The Top 100 Places to Eat and Drink Near Darling
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Rank 1. Darling
Southern
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Rank 2. Somni
Spanish
Chef Aitor Zabala has restored Somni into a Catalan dream of meticulous small plates—mussel escabeche, gazpacho, shiso tartare tempura—where kitchen and service move in perfect synchrony. The hushed dining room, anchored by a colorful bull's head, channels Spain through endless textural invention and restrained elegance.
- Michelin Guide 3 Stars
- The Infatuation 2025 · #2 · The Top-Rated New Restaurants
- Los Angeles Times 2025 · #50 · The 101 best restaurants in Los Angeles
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- Wildsam The 50 Most Essential Bars in America
- Esquire 2024 · The Best Bars in America
- Esquire 2023 · Olive Drive · The Best Martinis in America
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Rank 5. Ardor
Californian New American
The dining room at Ardor inhabits the aesthetic of a high-end spa—cushy white velvet, verdant walls, and an air of unhurried luxury that mirrors its parent hotel. A vegetable-forward menu pivots between clean, bright plates like tandoor carrots and dukkah-crusted tuna, and richer indulgences like dry-aged lamb and tempura onion rings.
- Spirited Awards 2024 · Regional Honoree · Best U.S. Hotel Bar – U.S. West
- Spirited Awards 2024 · Regional Honoree · Best U.S. Hotel Bar – U.S. West
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
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Rank 6. Harriet's Rooftop
Asian-Inspired
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Rank 7. Funke
Italian
In a 1930s art deco shell with soaring ceilings and red leather booths, Chef Evan Funke showcases handmade pasta through a glassed-in kitchen, each shape a small architecture lesson. Agnolotti filled with taleggio fonduta and finished in brown butter sauce announces an Italian restaurant confident enough to let its craft speak without apology.
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
- Time Out #21 · The 40 best restaurants in Los Angeles you need to try right now
- Los Angeles Times 2025 · #19 · The 101 best restaurants in Los Angeles
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Rank 8. CUT
Steakhouse
Inside the Four Seasons on Wilshire, Wolfgang Puck's steakhouse commands a polished dining room built for high-stakes dinners. Creekstone filet mignon arrives with Armagnac peppercorn béarnaise; the wagyu tallow fries linger in memory long after. A temple to beef and power meals, unapologetically expensive.
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Rank 9. Spago
Californian
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Rank 10. Nozawa Bar
Sushi
Tucked behind a Sugarfish storefront, this intimate counter serves omakase with quiet precision: jellyfish with ponzu snap between your teeth, snapper is sliced tableside, halibut fin dissolves on the tongue. Chef Osamu Fujita respects tradition while mining novelty, letting impeccable local seafood speak without ceremony.
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Rank 11. Ippudo
Japanese
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Rank 12. Crossroads Kitchen
Plant-Based Mediterranean
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Rank 13. Saltie Girl
Seafood
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Rank 14. The Belvedere
French
The dining room at The Belvedere maintains the formal grandeur of old Hollywood without apology, all starched linens and architectural restraint. It is the kind of place where the ritual of a long meal feels less like indulgence than inheritance.
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- Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Recommended
- World Culinary Awards 2025 · Nominee · North America's Best Brunch Venue
- World Culinary Awards 2025 · Nominee · United States' Best Hotel Restaurant
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Rank 16. Lucia
Caribbean
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Rank 17. Providence
Seafood
Michael Cimarusti's tasting menu at Providence draws from pristine wild-caught seafood and classical technique, each course arriving with the fastidiousness of a jeweler arranging stones. A soft-poached egg trembling with uni, a lobster mousse tartare set in crab beurre blanc—the meal never falters in its commitment to clarity and restraint.
