The Top 100 Places to Eat and Drink Near Destroyer
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Rank 1. 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 2. 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 3. Pasta Sisters
Italian
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Rank 4. Nardò Culver City
Southern Italian
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Rank 6. Juliet
Contemporary French
The patio at Juliet glows with the ease of a Parisian afternoon transplanted to Culver City. Chicken liver mousse in a delicate tart, sea bream with ratatouille and pistou, éclairs that justify their own course—the kitchen executes French fundamentals with quiet confidence, wine by the glass chosen with care. This is cooking that knows what it is and trusts you to notice.
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Rank 7. Jikoni
Kenyan/Nigerian
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Rank 9. 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 10. 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 2026 · Nominee · Outstanding Chef · Niki Nakayama
- James Beard Awards 2023 · Nominee · Outstanding Chef · Niki Nakayama
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Rank 11. HomeState
Tex-Mex
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Rank 12. 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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Rank 13. 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 14. 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 15. 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 16. 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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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. 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
- Esquire 2024 · The Best New Restaurants in America
- The New York Times 2025 · The Restaurant List
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Rank 19. Spago
Californian
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Rank 20. Fat + Flour
Bakery
- James Beard Awards 2024 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Pastry Chef or Baker · Nicole Rucker
- James Beard Awards 2025 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Pastry Chef or Baker · Nicole Rucker
- LAist 2023 · Cookies · Best Bites
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Rank 22. Mariscos Jalisco
Jalisco-Style
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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 24. Kusano
Omakase Sushi
Chef Kusano works his counter alone, pouring drinks and plating nigiri with equal focus in this pocket-size omakase. The fish arrives spare and direct—mostly nigiri glazed with nikiri, though uni arrives dressed under squid and seaweed, a moment of theater in an otherwise austere meal. What emerges is omakase stripped of pretense, efficient and reasonably priced.
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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 27. Sushi Masuyoshi
Omakase Sushi
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Rank 28. 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 29. 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 32. Din Tai Fung
Taiwanese
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Rank 33. 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 34. Two Hommés
West African/Californian
- Los Angeles Times 2025 · The 101 Best Restaurants in California
- Los Angeles Times 2025 · #29 · The 101 best restaurants in Los Angeles
- Eater The 38 Essential Restaurants in Los Angeles
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Rank 35. The Serving Spoon
Soul Food
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Rank 36. Lucia
Caribbean
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Rank 37. Darling
Southern
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Rank 38. 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 39. Dulan's On Crenshaw
Southern
- Los Angeles Times 2025 · Fifty Under $50
- Los Angeles Times 2025 · #56 · The 101 best restaurants in Los Angeles
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Rank 40. Tomat
Californian New American
A pale-green dining room dressed in rust-leather banquettes sets the stage for seasonal cooking that takes shape as evening falls. The kitchen moves deftly through local produce—charred vegetables nested in ajo blanco, a Liberty Farms duck split and crisped, dressed with pomegranate-walnut mole—and closes with sticky toffee pudding and burnt-milk gelato. The effect is farm-direct without the fuss.
- Esquire 2025 · The Best New Restaurants in America
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
- Los Angeles Times 2025 · #82 · The 101 best restaurants in Los Angeles
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Rank 41. 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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Rank 42. 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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Rank 44. Lugya’h
Mexican
At a counter inside Maydan Market, Chef Alfonso Martinez hand-presses tortillas and cooks them over live fire in cast-iron comals, then loads them with beans, cheese, cabbage, and salsa. The moronga—a blood sausage that tastes of spice and depth—elevates these tlayudas into something substantial enough for two, and the casual, convivial setup makes them feel like a gift.
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Rank 46. RVR
Japanese
- Esquire 2025 · Restaurant of the Year
- James Beard Awards 2026 · Semifinalist · Best New Restaurant
- The New York Times 2025 · The Restaurant List
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Rank 47. 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 48. Beethoven Market
Italian
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Rank 49. 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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- Spirited Awards 2024 · Top 10 Nominee · Best U.S. Restaurant Bar
- Spirited Awards 2024 · Regional Honoree · Best U.S. Bar Team – U.S. West
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Rank 51. Meals by Genet
Ethiopian
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Rank 52. Marea
Coastal Italian
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- Wildsam The 50 Most Essential Bars in America
- Esquire 2023 · Olive Drive · The Best Martinis in America
- Esquire 2024 · The Best Bars in America
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Rank 54. 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 55. Sonoratown
Sonoran Mexican
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Rank 57. 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 58. Sushi K
Japanese
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Rank 60. 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 61. 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 62. Johnny's
Jewish-Influenced
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Rank 63. KazuNori
Japanese
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Rank 64. 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 65. Somerville
Progressive New American
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Rank 66. 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 67. Harriet's Rooftop
Asian-Inspired
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Rank 68. 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 69. 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 71. Pasta Sisters
Italian
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Rank 72. 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 73. Sticky Rice
Thai
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Rank 74. 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 75. 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 76. Lorenzo California
Florentine
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Rank 77. Hatchet Hall
Southern
A sprawling Southern dining room with a pergola-shaded patio that fills with groups and noise, vintage leather banquettes backing an L-shaped bar where the energy never flags. The menu ranges wide across regional classics—deviled eggs, collard greens with smoked turkey, fried green tomatoes—each executed with the confidence of a kitchen that knows its tradition.
