition to the feminine version of “bad” in Spanish, mala also translates to “garland” in Hindi and Urdu. It can also refer to the prayer beads used in Hinduism and other South Asian religions.) It wasn’t until the end of June that co-owners Kevin Liang and Michael Yang opened their brightly colored fast-casual Chinese restaurant, clarifying the name’s intended meaning. Málà, as the term is accented in standard pinyin, refers to the unique numbing, spicy flavor profile most commonly associated with Sichuan, the southwestern Chinese province known for its bold, pungent cuisine full of garlic, chilies and peppercorns.  Photograph: Jesse Hsu for Time OutFive years in the making, Mala Class takes over a space that once housed a Salvadoran restaurant. With a modern, nuanced interpretation of the region’s cooking, Mala Class—which I recently awarded five stars—is easily the most interesting Sichuan restaurant in Los Angeles to open in the last decade. Drawing inspiration from the East Coast’s Han Dynasty (where the two first met, and one of NYC’s best Chinese restaurants) and their families’ combined experiences in the restaurant industry, Liang and Yang have created a winning formula: a reasonably priced, a

While a handful of great restaurants opened this summer, many of 2024’s most hotly anticipated newcomers have delayed their openings to the fall or even early winter. In the next few months, expect new projects from local favorites like Holbox, Cassia and Cento, plus sushi bar openings from out-of-towners. Read on for our guide to the 10 biggest L.A. restaurants that are expected to open this fall. 1. Somni 2.0 Anticipated opening: December (but reservations go live this Friday) As first reported in 2022 by the Los Angeles Times, previously two Michelin-starred Somni will reopen in West Hollywood, albeit with significant delay. Culinary icon and founding chef José Andrés is no longer involved, but his Spanish-born protégé Aitor Zabala, who previously oversaw the day-to-day kitchen at the SLS Hotel original, will revive the concept on his own. Located at 9045 Nemo Street, the slightly larger space will feature a still-intimate 14 seats. Expect the same irreverent-meets-highbrow fine dining that once earned Somni glowing reviews. While the restaurant won’t seat diners until December (or November, if repair schedules allow), Somni will release reservations via its website this Friday, September 6, at noon Pacific Time. If you’re interested in snagging a reservation, we suggest setting an alarm—the first round of seats are likely to book out within minutes. Photograph: Patricia Kelly Yeo for Time Out 2. Komal Anticipated opening: Mid-September Run by Fátima Juárez and Conrado

L.A. Redditors might revile its price (anywhere from $15 to $24 per pound), but once you’ve tasted the sweet, fragrant flesh of Harry’s Berries, you’ll quickly understand why they’re the most expensive strawberries in Southern California. The certified organic family farm in Oxnard grows delicate, flavorful strawberry varieties and only picks them at peak ripeness, shortening shelf life but maximizing flavor. Available at farmers’ markets and upscale grocery stores, they’re favored by many of L.A.’s best chefs.Now, fourth-generation farmer Molly Gean (daughter of the farm’s namesake, Harry Iwamoto) and her husband Rick are retiring. (Don’t worry: They’re leaving Harry’s Berries in the hands of their adult children and a few of their grandchildren.) In honor of their decades of hard work, A.O.C. is hosting a retirement bash for the Geans complete with a slew of one-night-only Harry’s Berries specials at the restaurant’s Brentwood location on Thursday, September 26.  Photograph: Courtesy Harry's Berries For Harry’s Berries superfans, it’s a chance to meet the Geans personally as well feast on the farm’s peak season produce, which includes tomatoes and beans as well as strawberries. (While the strawberries are available year-round, they’re generally more plentiful in the summer months.) “This is our moment to pay tribute to an epic lifetime of farming and good food,” chef Suzanne Goin said via press release. “Please join us as we celebrate Molly and Rick!” Highlights of the on

