The Top 100 Places to Eat and Drink Near The Serving Spoon
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Rank 1. The Serving Spoon
Soul Food
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Rank 2. Two Hommés
West African/Californian
- Los Angeles Times 2025 · The 101 Best Restaurants in California
- Eater The 38 Essential Restaurants in Los Angeles
- Los Angeles Times 2025 · #29 · The 101 best restaurants in Los Angeles
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Rank 5. 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 6. Somerville
Progressive New American
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Rank 7. Carnitas El Artista
Michoacan-Style
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Rank 8. 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 9. 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 10. 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 11. 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 12. 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 13. 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 14. Nardò Culver City
Southern Italian
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Rank 16. 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 18. Ayara Thai
Thai
Vanda Asapahu commands this family spot with wood tables and a patio, moving deftly between canonical Thai—a papaya salad with genuine heat, green curries built on fresh chili paste—and French-inflected desserts like Thai tea flan with bitter caramel and berries. The kitchen respects heat tolerance without apology, treating spice as negotiable only after the dish's essential character is set.
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Rank 19. 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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Rank 20. 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 21. 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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- 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 24. Pasta Sisters
Italian
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Rank 25. Tev's Kitchen
Caribbean
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Rank 26. Coni'Seafood
Nayarit-style Mexican
The back patio at this family-run institution feels like the real dining room—a proper place to eat shrimp prepared three ways: breaded in tacos, head-on in chile and beer sauce, swimming in ceviche bright with lime. Since 1987, the kitchen has held steady to Nayarit traditions, sourcing from Sinaloa's waters, and a whole fried fish with chips remains as reliable as the morning tide.
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
- Los Angeles Times 2024 · Tacos de marlin · The 101 Best Tacos in Los Angeles
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Rank 27. 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 31. Sushi Masuyoshi
Omakase Sushi
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Rank 32. Jikoni
Kenyan/Nigerian
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Rank 33. 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 35. Fuegos La
Argentinian
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Rank 36. 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 38. 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 39. 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 40. Johnny's
Jewish-Influenced
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Rank 41. 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 43. 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 44. KazuNori
Japanese
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Rank 45. Beethoven Market
Italian
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Rank 46. 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 47. Asadero Chikali
Mexicali-Style
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Rank 48. HomeState
Tex-Mex
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Rank 49. 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 50. 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 51. 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 52. Si! Mon
Central American
- James Beard Awards 2026 · Semifinalist · Emerging Chef · José Olmedo Carles Rojas
- Eater Chef of the Year · José Olmedo Carles Rojas
- LAist 2025 · Afro-Caribbean shrimp dumplings · Best Bites
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Rank 53. 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 54. Dear Jane's
Seafood
Glass walls frame the marina at Dear Jane's, where old-school seafood and Continental cooking arrive in generous, theatrical portions—caviar scattered across plates, shrimp Louie assembled tableside. The blackened salmon holds its char against a bracing parsley-caper sauce; a wedge salad swaps cream for vinaigrette without apology. Confident, unironic cooking that knows exactly what it is.
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Rank 55. HomeState
Tex-Mex
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Rank 56. 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 57. Tito's Tacos
Mexican
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Rank 58. Poncho’s Tlayudas
Oaxacan Mexican
- James Beard Awards 2024 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: California · Alfonso “Poncho” Martinez
- The New York Times The 25 Best Restaurants in Los Angeles Right Now
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Rank 59. Kogi BBQ
Korean
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Rank 60. Pasta Sisters
Italian
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Rank 61. Sonoratown
Sonoran Mexican
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Rank 63. Meals by Genet
Ethiopian
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Rank 64. Dulan's Soul Food Kitchen
Soul Food
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Rank 67. 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 68. Spago
Californian
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Rank 69. 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 70. Charcoal Venice
Steakhouse
Josiah Citrin's Venice steakhouse wields fire with precision: grass-fed ribeyes from premium ranches hit the grill alongside seasonal vegetables and handmade pastas, each charred to a specific point of intention. The room—concrete, minimalist, alive with a cocktail crowd—suggests backyard barbecue stripped of nostalgia and rebuilt as something cleaner, more deliberate.
