The 10 Best Restaurants In Los Angeles Right Now
LA is booming with great places to eat.
Los Angeles is always a good idea. From the eternal glam of Hollywood to the always sunny in SoCal vibes, there’s a reason why “Go West” has been a credo of fame-and-fortune seekers since the 20th century.
While LA’s been less of a culinary destination than its East Coast and European counterparts (unless it’s vegan, gluten-free or some combination thereof), food culture has exploded in the past decade with restaurants that showcase what makes California great: creativity, iteration, strong immigrant roots—and flavors.
With the world’s largest Koreatown and a taco for any kind of craving, LA’s epicurean swag is everything, everywhere, until about 10pm. This city does sleep.
Here’s where to eat in LA right now—high, low and in between.
Elevated Korean rises again
Baroo
LA foodies will point to minimal and madcap Korean grain bowl restaurant Baroo, which opened in 2015 and closed in 2018, as the place that put the city on the foodie map. Baroo recently reopened to much fanfare in downtown LA’s Arts District. Chef Kwang Uh and his wife and partner, Mina Park, now present a sophisticated, six-course tasting menu for $110. Applying his Noma-honed techniques with Buddhist philosophy, Uh elevates Korean ingredients with virtue and virtuosity: seared Hokkaido scallop with minari and rice puffs; seaweed-battered fried skate ssam—all with a non-alcoholic kombucha pairing helmed by beverage director Jason Lee. Baroo is destination dining at its most creative so book your table reservation before your plane ticket.
Beach meets grill
Le Great Outdoor
Technically not at the beach but at Bergamot Station Arts Center (just an 8-minute drive from Santa Monica Pier), Le Great Outdoor is a word-of-mouth, farm-to-table grill restaurant that’s a neighborhood fave. Helmed by French-born, Joel Robuchon-trained chef Rudy Beuve with his Brazilian business partner, Pedro Mori, Le Great Outdoor’s ethos is local farmers market fare meets backyard BBQ. Dishes like wild mushrooms with garlic and parsley, lamb chop with rosemary and garlic, and a whole branzino with za’atar and chimichurri are served family style on quarter sheet pans with a pair of metal tongs. The picnic table seating, party soundtrack and smell of grilling make for a vibrant, laidback experience.
Hollywood vegan
Crossroads Kitchen
Leave it to Los Angeles to offer vegan fine dining with chef Tal Ronnen’s Crossroads Kitchen (now with locations in Calabasas and Las Vegas). The Mediterranean menu is entirely plant-based and imaginatively rendered: Their spaghetti carbonara is topped with a yolk-like tomato that looks like the real thing; Sicilian-style pizza oozes with melty coconut cheese. On weekends, the brunch menu features classics like chicken and waffles, breakfast sausage burritos and a bottomless mimosa. This is where you take your carnivore friends who balk at the idea of plant-based. Entice them further with the possibility of spotting an actual Hollywood vegan—Beyoncé, Joaquin Phoenix and Miley Cyrus are Crossroads fans.
Tokyo-style small plates
Shirube
Even with address in hand, it’s easy to miss the unobtrusive Shirube (it may have to do with the glaring lights from the Chevron station just next door). The first US outpost of the Tokyo-based izakaya chain offers delicious small plates and drinks at reasonable prices for West LA. Can’t-miss items include crispy corn ribs slathered with a sweet-sticky shoyu glaze and Shirube’s signature mackerel, flame-seared at your table. There’s also very fresh sashimi and a wagyu steak for two as well as a convenience-store style (gas station-inspired?) slushie machine serving frozen yuzu mojitos. LA’s cult favorite vegan ice cream, Lavender and Truffles, makes an appearance on the dessert menu.
French bistro, but make it Asian
Camphor
Sometimes a Michelin-starred French bistro is the only dining a disparate and well-heeled group can agree upon. Enter Camphor from co-executive chefs Max Boonthanakit and Lijo George in downtown LA. Earning its Michelin nod just a year after opening, the restaurant meticulously executes French dishes like steak au poivre and beef tartare, but it’s the Southeast Asian-inflected dishes that are the most interesting: gunpowder baby shrimp that pops with black pepper; lentils and lamb, smacking with Kerala spices. Finish with the kiwi dessert so visually stunning, it could be AI-generated.
This taco’s the one
Tacos Los Cholos
Finding the city’s best taco is a municipal pastime for Angelenos, with family-run taquerias and guerilla-style trucks vying for the Number One Taco spot—and loyal obsessives touting their hotly-contested picks. While “best taco” is subjective, if there’s only time to try one taco during a West Coast jaunt, make it Tacos Los Cholos in Huntington Park. The two-story location is literally smoking from its mesquite charcoal grill, but all that indoor smoke is essential for the “regular,” “premium” and “prime” meats. The one taco to try at Tacos Los Cholos? That would be the $7 ribeye that’s tenderized in lime until it’s got the consistency of butter. It’s a taco to travel for.
Seafood and champagne
Found Oyster
New England meets East Hollywood at this seafood shack with a raw bar so fresh, you’d swear you were oceanside. Crudos, lobster rolls and seafood towers are on the menu as are oysters from the general manager’s family farm in Maine. Wash it all down with a crisp white wine or a grand cru champagne. Congrats, you’ve “found” one of the consistently best restaurants in LA.
Eat, drink, shop
Smorgasburg
If you’ve got to cram your eating and shopping into one day, the open-air market Smorgasburg in downtown LA has got you. With nearly 60 food vendors and 30 others selling jewelry, clothing and homewares, you can taste the breadth of LA’s food culture—Smorgasburg is considered a culinary incubator—and pick up some souvenirs while you digest. 2024’s newest food vendors include the Cambodian Cowboy, whose smoked pork belly with Kampot pepper frequently sells out, and Rice Gang by Moom Maam, which serves beef cheek Japanese curry over rice and karaage. And if that doesn’t appeal, there’s 50 other kinds of foods to choose from.
A stylish slice
Pizzeria Sei
Like tacos, pizza in LA is a thing with a scene to rival the Big Apple’s dollar slices. There’s everything from Detroit-style squares to a cheesy New York slice. But for a quintessentially California pie, look no further than Pizzeria Sei. Husband-and-wife team William Joo and Jennifer So serve a Tokyo-style Neapolitan with blistered, pinched crusts that are softly doughy like mochi. Considered by many as the best pizza in LA, Pizzeria Sei delivers—though they only offer pickup if you’re not dining in.
Venice B*tch
Gjusta
If Lana Del Rey were a restaurateur, Gjusta would be her greatest hit. A bakery, deli, café and market, Gjusta has been a Venice institution since it opened in 2014. Long lines of beautiful people and grab-if-you-can patio seating can make the experience chaotic, but the constant buzz is merited. Gjusta’s sandwiches, pastries, cheeses and meats are European-quality with California cool. Standout sammies like the tuna conserva and the pastrami reuben sit on the menu alongside perfectly constructed breakfast bowls and a $36 roast chicken that everyone agrees is too expensive, but totally worth it. (Here comes the pun about everything being “Gjusta” right.)
Text by Maggie Kim