Patricia Kelly Yeo

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

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

For a city founded by Spaniards, Los Angeles is strangely lacking in their national cuisine. A few newer restaurants are hoping to change that, but by and large, you still need to look quite hard to find the bold, garlicky flavors of the Iberian Peninsula across greater L.A. From traditional paella and croquetas to imported jamón, I’ve tracked down the best places to enjoy these Spanish specialties alongside excellent wine or maybe a cocktail or two. Whether you’re craving imported tinned fish, plate-size tortilla Española or the most luxurious and modern takes on Spanish cuisine, here’s where to enjoy tapas like a Spaniard—and don’t forget a glass of sangria.September 2025: In this annual update, I’ve removed Gasolina Cafe (which has closed) and added Casa Leo in Los Feliz. Time Out has also instituted a sitewide change in review policies. Food and drink venues included in most guides now have star ratings, with five stars corresponding to “amazing,” four to “great” and three to “good,” and we’ve also standardized how most listings are structured. For more on our new policies, feel free to check out How we review at Time Out.

Sure, we might all love our fried chicken sandwiches, but sometimes nothing replaces a classic burger. With that in mind, I set out to track down the best burgers in L.A. Over the last year and a half, I’ve visited everywhere from classic L.A. diners to fancy French bistros—and, yes, even some nostalgic fast-food fare—to find the best burgers around. Just add a side of French fries and you have the makings of an all-time great meal. You might want to grab a few extra napkins before you devour this list.   Editor's note: Since my last update in January, I’ve made the stunning discovery that OTOTO has begun offering its chili cheeseburger all night long.

If you’ve ever found yourself en route to a housewarming or birthday party empty-handed, you’re not alone. Now, more than ever, L.A. is full of thoughtful micro-grocery stores and neighborhood markets (and no, we won’t call them bodegas) stocking the kind of pricey—but well-made—kitchen and home goods, unique snacks and soft drinks, and bottles of booze that make for impressive, seemingly effortless last-minute gifts. At these gourmet mini-marts, shoppers will encounter a regular cast of characters from L.A.’s artisan food scene, as well as knowledgeable staff who are often passionate about what they do. With that in mind, you’ll typically see sticker prices far higher than corporate grocery stores—so plan your budget well, and shop accordingly.  Whether you’re putting together a picnic, in full-blown pre-party panic mode or just happen to be in the neighborhood, these twelve gourmet mini-marts are worth taking the time to drop by, peruse and explore.

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,

Winner, winner, chicken dinner—if our idioms are any indication, fried chicken is as American as a well-made cheeseburger or apple pie. Across Los Angeles, you can find hundreds of iterations of deep-fried yardbird, from lowbrow to upscale. While many of the very best offer regional variations out of the American South, including now-ubiquitous Nashville-style hot chicken, L.A. is also home to countless other variations of fried chicken, from South Korean-style recipes that call for rice flour, double frying and maybe a healthy dollop of soy-garlic or gochujang-chili sauce to southern Thailand’s famous hat yai chicken, served with a side of nam jim dipping sauce. Let’s not forget Taiwanese popcorn chicken, Japanese chicken karaage and even chain restaurants, where many of us were first introduced to fried chicken.Since 2022, I’ve tried over four dozen unique iterations of fried chicken in L.A., building off a lifelong love of the dish in all its glorious, deep-fried permutations. Yes, that includes plenty of fried chicken sandwiches—a genre so wide-ranging, in fact, it calls for a separate guide. Across my top picks, I’ve included sit-down restaurant dishes, casual storefront, classics, one notable gluten-free option and plenty of budget-friendly picks, as well as a range of fried chicken styles. From various Southern styles to saucy Korean wings, you’re bound to find your next favorite near you on this list of the best fried chicken in L.A. September 2025: This annual update