A decade after closing its last store in Santa Monica, Koo Koo Roo is returning, at least in pop-up form. The L.A.-based rotisserie chicken chain, beloved among Angelenos for its healthier options and cooking methods, announced a comeback via a newly launched Instagram account Tuesday morning. Its first appearance will be at chef Timothy Hollingsworth and actor B.J. Novak’s ChainFEST in early October.  One of the most popular, healthy-ish fast-food chains of the late ‘90s and early aughts, Koo Koo Roo first opened in 1988. Founded by brothers Mike and Ray Badalian, the chain distinguished itself from competitors with its charbroiled skinless chicken, devoid of frying, breading, preservatives or additives. Items like saffron rice and the eponymous flatbread reflected the Badalians’ Middle Eastern heritage, while dishes like “Asian” chicken salad and a California burrito filled with guacamole, pico de gallo and sour cream reflected California as a whole. At its height, the brand boasted 52 locations across North America, including 25 across Southern California. The company went public in 1991, later acquiring franchises like Color Me Mine and Hamburger Hamlet. Koo Koo Roo also attempted to launch its own coffee chain, Arrosto Coffee Co. After various changes in ownership and filing for bankruptcy in 2003, Koo Koo Roo struggled to stay afloat throughout the early aughts. At some point in 2014, the chain’s last outpost in Santa Monica closed. So who’s behind the new Koo Koo Roo?

It's official: After nine and a half years, Otium will be closing in Downtown L.A. on September 8. Chef-owner Timothy Hollingsworth, who has largely focused on his pop-up concept Chain in recent years, announced the news on Instagram last week.  “The COVID-19 pandemic has posed unprecedented challenges making it increasingly difficult to sustain our operation,” reads the message on social media. “We never would have thought we would have to shut our doors for 18 months during a pandemic, putting us into a position that was a constant climb to get out of. We are very grateful to have had the Broad by our side throughout the years, their support and partnership has been unparalleled.” The Instagram post also thanked the restaurant’s staff for its constant dedication, taking heart in the sort of camaraderie that the team was able to nurture.  View this post on Instagram A post shared by Otium (@otiumla) Fans of the eatery took to the comment section to bemoan the news (“This is heartbreaking,” one user noted), reminiscing about the times they spent on the premises. Many also found some solace when reading the message in which Hollingsworth explains that he is considering reopening at a new address. “While we are closing our doors at this location, we are hopeful about the future for Otium,” reads the message. “We are working to find another location in Los Angeles.” To be frank, we aren't surprised by the impending closure. The stunnin

Tonight, Michelin announced its list of starred California restaurants for 2024 at an awards ceremony in the Bay Area, and the results for Los Angeles are in: three all-new one-star additions, including Gilberto Cetina Jr.’s scrappy Yucatecan seafood spot Holbox inside South L.A.’s Mercado La Paloma, plus seven new Bib Gourmands in L.A. County. A fourth restaurant, Jordan Kahn’s Vespertine, was given two “new” stars. The controversial chef’s Culver City fine-dining experience, which previously held two stars pre-pandemic and lost them in 2022, reopened last spring after a four-year closure. Vespertine also received a Michelin Green Star, a category recognizing sustainable industry practices. (In Los Angeles, Nancy Silverton’s one-star Osteria Mozza and Chi Spacca, as well as Providence, currently hold this designation.) One of the world’s most famous dining guides (as well as a multinational French tire company), Michelin decides what it considers worth visiting by sending anonymous inspectors all over a given city, state, region or country. In North America, the guide’s overall bias towards Japanese omakase and French fine-dining restaurants is well-known, though it also includes a variety of unstarred restaurants in terms of cuisine and price point within each edition of the guide.  Photograph: Courtesy Irina LograThe dining room at Meteora. Aside from Cetina’s Holbox, this year in L.A. was largely no different. The other two newest starred restaurants for 2024 are Uka, a

