The Top 100 Places to Eat and Drink Near Evil Cooks
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Rank 1. Evil Cooks
Mexican
- Food & Wine 2025 · McSatan · Best Dishes Our Editors Ate This Year
- James Beard Awards 2024 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: California · Alex Garcia and Elvia Garcia
- James Beard Awards 2025 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: California · Elvia Garcia and Alex Garcia
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Rank 2. Santa Canela
Mexican Bakery
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Rank 3. Firstborn
Contemporary Chinese
Anthony Wang remixes Chinese-American tradition with disciplined technique—tender tofu dumplings, aged duck with persimmon—in a bright, open kitchen designed for sharing. Desserts like vanilla sponge with red bean sauce suggest a chef thinking beyond the obvious.
- Esquire 2025 · Bartender of the Year · Kenzo Han
- World Culinary Awards 2025 · Nominee · North America's Best New Restaurant
- Punch 2025 · Best New Bartenders · Kenzo Han
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Rank 4. Thunderbolt
Southern-Inspired
- The Pinnacle Guide 2 Pins
- 50 Best 2025 · Sustainable Bar Award
- Spirited Awards 2026 · Top 10 Nominee · Best U.S. Cocktail Bar
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Rank 5. Moo's Craft Barbecue
Barbecue
In a handsome Lincoln Heights room outfitted with craft beers, Andrew and Michelle Muñoz smoke briskets to a mahogany crust and stuff sausages with cheddar and jalapeños in the style of Austin pitmasters. The sides—creamed mac and cheese, banana pudding—fill out the plate with the same care applied to the meat. Come early; the best items disappear.
- James Beard Awards 2026 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: California · Andrew Muñoz and Michelle Muñoz
- James Beard Awards 2023 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: California · Andrew and Michelle Muñoz
- Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand
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Rank 6. Restaurant Ki
Contemporary Korean
Chef Ki Kim's ten-seat Korean tasting menu hides behind an unmarked entrance in downtown Los Angeles, rewarding the hunt with playful dishes like truffle gimbap and charred snap peas with fish roe. Confident cooking threads global ingredients through refined courses, from barbecued squab to mushroom ice cream.
- Michelin Guide 1 Star
- World Culinary Awards 2025 · Nominee · North America's Best New Restaurant
- James Beard Awards 2026 · Nominee · Best New Restaurant
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Rank 7. Yang’s Kitchen
Asian-American
- Time Out The best Chinese restaurants in America
- James Beard Awards 2024 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: California · Christian Yang
- The New York Times The 25 Best Restaurants in Los Angeles Right Now
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Rank 8. Barra Santos
Portuguese
At this tiny Cypress Park counter, a chef works Portuguese family recipes with casual precision: bacalhau fritters arrive crispy-edged and tender, charred cabbage settles into white beans with Iberico pork and garlic butter, whole branzino swims in a verdant sauce of pumpkin seed and serrano. No reservations, but the bar seats offer an unobstructed view of the organized chaos that produces it.
- James Beard Awards 2024 · Semifinalist · Best New Restaurant
- James Beard Awards 2026 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Restaurateur · Holly Fox and Adam Weisblatt - Last Word Hospitality
- James Beard Awards 2025 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: California · Melissa López
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Rank 9. Capri Club
Italian
- Esquire 2023 · The Best Bars in America
- Spirited Awards 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best U.S. Cocktail Bar – U.S. West
- Spirited Awards 2024 · Regional Honoree · Best U.S. Cocktail Bar – U.S. West
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Rank 10. Baroo
Modern Korean
At a sleek concrete counter in downtown Los Angeles, Kwang Uh and Mina Park orchestrate a tasting menu that pivots between Korean tradition and precise technique. A seared Hokkaido scallop swims in watercress sauce studded with seaweed jelly; silky black cod arrives in a wide bowl where buttermilk is poured tableside. The meal reads as composed and assured, uninterested in noise.