- Michelin Guide 3 Stars
- Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Four Star
- 50 Best 2025 · Michael Cimarusti · Chefs' Choice Award
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Rank 18. Connie and Ted's
Seafood
A West Hollywood seafood shack with East Coast soul: wild Atlantic and Pacific catches, a raw bar, shell-strewn lot, and maritime clutter that feels earned rather than staged. The chowder flight and butter-heavy lobster roll are anchors, but the grilled daily fish—simple, cold platters for groups—reveals the kitchen's restraint.
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Rank 19. Avra
Greek
A cavernous room channels the unhurried elegance of Greek islands, all whitewashed ease and sea light. The kitchen excels with pristine seafood—St. Pierre arrives crisp-fleshed, tuna sashimi melts on the tongue—and knows the value of restraint, letting roasted peppers and barrel-aged feta speak for themselves. This is Greek cooking stripped of fussiness, refined without pretense.
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Rank 20. Marea
Coastal Italian
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Rank 21. Sushi K
Japanese
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Rank 22. Carlitos Gardel Argentine Steakhouse
Argentine Steakhouse
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Rank 23. Lorenzo California
Florentine
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Rank 24. Jon & Vinny's
Italian
Sunlight floods through skylights onto a long counter facing the wood-fired grill at this Italian-American café, where Shook and Dotolo have maintained an easygoing charm since 2015. Pizzas arrive with lightly charred edges and thoughtful toppings; spaghetti limone with breadcrumbs and house-made pastas show equal care. The kitchen moves with the ease of a place that knows what it's doing.
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Rank 25. Sticky Rice
Thai
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- Sprudgie Awards 2025 · Finalist · Best New Cafe
- US Coffee Championships 2025 · #2 · U.S. Brewers Cup · Christian Bak
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Rank 27. Pizzeria Sei
Japan-Italy Pizza
At Pizzeria Sei, a handful of counter seats frame the kitchen where chefs shape individual pies with a Japan-Italy hybrid sensibility—the cornicione puffed and mochi-tender, the Bismarck topped with a poached egg, the Margherita faithful. Gas and wood fire finish them equally well. Pizza as shape-shifter, refined and playful at once.
- 50 Top Pizza 2025 · #2 · 50 Top Pizza USA
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
- Time Out #23 · The 40 best restaurants in Los Angeles you need to try right now
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Rank 28. The Maybourne Bar
Seafood
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Rank 29. République
Southern European Mediterranean
A sprawling bakery and restaurant with soaring brick ceilings that pulses from dawn pastries through evening service, République channels a bustling European market hall. The Southern European menu pivots on impeccable ingredients—warm beignets, silky risotto, braised beef—executed with unfussy precision.
- James Beard Awards 2023 · Winner · Outstanding Pastry Chef or Baker · Margarita Manzke
- World Culinary Awards 2025 · Nominee · North America's Best Brunch Venue
- Time Out The best bakeries in America
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Rank 30. Gwen
Steakhouse
By day a butcher shop dealing in humanely raised meats; by night, a glittering dining room where crystal chandeliers and a fireplace preside over wood-fired steaks and house-made charcuterie. The kitchen moves with purpose—lobster ravioli with confit leeks, smoked beets with leek ash yogurt—and a seat at the counter puts you in its thrall.
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Rank 31. Matū
Wagyu Steakhouse
A Beverly Hills steakhouse that pairs New Zealand wagyu with an open kitchen and romantic warmth, defying the genre's usual bombast. The wood-fired beef arrives tender and juicy at prices that won't require a second mortgage.
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Rank 33. IMA
Japanese
A spare, minimalist dining room with tabletop grills becomes the stage for methodical consumption of A5 Wagyu in both sukiyaki and shabu-shabu preparations. The meal unfolds from cold appetizers through beef tongue and three grades of Yazawa, ending with truffle-scented rice porridge that tastes like benediction.
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Rank 34. Osteria Mozza
Italian
Dark wood and white marble frame a counter where antipasti come together in real time. Nancy Silverton's team treats bread and mozzarella as separate languages within Italian cooking, moving with equal confidence through crispy chicken legs and orecchiette studded with sausage. A rosemary olive oil cake with brittle and olive oil gelato closes the meal with understated elegance.