“Very Niche, But Where Can I Find” is a new recurring column where Food & Drink Editor Patricia Kelly Yeo will track down—and in some cases try—hard-to-find food and drink items across Los Angeles.  Have an elusive dish or drink you’d like to know where to find? Email p.kelly.yeo@timeout.com. Of the various shaved ice desserts beloved across Asia and its diaspora, Japanese kakigori might be the hardest to track down in Los Angeles. In Koreatown, you’ll find plenty of joints serving Korean bingsoo, which often includes chopped fruit and a scoop of ice cream. The San Gabriel Valley is full of boba shops and dessert cafés serving variations on Chinese and Taiwanese bao bing—miniature snow-capped peaks doused in brown sugar syrup and condensed milk, plus various sweet, oft-chewy items like mochi, boba, red beans and grass jelly. There’s rainbow-hued halo-halo at Filipino restaurants scattered across L.A. County and a handful of options for Hawaiian shave ice; both dishes can trace their roots back to Japanese immigrants and overseas workers making kakigori. If you’re in L.A. and jonesing explicitly for Japanese-style shaved ice, however, you might find yourself in a bit of a pickle. Made of ultra-light, extremely fluffy shaved ice, plus flavored syrup, whipped cream and sometimes other toppings, this time-sensitive window for this frozen dessert is even more punishing than a scoop of ice cream. Step away for mere minutes and that snow-like pile won’t be as you left it. In essence

“You’re doing great! Keep going!” My friends shouted words of encouragement as I struggled to paddle against the current, the realization slowly hitting that all that separated me from the Pacific Ocean was a life jacket and an enormous hunk of plastic. For the first time in my life, I was kayaking, and though I’d like to consider myself a quick study, the unpredictable tides and craggy seascape off the coast of Southern California’s Channel Islands probably weren’t the ideal conditions to first use a narrow, human-powered boat.  I consider myself only a little outdoorsy and of average athleticism, but I am nothing if not a sucker for the esoteric—so when the Los Angeles Times featured kayaking to the islands’ hidden sea caves as one of five epic outdoor adventures to consider pursuing at the start of this year, I started looking into the prospect despite having zero experience on the water. By the end of February, I’d booked a private “Adventure Sea Caves” tour in mid-July for me and seven other outdoors-inclined friends through Ventura-based Channel Islands Adventure Company, one of two companies licensed with the National Park Service to operate tours and boat rides in and around the Channel Islands. (There’s also another company, Santa Barbara-based Channel Island Expeditions, which operates non-landing kayaking tours.) Note: For novices, the Times article’s suggested kayaking route to the Painted Cave—one of the largest and arguably most beautiful sea caves in the world—

These days, the cost of dining out is higher than ever. While L.A.’s cheap eats certainly get the job done, sometimes all you want to do is indulge your inner gourmand with a tasting menu. Over the last 12 months, I’ve seen prices for everything from Michelin-starred omakases to the humble street taco creep up across the board. A reality check’s in order: Most people in L.A. can’t afford to regularly, consistently spend over $100 per person on a single meal. For many folks, dining out, at least at the higher end of the scale, is purely an event reserved for special occasions or something that happens closer to once a month rather than once a week or more.  That’s where these fairly under-the-radar tasting menus below $100 come into the equation. While you’ll still end up spending around $100 or a little more after tax and tip, these cheaper upscale dining experiences are a welcome relief from the sky-high prices of most L.A. tasting menus and omakases. With some conditions—some require you to come in on specific weekday evenings—these newer, slightly more budget-friendly chef’s tastings will more than fit the bill (pun intended). Photograph: Courtesy Katrina Frederick n/soto What is it: A $95 six-course tasting menuWhen: Wednesday and Thursday eveningsWhy you should book: Niki Nakayama and Carole Iida-Nakayama’s Mid-City izakaya might offer a vastly different experience from, n/naka, the pair’s two Michelin starred kaisaki experience, but this newer seasonal tasting menu br