If you’re willing to travel farther than 20 minutes from wherever you work or live, L.A. has one of the most innovative, exciting and varied food scenes in the country. If you’re anywhere on the Westside, however, it’s a slightly different story. Home to the city’s most expensive real estate, L.A.’s startup and tech scenes and a less racially and ethnically diverse population, the region’s food options (with a few notable exceptions) don’t exactly have Angelenos from other parts of town clamoring to get in a car or take public transit to dine here. A glut of expensive, arguably overpriced restaurants with crowd-pleasing menus dominate the Westside’s current dining landscape, and I’m saying this as someone who grew up in the area. There’s also way too many Italian restaurants, most of which are mediocre and serve identical menus.  That being said, if you choose carefully, you can dine quite well here. After all, the Westside is home to plenty of reasonably priced L.A. institutions worth checking out and even a few Michelin stars. Maybe you’re on your way to LAX, heading to the beach or have friends or family visiting who absolutely must visit the Santa Monica Pier or Rodeo Drive. In any case, this guide has you covered. For those who say the Westside doesn’t have any good food, I implore you to read our well-researched guide, which includes more than a few spots that made our citywide list of best restaurants.  *Major neighborhoods I consider the Westside: Malibu, Santa Monica

In 2025, the Mid-Autumn Festival falls on Monday, October 6, which means Angelenos has plenty of time this year to get their act together in the mooncake department. For those who celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival, fall in L.A. doesn’t just mean heat waves, 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 s

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. Over three years, I’ve tried 50 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 into cons

When out-of-towners hear the phrase “L.A. fine dining” they might scoff, thinking it’s an oxymoron considering how casual this city is, but the truth is that Los Angeles is home to some of the best tasting menus and fancy restaurants in the country—you just need to know where to look. When you want to dress up for a romantic dinner or splurge on your birthday, there are some stellar spots; at the best fine dining restaurants in L.A. you might sit down to an elegant kaiseki dinner, a tasting from one of the world’s most famous chefs, or a seafood-centric meal filled with artistic flourish, and you can be sure servers won’t try to slip you their headshots as they present perfectly plated entrées. RECOMMENDED: Full guide to the best restaurants in Los Angeles September 2025: Following drop-offs in quality at Damian and Mélisse and a revamp of the menu at Pasjoli, I’ve elected to remove these restaurants and add two new additions, Bistro Na’s and Mori Nozomi instead. I’ve also updated Restaurant Ki’s star rating from four to five. As of March 2025, Time Out has also instituted a sitewide change in review policies. Food and drink venues included in most guides now have star ratings, with five stars corresponding to “amazing,” four to “great” and three to “good,” and we’ve also standardized how most listings are structured. For more on our new policies, feel free to check out How we review at Time Out.

In Los Angeles, there seem to be as many good-to-great taco spots as there are stars in the sky, but how can one even begin to decide where to start? After all, you can easily find chef-driven tacos in the $10 to $20 range made with the finest ingredients—though we'll have little to none of that on this list—as you can find $3 street tacos, ready to be popped straight into your mouth while you're standing on the sidewalk. Our non-exhaustive best tacos list serves as a carefully curated selection of what we think are the city's finest tacos (some of which have even landed on our best restaurants list), along with a few more practical considerations like more regular operating hours and consistency in quality and service. (In our eyes, a “best” taco only the most dedicated, patient fans can get after waiting several hours isn't really a best taco at all.) Whether you’re a visitor or a local, read on for an excellent guide for anyone hoping to become a well-rounded taco connossieur. May 2025: This most recent update adds Tijuanazo and Barbacoa Ramirez, both of which rank in the top 15 tacos in a taco-laden city. I’ve also removed Tacos La Guera (which is still open in SoCal, but the Venice and Highland Park locations are no longer listed on the official Instagram). In the last year, the critically acclaimed Guerrilla Tacos also closed its doors, and thus has been removed from the guide. Time Out has also instituted a sitewide change in how most listings are structured. For more

Over three decades after first opening in a tiny town outside Barcelona, Telefèric has landed in L.A. by way of a neutral-toned dining room in Brentwood, with a second location down in Long Beach. Similar to its Bay Area outposts in Los Gatos and Palo Alto, this upscale-casual chain caters to the older, monied local clientele with predictable, fairly humdrum takes on seafood paella, patatas bravas and other Spanish staples. Despite its claim to authenticity, the fare here is unfortunately less than impressive, and Angelenos would be better served to look elsewhere for Iberian cuisine. (Those into boozy tableside fun, however, will definitely enjoy drinking out of the restaurant's porróns.)    