- Michelin Guide 1 Star
- Wine Enthusiast 2024 · Forward 50 Restaurants
- Time Out #11 · The 40 best restaurants in Los Angeles you need to try right now
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Rank 35. n/naka
Kaiseki Japanese
Chef Niki Nakayama's intimate tasting room presents a graceful interpretation of kaiseki that moves between delicate broths and grilled wagyu, drawing on Japanese and California sources with a light hand. Her signature abalone spaghetti with cod roe and black truffle never leaves the menu, a flourish that signals her vision even as each course shifts.
- Michelin Guide 1 Star
- James Beard Awards 2023 · Nominee · Outstanding Chef · Niki Nakayama
- James Beard Awards 2026 · Nominee · Outstanding Chef · Niki Nakayama
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Rank 36. chi SPACCA
Steakhouse Italian
The wood-fired kitchen at chi SPACCA channels old-school steakhouse swagger through a modern Italian lens, with focaccia di recco and pollo alla diavola that improve with each return. Bold seasoning, live flame, and an Italian wine program of real depth make this intimate room feel both convivial and serious about meat.
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
- Los Angeles Times 2025 · The 101 Best Restaurants in California
- Time Out #14 · The 40 best restaurants in Los Angeles you need to try right now
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Rank 37. Pizzeria Mozza
Pizza
The bright yellow façade signals Mediterranean ease, but inside Pizzeria Mozza, opened in 2006, the care runs deep. Puffy-crusted pies arrive topped with leeks and lemon zest or mozzarella and Fresno chiles, while the salads show the same precision in sourcing. A seasonally rotating lineup of cakes and gelato rounds out a place that transcends neighborhood pizzeria entirely.
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Rank 38. Petit Trois
Bistro French
A narrow counter perpetually cramped with diners, where French hip-hop plays against a canon of classical bistro dishes—garlicky escargots, steak frites, an exceptional omelet. The "Big Mec," a double cheeseburger with bordelaise, justifies the squeeze and the wait.
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
- Time Out #24 · The 40 best restaurants in Los Angeles you need to try right now
- Los Angeles Times 2025 · #81 · The 101 best restaurants in Los Angeles
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Rank 39. Din Tai Fung
Taiwanese
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Rank 40. Meteora
Creative
The dining room unfolds like a fever dream—tangled vines, low light, hypnotic sound—but Chef Jordan Kahn's cooking grounds you in something real: live-fire technique married to sustainable sourcing, zero waste, wild ingredients transformed into dishes of real grace. Charred yam with smoked trout roe and hazelnut, scallops with burnt onion jus and plantain—each plate balances primal and precise.
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Rank 41. Tempura Endo
Japanese
A copper cauldron gleams at the counter of this Beverly Hills temple to tempura, where the chef fries each piece—sweet corn, Hokkaido scallops, shiso-wrapped snapper—to a lacy, almost transparent shell and sets it before you alone. The tasting menu unfolds at leisure, each bite a study in the difference between frying and the precise art of it.
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Rank 42. Dante
Italian
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Rank 43. Lalibela Ethiopian Restaurant
Ethiopian
Light pours through the windows of this family-run spot in Little Ethiopia, where a warm team presides over a spare, homestay-like room. Oversized silver platters arrive lined with injera, their vegetable dishes alive with berbere and turmeric, their finely chopped kitfo—particularly the spicy Somali version with prime beef and jalapeño—revealing an unshowy mastery of technique and seasoning.
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Rank 45. Alta Adams
Southern
A string-lit patio draped in vines sets the stage for soulful cooking that rewards group dining—golden fried chicken arrives juicy and spiced, alongside sweet potatoes and herb-touched black-eyed pea fritters. The buttery coconut cake tastes like an heirloom recipe, unpretentious and complete.