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Rank 78. Taste of Tehran
Persian
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Rank 79. 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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- James Beard Awards 2024 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Chef · Jeremy Fox
- The New York Times The 25 Best Restaurants in Los Angeles Right Now
- Time Out #22 · The 40 best restaurants in Los Angeles you need to try right now
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Rank 81. 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 82. Chinchikurin
Hiroshima-Style
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Rank 84. Holbox
Coastal Mexican
Gilbert Cetina works a counter inside Mercado La Paloma with the precision of a jeweler, coaxing impossible brightness from aguachile and ceviche with seafood so fresh it arrives still trembling. His grilled lobster and house-made tortillas, dressed in an arsenal of salsas, suggest that restraint and impeccable sourcing need no fanfare.
- Michelin Guide 1 Star
- 50 Best 2025 · #42 · North America's 50 Best Restaurants
- James Beard Awards 2026 · Nominee · Outstanding Chef · Gilberto Cetina
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Rank 85. Killer Noodle
Ramen Noodles
Killer Noodle fuses Japanese tan tan ramen with Sichuan heat, balancing peanut-forward broths against ground pork and tofu in bowls served hot or dry. The six-level spice menu demands the water pitcher; the screaming-red room matches its casual irreverence.
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Rank 86. Hokey Pokey LA
New Zealand
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Rank 87. 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 88. Dulan's Soul Food Kitchen
Soul Food Southern
- James Beard Awards 2023 · Nominee · Outstanding Restaurateur · Greg Dulan
- James Beard Awards 2024 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Restaurateur · Greg Dulan
- Time Out #25 · The 40 best restaurants in Los Angeles you need to try right now
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Rank 89. Komal
Mexican
In the Mercado Del Paloma, Chef Fátima Juárez coaxes depth from heirloom corn nixtamalized in-house, each quesadilla and tlacoya a small study in restraint and smoke. The fried plantain in black mole and short-rib tacos demand salsa applied with purpose, not timidity.
- James Beard Awards 2026 · Nominee · Emerging Chef · Fátima Juárez
- Bon Appétit 2025 · America's Best New Restaurants
- Esquire 2025 · The Best New Restaurants in America
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Rank 90. 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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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 92. Soban Los Angeles
Korean
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Rank 93. Guelaguetza
Oaxacan Mexican
Guelaguetza celebrates Oaxacan mole with the fervor of a convert, its complex negro and rojo varieties layered with spices that defy decoding. The tlayudas and pozole satisfy, but the moles—darkly rich, unapologetically intense—are what compel return visits.
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
- Time Out #39 · The 40 best restaurants in Los Angeles you need to try right now
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Rank 94. Dha Rae Oak
Korean
At this Koreatown spot, a whole duck roasted in clay—stuffed with chestnuts, sweet potatoes, rice, and herbs—emerges bronzed and crackling, carved tableside and served with spicy sauce and herbaceous broth. Order ahead for the full ceremony, though walk-ins find solace in the signature smoke and meat. It's the kind of dish that rewires your sense of occasion.
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Rank 95. Cosetta
New-School Italian
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Rank 96. Crossroads Kitchen
Plant-Based Mediterranean
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Rank 97. Shunji
Sushi
Chef Shunji Nakao's counter in this minimalist Santa Monica space opens with delicate appetizers—smoked mackerel, sesame tofu—before progressing through nigiri of uncommon precision. The sea perch and eel justify prices that reflect uncompromising sourcing and a sushi veteran's refusal of the ordinary.
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Rank 98. Gjelina
Mediterranean
Brick floors and climbing vines frame a garden-like room where young crowds gather for simply prepared Mediterranean cooking. Saffron spaghetti with bottarga and grilled hanger steak anchor a menu built around vegetables—Japanese sweet potato with jalapeño yogurt, oyster mushroom with tarragon butter—sourced largely from local suppliers and treated with evident care.
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Rank 99. Tev's Kitchen
Caribbean
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Rank 100. Fuegos La
Argentinian