WHY Innovative creations from Ricardo Zarate, Food & Wine’s best New Los Angeles chef, 2011. WHAT The new descendant of Zarate’s ultra-modest Mo-Chica is a trend-setting cantina whose robata bar items look Japanese but taste Peruvian (skewered grilled scallops painted with aji amarillo pepper) and whose ceviche bar garnishes flash-marinated fish and sashimi-like tiradito with [...]
February 21, 2012 | Posted in
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WHY Perhaps the most beautifully executed Salvadoran food in the city. WHAT The rich golden paint on this corner restaurant on a shabby stretch of Beverly lets you know that the place has ambitions, and boy, does it achieve its ambitions. Inside the even-more-colorful dining room, happy regulars attack plates of expertly made pupusas (try [...]
February 20, 2012 | Posted in
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WHY For handmade pasta made by a real Italian mamma. WHAT When Filippo Cortiva split with his partner at nearby Osteria La Buca to open his own place, he brought his mother, Loredana, with him, and now she’s a partner and chef. When she’s not making fresh pasta, she cruises the relaxed, high-ceilinged trattoria to [...]
February 16, 2012 | Posted in
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WHY It’s a special occasion. Or your boss is paying. Or you’re coming before 7 p.m. for the light $24 three-course meal, great for pre-theater. WHAT Glide through the Ritz-Carlton lobby, ascend 24 floors heavenward, make your way through the hubbub of the lounge and prepare to enjoy some of the best food ever served [...]
February 15, 2012 | Posted in
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WHY The perfect middle-of-L.A. spot to meet friends from across town for lunch, with a menu that has something for everyone. WHAT The quintessential L.A. café, Buddha’s Belly has a bright, bamboo-lined indoor-outdoor space, an appealing and affordable pan-Asian menu and good service, and we find it handy when needing a central spot to meet [...]
February 13, 2012 | Posted in
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WHY The best Mexican food in the Valley—with margaritas, to boot. WHAT Chef Jimmy Shaw of the original Lotería Grill in the Farmers Market and its successful spinoff in Hollywood now rules the second floor of the strip mall at Ventura and Laurel Canyon. In an airy space decorated with blowups of vintage lotería cards, [...]
February 8, 2012 | Posted in
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WHY For earthy Lebanese classics with an edge of sophistication, served all day long. WHAT Some may remember owner Em Tony’s handiwork from the luxe Al Amir opposite LACMA, where she cooked in the ’80s. Now she reigns over a sparkling open kitchen in a big, buzzing space, where you can often watch her turning [...]
February 7, 2012 | Posted in
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WHY Pizzas as good as Mozza’s, only less expensive and with less hoopla surrounding them. WHAT Bradford Kent is an obsessive fellow, prone to toss out dough that he feels isn’t just right, and refusing to serve a pizza that is the slightest bit overcooked. Given the tendency toward overly blackened crusts these days, that [...]
February 7, 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 High-quality Chiu Chow dim sum, and lots of it. Don’t miss the taro and the exceptionally juicy sui mai. WHAT This vast and grand restaurant is famed for the incredible range of its dim sum—60 choices most weekdays and 80 on weekends—and its Chiu Chow expertise also extends to dishes like the whole perch [...]
February 5, 2012 | Posted in
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