- James Beard Awards 2026 · Nominee · Best Chef: California · Kwang Uh
- Eater The All-Time Eater 38
- James Beard Awards 2025 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: California · Kwang Uh
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Rank 12. Henry's Cuisine
Cantonese Chinese
A modest storefront on Valley Boulevard where homestyle Cantonese cooking persists with quiet confidence, lobster painted silver and gold adorning the walls as a hint at what the kitchen does best. Salted-egg shrimp arrives delicate and bright; the deep-fried pig's feet crackle like chips; mustard greens with garlic offer a soothing counterpoint. This is cooking for people who know what they want.
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
- Los Angeles Times 2025 · The 101 Best Restaurants in California
- Time Out #34 · The 40 best restaurants in Los Angeles you need to try right now
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Rank 13. Taqueria Frontera
Tijuana-Style Mexican
- The New York Times 2025 · Taco al Pastor · The Best Restaurant Dishes We Ate Across the U.S.
- Eater The 38 Essential Restaurants in Los Angeles
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Rank 14. Maru Coffee
Korean-Inspired
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Rank 15. Donna's
American Italian
- Spirited Awards 2026 · Top 10 Nominee · U.S. Bartender of the Year · Linda Douglas
- Spirited Awards 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best U.S. Restaurant Bar – U.S. West
- Spirited Awards 2024 · Regional Honoree · Best New U.S. Cocktail Bar – U.S. West
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Rank 16. Baby Bistro
French
- The New York Times 2025 · The Restaurant List
- Wine Enthusiast 2025 · Top 50 New Restaurants
- Los Angeles Times 2025 · #51 · The 101 best restaurants in Los Angeles
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Rank 17. Dunsmoor
Southern
Two open-flame ovens anchor this Glassell Park dining room where Southern cooking—oysters, rib eyes, braised greens—emerges charred and smoky from the coals. Communal tables and a counter facing the kitchen deliver the spectacle of fire, while a quieter wine bar in back offers refuge from the heat.
- Esquire 2023 · The Best New Restaurants in America
- James Beard Awards 2026 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: California · Brian Dunsmoor
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
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Rank 18. Quarter Sheets
Pan-style Pizza
Echo Park's Quarter Sheets serves thick, baked-to-order pan pizzas with assertive sauce and quality toppings—the pimento grove, spiked with 'nduja and olives, exemplifies their approach. The vinyl-lined room buzzes with the kind of casual confidence that draws lines, but Hannah Ziskin's rotating pastries, anchored by a signature Princess cake, justify the wait as much as the pizza does.
- Food & Wine 2023 · Best New Chefs · Hannah Ziskin
- James Beard Awards 2026 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Pastry Chef or Baker · Hannah Ziskin
- The New York Times 2023 · The Restaurant List
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Rank 19. Kato
Taiwanese Chinese
Jonathan Yao's tasting menu at Kato announces itself with conviction: fish maw arrives with crab-shell vinegar and caviar; spice-crusted duck nestles into fluffy bao; pig ears blaze with chili oil. The Row DTLA dining room, all polished concrete and open kitchen, becomes an austere stage for cooking that draws boldly from his Taiwanese roots and refuses restraint.
- Michelin Guide 1 Star
- 50 Best 2025 · #26 · North America's 50 Best Restaurants
- James Beard Awards 2026 · Nominee · Outstanding Wine and Other Beverages Program
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Rank 20. Morihiro
Sushi
Chef Morihiro Onodera's sushi counter in a contemporary space traces LA's omakase lineage back through composed dishes and nigiri, with rice milled on-site and fish sourced from Japan. The meal closes with matcha and sweets served in ceramics he threw himself—a gesture that transforms ingredient precision into something intimate.