- Eater The All-Time Eater 38
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
- Los Angeles Times 2025 · #44 · The 101 best restaurants in Los Angeles
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Rank 46. Vespertine
Contemporary
Jordan Kahn's avant-garde tasting menu unfolds in a striking red-steel structure, each plate a visual and technical marvel—scallop with passionfruit and horseradish tuile, flowers suspended in tomato water. The meal sustains its invention through dessert, with zero-waste ethos woven throughout.
- Michelin Guide 2 Stars
- Los Angeles Times 2025 · #33 · The 101 best restaurants in Los Angeles
- Bon Appétit 2018 · America's Best New Restaurants
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Rank 47. KazuNori
Japanese
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Rank 48. Mori Nozomi
Omakase Japanese
Chef Nozomi Mori conducts an eight-seat omakase with the restraint of someone who trusts her ingredients—flown weekly from Japan, paired with Santa Monica produce—to speak without ornament. From the silken chawanmushi that opens service to the final matcha, each piece arrives as evidence of her knife work and her conviction that refinement lives in what you leave out.
- Michelin Guide 1 Star
- The New York Times 2025 · The Restaurant List
- Esquire 2024 · The Best New Restaurants in America
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Rank 49. Kali
Steakhouse
Kevin Meehan's Kali resurrects the old-school Hollywood steakhouse—red leather, divided dining room, full bar—with enough architectural precision that the nostalgia feels earned rather than forced. The Creekstone Farms beef anchors a menu of classics (tartare, risotto, potatoes fried to order) that trusts tradition while the meringue gelato with cured egg yolk suggests someone's paying attention.
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Rank 50. Antico Nuovo
Italian
Backlit booths and a hand-cranked rotisserie grill set the scene at Chad Colby's compact Italian restaurant, where pastas stuffed with rabbit and roasted vegetables dressed in bagna cauda share space with focaccia topped in whipped ricotta and pistachio. The kitchen balances restraint and indulgence, the kind of place that takes its housemade ice creams as seriously as its proteins.
- James Beard Awards 2026 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Restaurant
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
- Los Angeles Times 2025 · The 101 Best Restaurants in California
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Rank 52. La Dolce Vita
Italian
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Rank 53. Luv2eat Thai Bistro
Southern Thai
- James Beard Awards 2024 · Semifinalist · Outsdanding Hospitality
- Time Out #30 · The 40 best restaurants in Los Angeles you need to try right now
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Azim Rahmatov's dining room—pale stucco walls, ikat textiles, the casual warmth of the Fairfax District—opens a corridor to Uzbekistan's crossroads cuisine. Lagman with hand-pulled noodles, shashlik, manti: the menu traces a Silk Road spice route that feels less museum piece than living inheritance.
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Rank 55. Bar Etoile
New American
At Bar Etoile, a compact bistro on Western Avenue, Chef Travis Hayden builds a streamlined menu around what the market offers: snap peas laid over smoked ricotta with nettle gremolata, striped bass with crispy skin and salsa macha, chocolate tart brightened by passion fruit. The wine list, French-leaning and vast, matches the cooking's philosophy that good ingredients need little interference.
- Wine Enthusiast 2025 · Top 50 New Restaurants
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
- Los Angeles Times 2025 · #59 · The 101 best restaurants in Los Angeles
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Rank 56. Kuya Lord
Filipino
- Bon Appétit 2023 · America's Best New Restaurants
- James Beard Awards 2024 · Winner · Best Chef: California · Lord Maynard Llera
- Time Out #19 · The 40 best restaurants in Los Angeles you need to try right now
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Rank 57. Ronan
Neapolitan Pizza
A two-story floral mural announces this Italian spot where dive-bar ease meets LA glamour. The open kitchen frames wood-fired Neapolitan pizza and seasonal shared plates—charred broccolini with house za'atar and Meyer lemon, arancini studded with pastrami-spiced mushroom—while black marble, communal wood slab, and a patio offer perches to watch the theater unfold.