For Kenji Suzuki, the Type 47 liquor license he received earlier this year was the chance at reinvention for his family's restaurant. “We felt like we needed to evolve, to become something more than we were before,” says the second-generation owner of Suehiro, the widely beloved 52-year-old Japanese mom-and-pop café previously located in Little Tokyo. Last fall, after over half a century of serving the historically Japanese American neighborhood, the restaurant was forced to relocate. The only option? A much larger, grander space in Downtown’s Historic Core. In the last few years, Suzuki had worked with a broker in hope of securing a license to serve hard liquor. Suehiro’s new address, which formerly housed Josef Centeno’s P.Y.T., practically begged for a liquor license, he says, with the multi-story layout, two bar areas and imposing high ceilings, but the process of getting one is quite difficult. Liquor licenses typically cost well over six figures, unless you win a literal lottery held by California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control.  But that's just what happened to Suzuki. Last October, his broker lucked out, drawing lucky number 15—in a year when the statewide agency doled out just a few dozen new, far more affordable licenses to serve hard liquor. Now, with the help of Seven Grand and Steep After Dark alum Huy Nang Pham, he’s opened Bar Suehiro, a craft cocktail den that will begin serving the public on Wednesday, July 31.  Photograph: Courtesy Eugene LeeBar S

“Very Niche, But Where Can I Find” is a new recurring column where Food & Drink Editor Patricia Kelly Yeo will track down—and in some cases try—hard-to-find food and drink items across Los Angeles.  Have an elusive dish or drink you’d like to know where to find? Email p.kelly.yeo@timeout.com.The Choco Taco™ is dead, long live the untrademarked choco taco. It’s been two years since Klondike discontinued the iconic taco-shaped waffle cone filled with ice cream and chocolate, and I’m honestly still not over it. In one fell swoop, the Unilever division brand deprived America of one of the best mass-produced novelty ice cream items ever produced. Not only did the original Choco Taco have the ideal filling-to-cone ratio—you basically get a bit of waffle cone with every bite of ice cream—the story behind the loosely Mexican-inspired dessert is a true testament to the spirit of America. First invented in Philadelphia by Alan Drazen in 1983, the Choco Taco is the product of one enterprising individual’s ingenuity and ability to trend forecast. According to Eater, the ice cream truck supervisor realized that his company, Jack & Jill, did not have a signature item, and Drazen wanted to change that. One day at the office, as fall approached, signaling the start of his industry’s slow season, an idea popped into his head: a taco-shaped frozen treat.  “Mexican food was the fastest-growing segment of the food industry, and the taco was the most recognizable shape,” he told Eater. His boss a

It’s not every day that a new tiki bar opens in Los Angeles, so when the Lucky Tiki debuted in West Hollywood at the end of March, I knew I had to visit. The only problem? It’s one of the hardest reservations in town. Four nighttime visits, over a dozen different cocktails and a lot of Resy wrangling later, I’m happy to report the speakeasy-style cocktail lounge behind Tail o’ the Pup earned a four-star review from Time Out. Even if you aren’t the biggest fan of rum or sugary drinks, I still think it’s worth heading to the Lucky Tiki, which offers one of the most transportive drinking experiences in the city.  What I didn’t realize, at least at first, is that the Lucky Tiki isn’t new, not entirely. In 2004, Bobby Green, Dimitri Komarov and Dmitry Liberman, the trio behind the prolific 1933 Group, first opened the Lucky Tiki inside a former dive bar in the Valley they’d landed through a probate auction. When a developer decided to raze the entire block, the trio closed the bar after just a year and a half. Over the next two decades, Green and his business partners went on to open other bars like Oldfield’s Liquor Room in Palms and Harlowe in West Hollywood, but they never got the chance to reopen the Lucky Tiki—that is, until now. It might have taken 18 years, but the bar’s not only back in business, it’s one of the buzziest drinking experiences in Los Angeles right now.   Photograph: Jesse Hsu for Time OutEvery inch of the Lucky Tiki is covered in island-inspired memorabilia