L.A.’s Spanish dining scene is fairly lackluster, but this Santa Monica tapas bar serves a decent enough selection of traditional bar bites from Asturias, Catalonia, the Basque region and Galicia, where chef-owner Sandra Cordero spent her childhood summers. Pronounced “chuntos” (which means “together” in the Galician dialect), the restaurant offers hallmarks like patatas bravas and croquetas de jamon alongside harder-to-find items like bikinis (tiny grilled cheese sandwiches), tuna empanadas (served in slices, unlike the ones in Latin America) and whole fried anchovies. Not every dish will impress Spanish food snobs, but Westsiders love the lofted dining room for calimocho (red wine and Coca-Cola), a slate of gin-based cocktails and a curated selection of Spanish wines, sherries and vermouths.

This slightly inconsistent Spanish-inspired restaurant in Los Feliz comes from Jose Andrés Group alum Joshua Whigham. The chef-driven cuisine is great here, but the service is hit-or-miss—and at a time when even a more casual night on the town for two easily costs over $150, every forgotten item in an order or a noticeably long wait between dishes really counts. That being said, compared to most other Spanish restaurants in L.A., Casa Leo actually knows how to put together a decent plate of tapas. There’s acorn-fed jamón ibérico and a tasty tomato dish laden with tomato conserva. For the budget-conscious crowd, Whigham serves up flatbreads called cocas with a light, crispy crust similar to an Italian pinsa. I particularly enjoyed the trout en escabeche inspired by Basque chef Martin Berasategui and the painstakingly crafted cheesecake (a hybrid between New York and Basque).

With its gorgeous outdoor patio and full bar, this tiny restaurant in Montrose will transport you to Spain—though the straightforward tapas-centric cooking leaves much to be desired. Since 2013, Casa Córdoba has dutifully served Spanish standard-bearers like tortilla española, patatas bravas and thinly shaved jamón de ibérico with piquillo peppers. The cooked-to-order paellas lack the traditional crunchy socarrat associated with the Valencian specialty, but house specialties like pasta española (served with chicken or shrimp) and Moroccan-spiced short rib more than make up the difference. For dessert, order the churros con chocolate or the Basque cheesecake.

This plant-based upscale-casual chain has landed along the Marina del Rey waterfront, bringing the same resort-chic design and pressed watermelon nigiri that's made Planta a hit in Toronto, NYC and elsewhere to the far reaches of the Westside. While ostensibly more Latin-focused (hence the Cocina modifier), the truffle kamameshi and tasty sushi and yakitori offerings are still the strongest items on the menu. How does it compare to other major players in L.A.'s vegan dining scene? While not groundbreaking by any means, the tasty cuisine and sophisticated ambience add up to an excellent Westside dinner destination—and a great vegan special-occasion eatery. Stop by during happy hour (weekdays 3–6pm and Friday to Sundays, 8:30pm to close) for steeply discounted cocktails and snacks like queso fundido and chicken-fried mushrooms.

West Hollywood is now home to the all-new vegan location of Ipuddo, an international ramen chain with roots in Fukuoka, Japan. L.A. is no stranger to vegan ramen, but Ipuddo V distinguishes itself with six unique noodle bowls, an array of delicious plant-based maki and other tasty appetizers. On my visit, I enjoyed the vegan tonkotsu made with soy milk and the rainbow-hued spicy tsukemen, which pairs bright pink carrot fettuccine noodles with a rich mushroom broth that’s simmered for at least 48 hours. The shoyu broth was tasty but a little less successful, with more of a one-note saltiness compared to the seafood-based version, but the springy noodles and crunchy onion tempura ultimately saved the dish, as well as the grilled tomato and light drizzle of truffle oil. The gyoza and sushi rolls are more than serviceable; aside from Shojin and Gokoku, Ipuddo V is probably my third-favorite vegan sushi option in the city. An array of thoughtfully constructed mocktails and plus several beer, wine and sake options further elevates the experience, transforming Ipuddo V into a worthwhile plant-based dining destination.

Dave Beran’s refined-yet-casual restaurant has gone through multiple iterations—all of which I found a little too expensive for what I received. This time around, however, the James Beard Award-winning chef has finally cracked the code on what it means to be a casual neighborhood restaurant with a streamlined, slightly more affordable menu that includes beef tartare, chicken liver mousse and cordon bleu chicken wings. The individually portioned French onion “souplette” is the perfect way to microdose a sweet-savory, gooey mix of Gruyere and caramelized onions before diving into a plate of steak frites with au poivre sauce or steamed mussels. For Pasjoli diehards (or those who just love a good European-style duck!), Beran also offers the restaurant’s signature duck for $350, whose drippings are pressed tableside and transformed into salad vinaigrette and duck leg confit to pair with your roasted duck breasts. The cocktails are equally well-considered; a few now come in a smaller $14 format that still left me feeling a little buzzed.

