Clockwise from top left: A Korean grain bowl from Fountain Grains & Greens; pork jowl and orange chicken from Panda Inn Pasadena; the Deep Ocean course at Vespertine; steak frites from Bar Etoile; and a breakfast sandwich from Calabama.
(Collage by Brandon Ly / Los Angeles Times; photos by Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
The best places to eat and drink in L.A. this month, according to our food writers
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The calendar has flipped to a new year and L.A.’s rapid-paced dining scene is a reminder to carpe diem. The year 2024 saw a spate of exciting openings, including newly appointed 101 Best Restaurants Komal and Azizam, as well as the resurgence of acclaimed fine-dining institutions such as Vespertine and Somni. Sadly, it was also a year that brought dozens of closures as the restaurant industry continues to contend with significant challenges.
All the more reason to plunge into the city’s culinary offerings with gusto. Tacos are the arguable avatar of our city, and last year the Food team named 101 of the best in the region, from pop-up taquerias to sit-down spots and hidden gems. Or you could eat your way through our staff’s favorite dishes of 2024, a food tour that spans sashimi in Valle de Guadalupe and Peking duck in Las Vegas, with plenty of places in between.
Even as the rest of the world slowed down for the holiday season, local chefs and restaurateurs worked overtime to debut new destinations for breakfast sandwiches, Tuscan specialties, Uzbek cuisine and more. And if you want to start this year’s food journey with an ambitious tasting menu, there are two reservations you’ll want to start planning for immediately. Here are the best new restaurants and bars to put on your dining agenda this month.
Showing Places
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
American Beauty
Fairfax Steakhouse $$
A popular Venice steakhouse has expanded to a rosy new location in the Grove, featuring a casual walk-up window for burgers, fries and shakes, as well as a sit-down restaurant with a wraparound bar and indoor and outdoor seating. Open for lunch, dinner and weekend brunch, the menus at the new American Beauty outpost are largely the same as the original, with steaks grilled over almond wood, large plates such as glazed baby back ribs and grilled lamb chops and sides including stuffed hash browns and an assortment of veggie dishes. The beverage program features wines by the glass and bottle (including a filled-to-the-rim glass of house red or white for $10) as well as creative and classic cocktails.
Read about the new location of American Beauty in the Grove.
Read about the new location of American Beauty in the Grove.
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(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
Bar Etoile
East Hollywood French Wine Bars $$
Julian Kurland and Jill Bernheimer, the duo behind natural wine store Domaine LA on Melrose, converted a former furniture store in East Hollywood into a modern, French-influenced bistro with low-intervention wines and a lineup of classic cocktails. With chef Travis Hayden (most recently in residence at Voodoo Vin) running the kitchen, the food menu follows suit with Gruyère tarts, beef tartare that gets the Caesar salad treatment, rotisserie chicken with persimmon béarnaise and desserts including a chocolate tart with passion fruit.
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(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
Bar Siesta
Silver Lake Seafood Wine Bars $$
Led by Heather Sperling of nearby Botanica restaurant alongside Lucia Flors and Carlos Leiva of Spanish foods and goods brand Siesta Co., Bar Siesta is a new tapas bar in the former Alimento space in Silver Lake with an all-Spanish beverage program, conservas and specialties such as pan con tomate, jamón and manchego croquetas and patatas bravas. In addition to Spanish wines, the bar menu includes sherries, vermouth, ciders and cava. Tinned fish from Siesta Co. as well as olive oil, jams and other Spanish items are available for retail purchase.
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(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
Bella's Bread and Butter
Fairfax Bakery $
A kosher bakery founded in 2019 in Israel has a new outpost on Melrose Avenue, including an espresso bar; a pastry case bursting with croissants, cookies and muffins; a cafe menu with wood-fired pizzas, sandwiches and shakshuka; and chef-owner Nachman David Kruper’s sourdough bread available by the loaf. The bakery is oriented toward takeout, with a few tables inside and on a sidewalk patio.
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(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
Bernee
Altadena Wood fired $$
Ashley and Tyler Wells, the husband-and-wife owners of Los Feliz restaurant All Time, have opened a new restaurant in hilly Altadena, where executive chef Paul Downer (also from All Time) has crafted a wood-fired menu that adapts to the season, with thoughtfully sourced and simple ingredients. Early highlights include striped bass with herb sauce, fennel and citrus and potatoes au gratin with Comté. The wine list nods to the surrounding community with bottles sourced from volcanic and mountainous regions.
