WHY Jidori chicken, cornmeal pancakes with grilled shrimp and chipotle cream, Mexican Coke, $5 burger night, and bargain wines. WHAT One of the leaders of the Echo Park boom (it’s not evil gentrification, it’s a renaissance!), the Park is stylish in a barren, homespun way, with empty frames on stark walls and a simple patio [...]
May 18, 2012 | Posted in
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WHY With its chill vibe and entertaining concept—six choices in each category (appetizers, sides, entrées), six brews on tap and six wines by the glass—the Six fills a gaping need in the Overland-Pico neighborhood, where the mall overwhelms sidewalk life. WHAT This café-pub is a relaxed but confident departure for owners Will Karges and Jake [...]
April 30, 2012 | Posted in
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WHY Except for low prices, this place has everything that’s missing from Suzanne Goin and Caroline Styne’s other restaurants with similar farmers’-market-friendly Cal-French cuisine: breakfast, brunch, kids’ menus, cocktail bar, even a takeout counter. WHAT This glammed-up addition to the Lucques/AOC family is light-filled by day and romantic by night, with a takeout-friendly café as [...]
April 16, 2012 | Posted in
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WHY A parade of cocktail-friendly small plates with a beach breeze. WHAT M.B. Post is chef David LeFevre’s first project since his departure from the Water Grill, a so-called ‘social house’ in the oceanfront location once occupied by the Manhattan Beach Post Office. Not everything wows or works, but there are some very good dishes. [...]
March 8, 2012 | Posted in
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WHY Carefully sourced meats, poultry and fish, smoked and cured by hand. WHAT Salt’s Cure does its own thing. In fact, it does virtually everything: smoking its own fish, curing its meats without nitrates, and pickling a vast array of vegetables. Chefs Chris Phelps and Zak Walters preside over the tiny, tall dining room from [...]
February 6, 2012 | Posted in
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WHY Bacon in your salad, bacon for your main course, bacon in your dessert. WHAT L.A.’s foodie sensation is a bare-bones room crammed with people who aren’t even mad that they had to wait 45 minutes… with a reservation. It helps that the staff is remarkably kind, but really it’s because who can stay mad [...]
February 4, 2012 | Posted in
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WHY The kitchen knows when to take a fish off the grill and how to bring out the best in each dish—without overcomplicating it. The setting and the food combine to make this the perfect California restaurant. WHAT This lively (i.e. noisy) Abbot Kinney hot spot has a ’70s open-air Big Sur vibe but a [...]
February 1, 2012 | Posted in
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WHY The crispy portobello fries with truffle aioli. Did we mention the fries? WHAT Veteran Rose City restaurateur (Bistro 45) Robert Simon moved his St. Helena restaurant, AKA, to One Colorado in Old Town, and Pasadena is stoked to have a local boy making good in the midst of the chain eateries. The eclectic menu [...]
December 31, 2011 | Posted in
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WHY For talented, gregarious chef Mark Gold, and for the Sunday brunch and dinner. WHAT Cozy, minimalist Eva has two faces: the more restrained cuisine, such as udon noodles with clams and scallops served at lunch and dinner most days, and the heartier Sunday dinners. The Sunday four-course prix-fixe meals are a great value, with [...]
December 11, 2011 | Posted in
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WHY Because you never know when the urge for a terrific, if Lilliputian, lobster roll (creamy and a bit spicy, stuffed into a warm, butter-grilled roll) will hit. WHAT This seafood-centric spinoff of Animal is tiny and generally mobbed, so it’s nice that a long communal table as well as a few seats at the [...]
November 19, 2011 | Posted in
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