- Michelin Guide 1 Star
- Los Angeles Times 2025 · The 101 Best Restaurants in California
- Los Angeles Times 2025 · #7 · The 101 best restaurants in Los Angeles
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Rank 21. Chengdu Taste
Chinese
No temperance here: Chengdu Taste brings uncompromising Sichuan heat, where toothpick lamb arrives cumin-dark and chili-bright, crispy beef stakes its claim as rival, and even shredded potato sings with precision and fire. The kitchen doesn't dial it back, and neither should you.
- Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand
- Time Out #36 · The 40 best restaurants in Los Angeles you need to try right now
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Rank 22. Camelia
French Japanese
- Bon Appétit 2025 · America's Best New Restaurants
- Esquire 2024 · The Best New Restaurants in America
- The New York Times 2024 · The Restaurant List
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Rank 24. Sushi Kaneyoshi
Sushi
Hidden in a downtown basement, Sushi Kaneyoshi unfolds with the restraint of a Japanese tea room—minimalist, serene, every element considered. Chef Yoshiyuki Inoue attends to particulars: hand-thrown pottery, seared ocean perch with crisp nori, warm oysters in soy, prawns dusted in yolk and umami. Nothing escapes notice, not even the miso soup.
- Michelin Guide 1 Star
- Time Out #16 · The 40 best restaurants in Los Angeles you need to try right now
- Los Angeles Times 2025 · #24 · The 101 best restaurants in Los Angeles
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Rank 25. Queen's Raw Bar & Grill
Seafood
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Rank 26. Camphor
French
An open kitchen hums with purposeful energy as Max Boonthanakit sends out French bistro dishes sharpened with unexpected invention—sea bream crudo meets green apple ice, scallop pasta swims in truffle-chive beurre blanc. The steak au poivre arrives classic and assured, its Cognac cream and crisp frites a reminder that reinvention works best when it knows what it's disrupting.
- Michelin Guide 1 Star
- Esquire 2024 · Provence Martini · The Best Martinis in America
- Time Out #18 · The 40 best restaurants in Los Angeles you need to try right now
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Rank 27. majordōmo
Asian
A converted warehouse in Chinatown channels controlled chaos through an open kitchen where Asian flavors collide with purpose. Melon salad in fish sauce vinaigrette, spicy fusilli with kimchi and pork jowl—the menu pirouettes through snacks and noodles with the confidence of a place that knows what it's doing. Counter seats reward the persistent walk-in; everything else requires strategy.
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
- Los Angeles Times 2025 · #58 · The 101 best restaurants in Los Angeles
- Bon Appétit 2018 · America's Best New Restaurants
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An open-air shed in Lincoln Heights serves tender stewed meats and broths that taste like memory—carne en su jugo arrives as a complex, meaty soup of tomatillos and beans, while in-house tortillas cradle barbacoa in fierce tomato salsa. The limited menu and small staff's warmth suggest a kitchen mining something deeper than technique.
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Rank 29. Amiga Amore
Mexican/Italian
- James Beard Awards 2024 · Semifinalist · Emerging Chef · Danielle Duran-Zecca and Alessandro Zecca
- James Beard Awards 2025 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: California · Danielle Duran Zecca
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Rank 30. Macheen
Mexican
- The New York Times The 25 Best Restaurants in Los Angeles Right Now
- Los Angeles Times 2024 · Brisket taco · The 101 Best Tacos in Los Angeles
- Los Angeles Times 2025 · #93 · The 101 best restaurants in Los Angeles
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Rank 32. Villa's Tacos
Mexican
Smoke curls across a Highland Park lot where Victor Villa's brick taqueria draws crowds for blue corn masa layered with refried beans, guacamole, cotija, and melted Monterey Jack. The signature queso taco arrives messy and filling, its heat amplified by homemade salsas that demand respect.
- Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand
- Los Angeles Times 2024 · Pierna de pollo queso taco · The 101 Best Tacos in Los Angeles
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Rank 34. Tsubaki
Japanese
At this Echo Park izakaya, exposed brick and a convivial layout set the stage for straightforward Japanese cooking that doesn't announce itself. Kanpachi crudo arrives with ume ponzu; tempura and grilled skewers—chicken oysters, scallops—emerge without pretense. The sake list rewards curiosity, and everything invites sharing among the table.
- Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand
- Los Angeles Times 2025 · The 101 Best Restaurants in California
- Los Angeles Times 2025 · #37 · The 101 best restaurants in Los Angeles
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Rank 35. San Laurel
Modern Californian Spanish
A tenth-floor dining room with views of Disney Concert Hall serves modern California cuisine inflected with Spanish tradition, including a tomato tartare that subverts expectation. Chef José Andrés's team executes with precision across savory and dessert courses, the latter ethereal and balanced.
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Rank 36. Rosty
Peruvian
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Rank 37. Hippo
Cal-Ital Italian
A former post office in Highland Park now houses a Cal-Ital kitchen with exposed beams and an open fire, where crispy-crusted focaccia arrives unbidden and a grilled chicken with aji panca and almond-wood smoke justifies the warm, convivial room equally for two or ten.
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Rank 38. Bavel
Middle Eastern
- Time Out #4 · The 40 best restaurants in Los Angeles you need to try right now
- Los Angeles Times 2025 · #16 · The 101 best restaurants in Los Angeles
- Eater The 38 Essential Restaurants in Los Angeles
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Rank 39. Orsa & Winston
Contemporary
Chef Josef Centeno orchestrates Japanese and Italian influences through an open kitchen, where crudos meet uni-crowned rice porridge with unforced invention. Peak-season ingredients bend between Mediterranean and Japanese sensibilities, rarely settling into tradition.
- Michelin Guide 1 Star
- Time Out #12 · The 40 best restaurants in Los Angeles you need to try right now
- Los Angeles Times 2025 · #25 · The 101 best restaurants in Los Angeles
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Rank 40. Damian
Mexican
A converted warehouse in the Arts District with polished concrete and exposed brick, softened by leather seating and trailing plants. The kitchen reads Mexican tradition through a lens of precision—corn tamales, uni tostadas on blue corn, fish tacos that feel both classic and startling. Industrial bones, refined technique, and a terrace that draws crowds.
- James Beard Awards 2025 · Semifinalist · Emerging Chef · Jesus "Chuy" Cervantes
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
- Time Out #7 · The 40 best restaurants in Los Angeles you need to try right now
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Rank 41. Manuela
Southern
In a stark gallery-like room within the Hauser & Wirth complex, the open kitchen channels Southern restraint through locally sourced ingredients and house-made cocktail components. Biscuits arrive warm and laminated; a roasted duck breast arrives bronzed and spare, balanced on smoked onion purée with peaches—the work of a kitchen that knows when to stop.
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Rank 42. Hayato
Japanese
Chef Brandon Hayato Go orchestrates a single nightly seating where pristine seasonal ingredients—abalone, snow crab, corn—meet his curated Japanese pottery with unhurried precision. Reservations are nearly impossible; the sake list rewards those who secure them.
- Michelin Guide 2 Stars
- James Beard Awards 2023 · Nominee · Best Chef: California · Brandon Hayato Go
- Time Out #2 · The 40 best restaurants in Los Angeles you need to try right now
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Rank 44. 715
Japanese
At an eight-seat counter bathed in ambient music, chef Seigo Tamura works in concentrated silence, aging larger fish in-house and building each nigiri with Osaka-style firm rice and a whisper of sugar. The seafood arrives from Japan—monkfish liver arrives excellent, beltfish gets a char and sansho pepper—while the sake list rewards lingering over a carafe.
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Rank 45. Lunasia Dim Sum House
Chinese
Lunasia's elegant dining room forgoes the traditional cart, instead relying on attentive servers to ferry delicate dim sum—lobster noodle rolls with sweetened soy, gossamer rice wrappers—to your table with theatrical precision. The kitchen's discipline shows in every dumpling, whether you finish with a yolk-rich egg tart or a bowl of minced pork congee.