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Rank 58. Nardò Culver City
Southern Italian
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Rank 59. Meals by Genet
Ethiopian
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Rank 60. Destroyer
Contemporary
Jordan Kahn's Destroyer strips the room down to white walls so the plate becomes the only spectacle: avocado confit with onion ash, rice porridge layered with restraint and texture, chocolate crémeux dusted in frozen cucumber cream. Each dish reads as a small architectural problem solved.
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
- Los Angeles Times 2025 · #14 · The 101 best restaurants in Los Angeles
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Rank 61. Hakata Izakaya Hero
Japanese
- Eater The 38 Essential Restaurants in Los Angeles
- Los Angeles Times 2025 · #72 · The 101 best restaurants in Los Angeles
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Angelini Osteria has anchored Beverly Boulevard since 2001 with unshowy Italian cooking that refuses to fade. Grilled calamari with pomegranate and sea urchin linguini exemplify a menu that rewards regulars without chasing trends.
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Rank 63. Mae Malai Thai House of Noodles
Thai Noodles
A strip mall noodle shop that treats its boat noodles—thick-broth affairs with pork or beef, customizable spice—like the serious business they are. Order multiple bowls to hedge your bets, then steady yourself with their chili holy basil, a stir-fry that announces itself immediately and unapologetically.
- Esquire 2024 · The Best New Restaurants in America
- Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand
- Los Angeles Times 2025 · The 101 Best Restaurants in California
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Rank 64. Jones
Italian American
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Rank 65. Lumière
French
Inside the Fairmont Century Plaza, Lumière delivers French brasserie cooking with genuine ease: silken chicken liver mousse with olive jam, pristine seafood, steak frites with fries worth the visit alone. The room feels unhurried, the staff genuinely helpful, and the classics—seared sea bass with onion soubise, a proper crème brûlée—arrive as they should: without pretense.
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Rank 66. Bludso's BBQ
Texas-Style
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Rank 67. La Descarga Hollywood
Cuban Cocktail Bar
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Rank 69. Sonoratown
Sonoran Mexican
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Rank 70. Pasta Sisters
Italian
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Rank 71. Borit Gogae
Korean
- Los Angeles Times 2025 · The 101 Best Restaurants in California
- The New York Times The 25 Best Restaurants in Los Angeles Right Now
- Los Angeles Times 2025 · #66 · The 101 best restaurants in Los Angeles
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Rank 72. Liu's Cafe
Chinese
Liu's Cafe fills quickly with regulars drawn to its counter-service rhythm and glimpses into a compact kitchen where house-made wontons swim in chili oil and braised pork belly arrives steaming over rice. Pastries—from morning arrival to citrus curd tart at close—anchor a menu that asks little of you except to arrive early and steep yourself in tea.
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Rank 73. Hokey Pokey LA
New Zealand
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Rank 74. Found Oyster
Seafood
A sparse corner bar in East Hollywood where impeccably sourced seafood—sea urchin, razor clams, Maine scallops from the owner's family farm—needs only olive oil and lemon to speak for itself. The kitchen understands restraint, letting lobster rolls and trout dip announce their own excellence. No ocean view, no pretense, just a full house every night.
- James Beard Awards 2026 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Restaurateur · Holly Fox and Adam Weisblatt - Last Word Hospitality
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
- The New York Times The 25 Best Restaurants in Los Angeles Right Now
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Rank 75. The Musso & Frank Grill
Hollywood
- Esquire 2025 · Martini · The Best Martinis in America
- Esquire 2023 · Musso + Frank Martini · The Best Martinis in America
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Rank 76. Iki Ramen
Japanese
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Rank 78. Leo's Tacos Truck
Mexican
- Time Out #17 · The 40 best restaurants in Los Angeles you need to try right now
- Los Angeles Times 2024 · Al pastor taco · The 101 Best Tacos in Los Angeles
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Rank 80. Toranj Restaurant
Persian
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Rank 81. Lulu
Seasonal New American
Tucked in the Hammer Museum's courtyard, Lulu operates on the principle that a restaurant's ingredients deserve top billing. David Tanis and Alice Waters shape daily-shifting menus around what's seasonally ripe, whether that's blood orange salad or Meyer lemon gelato, letting simple technique and produce quality do the talking.