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Rank 71. Mariscos Jalisco
Jalisco-Style
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Rank 72. 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 73. Seline
Californian
Chef Dave Beran's tasting menu at Seline pivots between high-concept ambition and playful surprise, serving ice cream mid-meal and edible succulents in caraway soil. Black cod with wild bay laurel and lamb with burnt strawberry jus demonstrate his gift for balancing sophistication with an edge.
- James Beard Awards 2026 · Nominee · Best Chef: California · Dave Beran
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
- Los Angeles Times 2025 · #13 · The 101 best restaurants in Los Angeles
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Rank 74. 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 75. Casa Gish Bac Cocina Oaxaqueña
Oaxacan Mexican
- Los Angeles Times 2025 · Fifty Under $50
- Los Angeles Times 2025 · #83 · The 101 best restaurants in Los Angeles
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Rank 76. Tacos 'Los Guichos'
Mexico City-Style
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Rank 77. Soban Los Angeles
Korean
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Rank 78. Cosetta
New-School Italian
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Rank 79. Din Tai Fung
Taiwanese
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Rank 80. Chulita
Oaxacan Mexican
Chulita's spare, sun-flooded dining room near Venice Beach sets the stage for Oaxacan cooking tempered by California sensibility. House-made tortillas wrap tender barbacoa and charred steak; the quesadilla de calabaza, filled with local cheese and topped with pipián, announces serious technique. It's a place where tacos arrive all day and vegan churros somehow don't feel like an afterthought.
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Rank 81. Parks BBQ
Korean
A room of framed celebrity snapshots and the low hiss of tabletop grills mark one of Los Angeles's steadiest Korean barbecue houses, where servers tend meat with practiced efficiency. Prime beef—from standard cuts to pricier American Wagyu—arrives lightly marinated, balanced by crisp kimchi pancakes and cold noodles that anchor each bite.
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
- Los Angeles Times 2025 · The 101 Best Restaurants in California
- Time Out #29 · The 40 best restaurants in Los Angeles you need to try right now
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Rank 82. 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 83. 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 84. 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 85. 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 86. KazuNori
Japanese
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Rank 87. Pasjoli
French
Dave Beran's Santa Monica bistro channels unapologetic French cooking in a wood-and-brick dining room that hums with purposeful ease. Brioche with chicken liver mousse and pressed duck for two stake his claim; a chocolate soufflé clinches it.
- James Beard Awards 2025 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Restaurant
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
- The New York Times The 25 Best Restaurants in Los Angeles Right Now
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Rank 88. Tacos Tamix
Mexico City-Style
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Rank 89. Chosun Galbee
Korean
Servers in traditional dress move through a sleek dining room with the formality of a ceremony, tending to tables where diners grill their own meat over tabletop flames. The galbee—short ribs glazed in house-made soy sauce and finished with charred onions—arrives impossibly tender, a statement of what meticulous sourcing and preparation can achieve. Worth the wait, especially in a crowd.
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Rank 90. Sushi K
Japanese
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Rank 91. Brothers Cousins Tacos
Mexican
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Rank 92. 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
- Los Angeles Times 2025 · #19 · The 101 best restaurants in Los Angeles
- Time Out #21 · The 40 best restaurants in Los Angeles you need to try right now
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Rank 93. 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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- Sprudgie Awards 2025 · Finalist · Best New Cafe
- US Coffee Championships 2025 · #2 · U.S. Brewers Cup · Christian Bak
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Rank 95. Pollo a la Brasa
Peruvian
The smell of wood smoke announces this Koreatown institution before you reach the door. Peruvian rotisserie chicken, cooked over live fire and finished with a family-secret marinade, arrives with skin that cracks under your fork; the twice-fried fries and spicy green aji sauce are worth the wait alone.
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Rank 96. Lasung House
Korean Comfort Food
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Rank 97. Chinchikurin
Hiroshima-Style
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- James Beard Awards 2024 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Chef · Jeremy Fox
- Time Out #22 · The 40 best restaurants in Los Angeles you need to try right now
- The New York Times The 25 Best Restaurants in Los Angeles Right Now
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Rank 100. 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.