Anything east of LAX doesn’t exactly scream seafood, but Coni’Seafood’s Cossio family turned Inglewood into an oceanic dining destination before expanding the operation to Marina Del Rey—where it’s still holding its own, even right by the water. The lean menu of Nayarit-cuisine hits includes popular smoked marlin tacos, more than a dozen shrimp dishes, from raw to deep-fried, and more elaborate specialties such as the beloved (and so-photogenic) pescado zarandeado—butterflied snook fish that’s marinated in soy sauce and grilled to savory perfection over charcoal. The chicharrones de pescado involve crispy, pan-fried tilapia chunks with tangy soy and lemon sauce, while another standout dish stars sweet langoustines—bathed in garlic, chilies and lemon juice—and, if you’re lucky, prized roe. My favorite shrimp preparation on the menu is the camerones borrachos: a medium-spicy tequila sauce peppered with garlic, cilantro and crushed pepper chilies.

The cuisine Hatchet Hall serves isn’t just Southern; it’s American, or more specifically, early American, and the fish, steaks, spoonbreads and skillets of cornbread all come out of a wood-burning hearth. While founding chef Brian Dunsmoor has since opened up his own eponymous restaurant in Glassell Park, Culver City is still home to a great, though pricey, Southern dinner spot. These days, the food is still rock solid, and don’t forget about the vibe: a vast and candle-lit patio, plus a humming, low-lit dining room make for intimate, romantic settings where regulars feel comfortable enough to mingle over smoked country ham, shrimp and grits and fennel-dusted pork chop. Classics like shishito-flecked cornbread dripping with honey and butter and grilled elk loin with bacon vinaigrette offer the kind of culinary decadence that’s often in short supply on the Westside.    

Specializing in South Indian cuisine, with an eye to vegan and health-conscious options, this award-winning Culver City strip mall gem has stood the test of time and won over the likes of the late Jonathan Gold and former Top Chef host Padma Lakshmi. Dishes rich with cumin, coriander and turmeric predominate, as well as creamy stews that sway more sour than sweet. On its massive menu spanning halal and vegetarian options you’ll also find excellent versions of regional specialties like uthappam—a pizza-like pancake that features various toppings cooked into fluffy dosa batter—and unique Kerala-style fish curry with pieces of bubbly, ultra-light appam. The giant, conical ghee roast dosa is also a must order for every table.

Go beyond low-quality celebrity-owned agave spirits with this daylong festival dedicated to mezcal de campesinos held at Rolling Greens in the Arts District. Co-created by Ivan Vasquez of Madre (home to the largest mezcal selection in the country) and Rocío Flores, Mezcal Por Siempre will bring together over 30 visiting mezcaleros from all over Mexico—most of whom don’t normally import their product to the United States. Each $87 ticket nets guests unlimited mezcal samples from visiting producers, plus access to cultural programming including ballet folklórico performances, live podcasts and visual arts. Michelin-recognized food will also be available for purchase from Komal, Enrique Olvera’s Ditroit and Burritos La Palma.   

Few hotels in Seattle are more stylish and convenient than the Thompson. Located within walking distance of Pike Place, the Seattle Art Museum and other major tourist attractions, Hyatt’s design-oriented boutique brand offers friendly service, 152 spacious rooms and suites (many with floor-to-ceiling waterfront reviews) and a sleek, well-decorated lobby with an excellent on-site restaurant. The modernist building designed by Olson Kundig also makes quite the impression when viewed from outside—the irregular “glass lantern” design features floor-to-ceiling glass windows that jut out slightly, mimicking the local street grid alignment. The only draw or dealbreaker, depending on your disposition, is the Nest, the hotel’s extremely popular rooftop bar, which draws a steady stream of somewhat rowdy locals to the 11th floor for its stunning views of Elliott Bay. If you don’t mind sharing the elevators with mildly inebriated guests on weekend evenings, Thompson Seattle might be one of the best places to lay your head on your next visit to the Emerald City.  Why stay at Thompson Seattle? Location, location, location. Step outside the Thompson’s front door and you can be browsing the beautiful, freshly cut flowers at Pike Place Market within minutes. The comfortable, sound-insulated rooms, array of seating options in the lobby and on-site gym make it particularly suitable to more discerning business travelers, but even those visiting Seattle on leisure will appreciate the Thompson’s l