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Rank 47. Perilla
Korean
- The New York Times 2023 · The Restaurant List
- James Beard Awards 2024 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: California · Jihee Kim
- Los Angeles Times 2025 · #18 · The 101 best restaurants in Los Angeles
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Rank 48. Sichuan Impression
Sichuan Chinese
A bright Sichuan kitchen where the hallmarks—tea-smoked duck, mapo tofu, fish in rattan pepper broth—arrive suffused with numbing oils and chopped chilies that build in layers. The airy room with its big windows lets you see what you're getting into, which is both the point and the pleasure.
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Rank 49. Redbird
Contemporary
A converted church in Downtown with soaring ceilings and two circular bars draws a boisterous crowd trading small plates and cocktails under the open roof. The global menu balances playful invention—Meyer lemon tart with blueberry frozen yogurt—against grounded dishes like John Dory in leek fondue, each confident in its own register.
- James Beard Awards 2025 · Nominee · Outstanding Professional in Cocktail Service · Tobin Shea
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
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Rank 50. Belle's
Bakery
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Rank 51. Bar Flores
Latin
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Rank 52. Ipoh Kopitiam
Malaysian
A Malaysian café that draws lines from open to close, Chef Kenji Tang's succinct menu pivots from the neighborhood's Chinese norm with poached Hainanese chicken served cold alongside three sauces and seasoned rice, layered curry matched with flaky roti canai, and wok-fired char kway teow—each plate evidence of discipline in executing classics without flourish or apology.
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Rank 53. Pizzeria Bianco
Pizza
Chris Bianco's Los Angeles outpost draws lines through ROW DTLA with a spare menu of impeccable pizzas, each one a small argument for precision over novelty. The margherita alone justifies the wait, though the biancoverde and wiseguy suggest he's thought carefully about what pizza should be.
- Foodist Awards 2025 · Food Pioneer · Chris Bianco
- Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand
- Los Angeles Times 2025 · Fifty Under $50
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Rank 54. Bestia
Italian
A warehouse-sized room with copper bar and suspended booths frames the cooking of Ori Menashe and Genevieve Gergis, whose kitchen moves easily between grilled prawns with serrano pesto, blistered pizzas touched with Sichuan peppercorn and wildflower honey, and truffle-laden pastas. The place hums with the contentment of both diners and staff, a dining room that feels genuinely loved.
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
- Time Out #37 · The 40 best restaurants in Los Angeles you need to try right now
- Los Angeles Times 2025 · Fifty Under $50
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Rank 55. Sushi Gen
Sushi
- Los Angeles Times 2025 · The 101 Best Restaurants in California
- Time Out #32 · The 40 best restaurants in Los Angeles you need to try right now
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Rank 57. Chifa
Chinese fusion Peruvian
Peruvian-Chinese fusion arrives in Eagle Rock through a team unafraid of velvet chairs and zebra stripes, pulling family recipes into a menu that moves from delicate sea bream to char siu pork cheek kissed by wood fire. The lomo saltado—filet mignon and onions glazed in umami gravy atop fries—arrives as the evening's inevitable crescendo.
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Rank 58. Joy
Taiwanese
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Rank 60. Perch
French
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Rank 61. Guisados
Mexican
A corner storefront with a grill visible from the few tables inside—this family-run spot serves tacos that demand napkins. The stewed flank steak in steak picado tacos, the cochinita pibil with its achiote-braised pork and pickled onions, arrive messy and unguarded, all sauce and spilling juice. It's the kind of place that tastes like someone's kitchen, only better.
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Rank 63. Perle Restaurant
French
Perle occupies a snug corner of downtown Pasadena with mahogany tables and coffered ceilings that whisper old Paris without shouting it. Chef Dean Yasharian executes classical bistro cooking—Burgundy snails in herbed butter, duck à l'orange, a Grand Marnier soufflé—with the restraint of someone who understands that some wheels need no reinvention.