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(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
Calabama
Hollywood Breakfast $
Cara Waitbanger, who first began selling her viral breakfast sandwiches during the pandemic by dropping them in a bucket from the fire escape of her apartment, even earning famous fans such as Halle Berry, has landed in a permanent walk-up location in Hollywood. The signature breakfast sandwich with fluffy scrambled eggs, avocado, bacon and grilled onions is on the menu, along with a biscuit sandwich towering with scrambled eggs, crispy bacon and creamy pimento cheese, both of them perfect for dipping in Waitbanger’s house hot sauce.
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(Bill Addison / Los Angeles Times)
Destroyer
Culver City Breakfast/Lunch $$
If you want to try chef Jordan Kahn’s food, but don’t have the budget for a reservation at Vespertine or Meteora, restaurant critic Bill Addison recommends a visit to Destroyer, the chef’s approachable daytime cafe in Culver City. The counter-service restaurant serves pastries that wink at Kahn’s former life as a pastry chef, such as a galette-style zucchini and goat cheese tart, as well as complex yet balanced dishes that demonstrate Kahn’s unique culinary approach, including bowls of koshihikari rice porridge with caramelized broccoli, roasted leeks and puffed rice, and smoked fish layered beneath whipped yogurt, granola and a poached egg.
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(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
Florence Osteria & Piano Bar
Beverly Grove Italian $$
The restaurateur who brought the “Eat Pray Love”-famous pizzeria from Naples, Italy, to Hollywood, Long Beach, Santa Barbara and New York City has a new outpost dedicated to Tuscan specialties in the Beverly Grove spot that formerly housed Nic’s on Beverly. Three 85-year-old olive trees anchor the patio space, while a piano dominates the dining room with live musicians. The food menu from chef Giuseppe Gentile, formerly of Pizzeria Il Fico, places emphasis on wood-fired meats and house-made pastas, and the beverage list pulls inspiration from central Italy with herbaceous spritzes, martinis and plenty of Tuscan wines.
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(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
Fountain Grains & Greens
East Hollywood Farm-to-table $$
Led by chef-founder Aric Attebery (formerly of Bouchon Bistro and Otium), the menu at this new East Hollywood walk-up window is split simply into categories of greens or grains, but don’t take that to mean that the generous bowls brimming with seasonal ingredients are boring. A charcoal-grilled steak bowl features a sprouted whole-grains mix, beet greens, crispy Brussels sprout leaves and honey-roasted sunchokes from Weiser Farms, while a puffed rice bowl tosses mixed lettuces with puffed grains, Satsuma mandarins, candied almonds and herbs and is drizzled in a sake kasu vinaigrette. A handful of sides complete the menu, including a tarragon-sauced chicken salad with grapes and currants and honey-glazed roasted honeynut squash. Wash it all down with the house-made corn cob lemonade.
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(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
The Jaguar Room
Silver Lake Cocktails Speakeasy Bar $$
Slip into this speakeasy next to newly opened Tacolina to sip carajillos and palomas under moody lighting, with gold-coffered ceilings, animal-print wallpaper and burgundy leather booths all driving the bar’s name home. The Jaguar Room is open Sunday through Thursday from 5 to 10 p.m. and Friday and Saturday from 5 to 11 p.m.
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(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
Layla Bagels
Beverly Hills Bagels $
One of L.A.’s best bagel shops has expanded to a second outpost in Beverly Hills, serving hand-rolled sourdough bagels topped with smoked salmon, pickled Fresno chiles, kiwi, pomegranate and other ingredients sourced from local farms. Bagels can be ordered plain, gluten-free, with poppy or sesame seeds, everything seasoning or jalapeño-cheddar. Closed-face sandwich options include a tuna salad and a breakfast sandwich with eggs, bacon, American cheese, spicy aioli and shaved jalapeño. A full coffee menu and loose-leaf teas are available, as well as a handful of pastries, including a babka muffin and chocolate miso banana bread.
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(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
Panda Inn
Chinese $$
After closing in 2023 for renovations, the restaurant that first opened in Pasadena in 1973 and led to the creation of America’s most recognizable Chinese fast-food chain has reopened with an eight-seat sushi bar, private dining rooms, modern design details and new art and menu items inspired by Taiwanese and Japanese cuisines. Master chef Ming-Tsai Cherng and his son and daughter-in-law Andrew and Peggy Cherng remain at the helm at Panda Inn, serving signatures such as orange chicken and kung pao shrimp alongside new plates including Yangzhou-style braised lion’s head meatballs and Taiwanese-style braised pork rice. Sashimi, nigiri and maki rolls are available at the sushi bar, along with oysters, crispy onions with albacore tuna and Wagyu tataki. The beverage menu features a selection of teas, wine, beer and sake, with creative house cocktails such as a lychee martini and a passion fruit margarita with yuzu.