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Rank 82. Taste of Tehran
Persian
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Rank 84. Maru Coffee
Korean-Inspired
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Rank 85. Flavors From Afar
International
A rotating kitchen staffed by refugees and immigrants channels recipes from Eritrea to Haida Gwai, turning homestyle cooking into a form of advocacy. The spicing is assured—cardamom and cloves brighten a goat pulao, coconut milk deepens an onion stew—and the mission, which funnels proceeds to displaced communities, feels inseparable from what lands on the plate.
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Rank 86. SomiSomi
Korean
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Rank 87. Jikoni
Kenyan/Nigerian
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- Punch 2025 · Real Charmer Daiquiri · Our Favorite Cocktails
- Spirited Awards 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best U.S. Bar Team – U.S. West
- Spirited Awards 2025 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best New U.S. Cocktail Bar – U.S. West
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Rank 90. Jitlada
Southern Thai
A strip mall on Sunset Boulevard holds a Southern Thai institution with decades of loyal devotion. The catfish salad crackles with green papaya and heat; the Taepo curry—chicken, morning glory, coconut—arrives bubbling and aromatic. Jitlada's sprawling menu suggests a place less concerned with refinement than with the sustained, unglamorous work of getting dishes right.
- James Beard Awards 2023 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: California · Sarintip “Jazz” Singsanong
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
- Time Out #8 · The 40 best restaurants in Los Angeles you need to try right now
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Rank 91. Kismet
Persian Middle Eastern
Kismet's Persian small plates—crispy phyllo pies, mushroom skewers with cashew cream—taste lighter than air, seasonal vegetables and bright spices never heavy. The staff glides through the room with the ease of a neighborhood institution that happens to cook at Michelin level.
- James Beard Awards 2026 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: California · Sarah Hymanson and Sara Kramer
- Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand
- Los Angeles Times 2025 · The 101 Best Restaurants in California
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Rank 92. Cento Pasta Bar
Contemporary Italian
In a West Adams courtyard strung with lights, Chef Avner Levi's Italian-contemporary pasta bar balances refinement with ease. Beet pasta twirled in brown butter and poppy seeds, topped with whipped ricotta, arrives as both visual statement and genuine pleasure, while a Key lime pavlova offers tart-sweet closure. The food is careful without pretension.
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- The New York Times The 25 Best Restaurants in Los Angeles Right Now
- Eater The 38 Essential Restaurants in Los Angeles
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Rank 94. Bridgetown Roti
American Caribbean
- James Beard Awards 2023 · Nominee · Emerging Chef · Rashida Holmes
- James Beard Awards 2024 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Chef · Rashida Holmes
- James Beard Awards 2025 · Semifinalist · Best New Restaurant
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Rank 96. Etra
Italian
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Rank 97. Daisy
Mexican
- 50 Best 2026 · #44 · North America's 50 Best Bars
- Spirited Awards 2026 · Top 10 Nominee · Best New U.S. Cocktail Bar
- James Beard Awards 2026 · Semifinalist · Best New Bar
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Rank 98. Pasta Sisters
Italian
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Rank 99. Soban Los Angeles
Korean
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Rank 100. Leona's
Fusion Japanese
Leona's occupies one of Studio City's more theatrical dining rooms, where creative types circulate among distinct spaces designed for seeing and being seen. The kitchen pivots between Japanese tradition and playful fusion—udon carbonara arrives with smoked pork belly and egg yolk, while halibut gets the sashimi treatment under ponzu vinaigrette—executing each register with equal conviction.