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
- Los Angeles Times 2025 · #89 · The 101 best restaurants in Los Angeles
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Rank 65. Mariscos Jalisco - Boyle Heights
Jalisco-Style
- Los Angeles Times 2025 · The 101 Best Restaurants in California
- Time Out #15 · The 40 best restaurants in Los Angeles you need to try right now
- Los Angeles Times 2024 · Tacos dorados de camarón · The 101 Best Tacos in Los Angeles
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Rank 66. Katsu Sando
Japanese
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Rank 67. Le Draq
Tex-Mex/Italian Fusion
- Los Angeles Times 2025 · Fifty Under $50
- Los Angeles Times 2024 · Puffy taco · The 101 Best Tacos in Los Angeles
- Los Angeles Times 2025 · #73 · The 101 best restaurants in Los Angeles
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Rank 68. Lasita
Wine Bar
- The New York Times The 25 Best Restaurants in Los Angeles Right Now
- Bon Appétit 2022 · America's Best New Restaurants
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Rank 69. Loreto
Seafood Mexican
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Rank 70. 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 71. Longo Seafood
Cantonese Noodles
A packed Cantonese noodle parlor in Rosemead where the kitchen moves with quiet efficiency, turning out sugarcane shrimp skewers with crackling exteriors, silken rice noodle rolls studded with char siu, and siu mai that arrive steaming and precisely seasoned. No dim sum carts here—just straightforward execution and the kind of popularity that fills the parking lot most nights.
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Rank 72. Pijja Palace
Indian/Italian
- Eater 2022 · The Best New Restaurants in America
- Bon Appétit 2023 · America's Best New Restaurants
- James Beard Awards 2023 · Semifinalist · Best New Restaurant
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Rank 74. The Factory Kitchen
Northern Italian
A soaring industrial space with garage doors and cement columns houses Angelo Auriana's devoted take on Northern Italian cooking. Hand-rolled seafood ravioli and crisp focaccia filled with creamy cheese justify the Bib Gourmand nod.
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Rank 75. Propaganda Wine Bar
Italian
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Rank 76. Little Fish
Seafood
Anna Sonenshein and Niki Vahle run a seafood counter in Echo Park where breakfast tartines and lunch sandwiches arrive without pretense. The beer-battered striped bass—American cheese, kewpie mayo, dill on potato bread—tastes like the kind of meal that justifies its own simplicity.
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Rank 77. Union
Italian
In Old Pasadena's brick-walled dining room, chef-driven pastas made fresh daily arrive in bold, shareable portions—roasted carrots on labneh, a platter-sized spaghetti and meatballs, torchetti wound with pork ragù and ricotta. The cooking speaks without hesitation, and the locally sourced ingredients taste like they mean it.
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Rank 79. Azizam
Persian
- Bon Appétit 2024 · America's Best New Restaurants
- The New York Times 2024 · The Restaurant List
- Esquire 2024 · The Best New Restaurants in America
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Rank 80. Yunomi Handroll
Sushi
The counter gleams in moody darkness at David Movsinski's handroll shop, where crispy Brussels sprouts meet sweet soy and shichimi, and rock shrimp tempura arrives tossed in spicy mayo. The Yunomi special—spicy albacore, shrimp tempura, crunchy onions, truffle soy—shows a kitchen uninterested in convention.
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Rank 81. M Joy
Chinese
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Rank 82. Marugame Monzo
Udon Noodles
Behind the counter at this spare, welcoming udon shop, cooks stretch and cut dough into chewy strands you watch unfold. The mushroom udon arrives in a miso-rich broth, while a uni and miso carbonara and crispy agedashi eggplant promise textural surprises—all reason enough to arrive early and join the crowds of families and friends waiting for a seat.