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Beginning tomorrow, Dine LA is back. Now in its 17th year, L.A.’s biggest restaurant week offers prix-fixe menus starting from $15 per person, though many places now opt to offer menus in the priciest, wide-ranging category: $65 and above. For the next two weeks, Angelenos can score a handful of small discounts at restaurants across the city, including a few of what I consider the city’s best restaurants. For those who were going to splurge anyway, you can even score a two-Michelin-star meal at a $75 discount over at Mélisse in Santa Monica. For all of those hunting for an actual bargain, I’ve found 17 different places across Los Angeles that I’d consider a good deal, in one way or another. My personal favorites include the pair of $25 and $35 meal deals from Koreatown’s Soban, home to L.A.’s best soy-marinated crab and one of the best banchan selections in the city. (Any genuine lover of Korean cuisine knows that the complimentary side dishes provided with your meal are one of the best representations of a given restaurant’s true culinary capabilities.) Did I mention Soban is also one of the city’s best restaurants?  RECOMMENDED: The 17 best deals for Dine LA restaurant week, summer 2025 Photograph: Patricia Kelly Yeo for Time Out Another truly great option is the $65 prix-fixe menu from the Girl & the Goat in the Arts District, which includes five family-style dishes and a matcha tres leches with rhubarb-strawberry sorbet for dessert. While Top Chef alum Stephanie Izard’s

Well, we all knew it was coming: The Tesla diner and drive-in in Hollywood is finally opening at 4:20pm today (ugh) after several years of construction and permitting delays. According to Tesla-focused blog Not a Tesla App, the Texas-based electric car company held a preview event for first responders over the weekend complete with several Optimus units walking around on-site. (It’s unclear if the diner will actually employ said Tesla robots as servers.) Ah, to be alive in 2025! Elon Musk’s pet project was first announced to the public back in 2022, well before the South African-born tech billionaire began dabbling in politics and gutted several federal agencies through the Department of Government Efficiency. (More recently, he’s started his own political party with former Democratic presidential hopeful Andrew Yang.) The now-controversial Tesla diner went without a culinary lead for some time before ghost kitchen chef Eric Greenspan was hired to oversee the menu earlier this year. Per New York Times reporting, veteran restaurateur Bill Chait (Bestia, Vespertine, Destroyer, among others) is also involved. The project also caused local backlash when Margarita and Walter Manzke, the co-owners of L.A.’s award-winning République voiced support for the diner. NEWS: Tesla's Hollywood Diner and Supercharger officially opens to the public this Monday, July 21st!• 80 V4 Supercharger stalls• Drive-in movie theater with two 45-foot LED movie screens. Audio of movies/videos play

L.A. may not have the late-night dining scene of New York City, but it’s still possible to find a great bite to eat after hours. Just ask the hardworking, talented chefs behind some of L.A.’s best new restaurants, who kindly shared their favorite places to go after they get off their evening shifts or their rare days off. In honor of Time Out’s month-long celebration of all things nightlife, I reached out to six different hospitality industry veterans to find out where they like to go off the clock.  Photograph: Patricia Kelly Yeo for Time Out Alan Sanz of Daisy Margarita Bar (Sherman Oaks) / Mírate (Los Feliz)  “After the shift, I really like to go to the Normandie Club (Koreatown) for a drink. [Daisy/Mírate bar director Max Reis and I] go to a place called Johnny's Bar in Highland Park, close to Max's house. We go together there often. Sometimes, we go to Jones (Hollywood) for pizza and their martinis. We like their pizza (chuckles). Sometimes we take the caviar from Daisy and put it on top of our pizzas with our martinis.” Photograph: Jakob N. Layman for Time Out Michael Leonard of Beethoven Market (Mar Vista) (Editor’s note: Leonard started off this conversation by saying he usually just goes straight home.) “If I am really hungry, I do have my spots here on the Westside that are open somewhat late. Probably, my go-to is In-N-Out. Extremely reliable, consistent and open until what, 2am? [Editor’s note: It closes at 1am]. My favorite one is the one on Venice [Boulevard