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(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
Rasarumah
Westside Malaysian $$
A new destination for Malaysian-inspired cuisine has opened in Historic Filipinotown courtesy of Pearl River Deli chef Johnny Lee and Last Word Hospitality (Found Oyster, Barra Santos). The menu at Rasarumah pulls inspiration from a five-week culinary journey Lee took across Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan, and includes highlights such as chicken and pork jowl satay with peanut sauce and pineapple; Wagyu beef cheek rendang served with achar and roti; and a coconut pandan ice cream sundae with pandal jelly noodles, red bean and gula melaka syrup for dessert. Evelyn Goreshnik of Last Word crafted the beverage program, featuring sake, shochu, wine and beer.
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(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
Somni
West Hollywood Spanish $$$$
Kick off the new year with an elaborate Spanish tasting menu at Somni — if you can score a reservation. The restaurant’s previous iteration within the SLS hotel rose to become one of the nation’s top fine-dining destinations, earning a spot on the 101 Best Restaurant guide in 2018 and 2019, before closing in summer 2020. In 2022, chef Aitor Zabala announced plans to reopen the restaurant as a sole-chef proprietor in West Hollywood. In late November, he made good on that promise, reopening Somni as a chic, 14-seat restaurant within the former Bazaar space.
Like its predecessor, the new menu channels a similar light and playful theme, with a fresh lineup of dishes that might include a seaweed meringue in the shape of a fish with caviar and smoked butter or a dessert course inspired by Randy’s Donuts. A wine cellar curated by wine director Caroline Costarella (formerly of San Francisco’s Lazy Bear) and general manager Daniel Gorlas (formerly of Per Se) features over 300 bottles, and two wine pairings, priced at $225 and $415, are available with dinner. The current tasting menu is set at $495 without pairings, though Zabala says he may one day offer a shorter tasting menu at a lower price. Until then, the restaurant remains one of the most competitive reservations in town and is booked through early March.
Like its predecessor, the new menu channels a similar light and playful theme, with a fresh lineup of dishes that might include a seaweed meringue in the shape of a fish with caviar and smoked butter or a dessert course inspired by Randy’s Donuts. A wine cellar curated by wine director Caroline Costarella (formerly of San Francisco’s Lazy Bear) and general manager Daniel Gorlas (formerly of Per Se) features over 300 bottles, and two wine pairings, priced at $225 and $415, are available with dinner. The current tasting menu is set at $495 without pairings, though Zabala says he may one day offer a shorter tasting menu at a lower price. Until then, the restaurant remains one of the most competitive reservations in town and is booked through early March.
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(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)
Vespertine
Culver City Eclectic $$$$
Fresh off the release of the 2024 101 Best Restaurants guide, restaurant critic Bill Addison reviewed Vespertine, chef Jordan Kahn’s ambitious and imaginative fine-dining experiment that places No. 50 on the ranked list. The modern multilevel restaurant in the building known as the Waffle, designed by architect Eric Owen Moss, reopened in spring 2024 after a four-year-long pandemic closure. Vespertine 2.0 skews less absurdist and leans into the pleasures of taste, texture and engaging all of the diner’s senses. The tasting menu is comprised of 14 courses that flow across three hours and different levels of the restaurant, and is priced at $395 per person, with optional beverage pairings, including a nonalcoholic option, running between $125 and $550. A selection of wines are available by the glass.
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(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
Zira Uzbek Kitchen
Fairfax Uzbek $$
Azim Rahmatov has realized a longtime dream with the opening of Zira Uzbek Kitchen, a restaurant dedicated to sharing the food of Uzbekistan, including manti (large dumplings), plov (rice pilaf) and olot samsa (minced lamb, beef and onions wrapped in crispy dough pockets). In order to create a menu as broad as Uzbek cuisine, the restaurant brought on three chefs: One focuses on the dough for manti, noodles and breads; another on daily prep and large plates; and the third is in charge of grilling kebabs and marinating meats. Open for lunch and dinner, the restaurant features woven placemats, mismatched cushions on blond wooden booths and Uzbek art throughout for a comfortable and welcoming feel.
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