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Rank 83. Newport Seafood
Noodles
At Newport Seafood, the menu spans four Southeast Asian traditions in pursuit of one obsession: seafood prepared with salt, heat, and restraint. Chewy rice noodles studded with fish, salt-and-pepper crab, beef loc lac cooked with precision—the kitchen moves between cuisines with the ease of someone who understands them all. Portions demand company.
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Rank 84. HomeState
Tex-Mex
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Rank 86. Chinchikurin
Hiroshima-Style
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Rank 87. Maccheroni Republic
Italian
Mirrors and tin ceilings catch the light in this Broadway trattoria across from Grand Central Market, where handmade pastas anchor a menu of straightforward Italian cooking. The bigoli della nonna arrives in a ragout of angus and sausage; polpettine di gamberi and warm olive oil bread offer gentler pleasures. A place that announces no pretense and keeps its promises.
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Rank 88. Bar Sawa
Edomae Sushi
A basement omakase reached by spy-thriller directions—down a hidden elevator to a sleek counter where edomae traditions reign. Fish arrives from Japan, nigiri stays spare and bright, and playful detours like shredded scallop roll and uni-topped squid prove the kitchen isn't bound by doctrine alone.
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Rank 89. Sushi Takeda
Japanese
Chef Hide Takeda mans the sushi counter in a third-floor Little Tokyo space where the omakase unfolds with careful precision—iwashi wrapped in pickled daikon, spear squid with fermented tuna intestine, kelp-cured spotted prawns—each piece a argument for restraint and ingredient quality over spectacle. The lunch service offers the same caliber at a gentler price.
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Rank 90. Mariscos El Faro
Sinaloa-Style
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Rank 91. Barbacoa Estilo Toluca
Toluca-Style
- Los Angeles Times 2024 · Lamb barbacoa taco · The 101 Best Tacos in Los Angeles
- Los Angeles Times 2024 · Chicharrón taco · The 101 Best Tacos in Los Angeles
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Rank 92. Holy Basil
Thai
- Food & Wine 2024 · Best New Chefs · Wedchayan "Deau" Arpapornnopparat
- The New York Times The 25 Best Restaurants in Los Angeles Right Now
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Rank 93. Girl & the Goat
Contemporary
Stephanie Izard's downtown Los Angeles outpost radiates boho ease—linen tones, potted plants, natural light flooding a perpetually animated room where cocktails arrive crowned with marigolds. Her cooking moves freely across continents with confident audacity, from roasted oysters to goat curry to potato crepes that reinterpret Vietnamese technique with whimsy.
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Rank 94. Agnes Restaurant & Cheesery
American
You enter through a cheesery lined with bottles, past owners who understand that good food begins with good cheese and wine. The open hearth commands the room while the kitchen cycles through fried chicken with sambal honey and house-made pastas that taste like they know their source.
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Rank 95. A Tí
Mexican
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Rank 96. Badmaash
Indian
An Indian gastropub where a family kitchen plays with global flavors without losing its moorings—the poutine crowned with masala potatoes, chicken tikka, and mozzarella is the manifesto in a single dish. Butter chicken samoras and a mother's saag paneer prove they understand tradition; the room's Bollywood posters and pop-art Gandhi suggest they refuse to take it too seriously.
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Rank 97. Sora Craft Kitchen
Seasonal Turkish
- Esquire 2025 · The Best New Restaurants in America
- Los Angeles Times 2025 · #39 · The 101 best restaurants in Los Angeles
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Rank 98. El Atacor Restaurant
Mexican
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Rank 99. El Camaron Pelado
Mexican
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Rank 100. kodō
Kyoto Japanese
Inside a converted firehouse on Santa Fe, kodō trades heat for restraint—a serene dining room anchored by a boulder-desk and raw materials. The kitchen moves between robata and sushi with California ease, the nigiri precise enough to quiet even the Instagram crowd; little neck clams in garlic butter and off-menu sea snail are the real pleasures here. A place built for calm rather than spectacle.