Los Angeles Food Guide

Los Angeles is the most internationally diverse American food city, and the only one where the immigrant restaurant scene routinely outperforms the white-tablecloth scene at any price point. The city eats Mexican more deeply than any place outside Mexico (the East LA taquerias, the Boyle Heights Oaxacan corridor, the al pastor cult, the carne asada French dip at Cole's). It eats Korean more seriously than anywhere outside Seoul (the 32-block Koreatown grid running east of Western Avenue, with 1,500-plus Korean restaurants, the world's largest Koreatown by any measure). It eats Thai better than any city outside Thailand (Thai Town on East Hollywood Boulevard, Jitlada for southern Thai, Night + Market for the modern Thai-pop wave). It eats Chinese, Vietnamese, Filipino, Persian, Salvadoran, Guatemalan, Ethiopian, Armenian, and Japanese at depths that no other US city matches.

The LA food map is famously car-bound and spread across 500 square miles, which makes the neighborhood the meaningful unit, not the city. Koreatown holds the Korean BBQ corridor (Park's, Quarters, Soowon Galbi), the soft-tofu houses (BCD Tofu House, So Kong Dong), and the late-night soju-and-anju scene that runs to 03:00. Boyle Heights and East LA hold the taqueria map: Carnitas El Momo, Sonoratown, Tacos Y Birria La Unica, Tacos Los Cholos. The San Gabriel Valley (Alhambra, Monterey Park, Rosemead, Arcadia, San Gabriel) holds the deepest regional Chinese scene in North America, with Sichuan (Chengdu Taste), Cantonese (Sea Harbour, Lunasia), Taiwanese, Shanghainese, Beijing, Northern Chinese hand-pulled noodles, and the dim sum corridor that runs along Valley Boulevard. Sawtelle (West LA, also called Little Osaka) is the modern Japanese corridor. Tehrangeles in Westwood is the world's largest Persian-American community.

Layered over the diaspora map is a small but serious modern California fine-dining scene: n/naka (Niki Nakayama's modern Japanese kaiseki in Culver City, 2 Michelin stars), Providence (Michael Cimarusti's seafood tasting menu, 2 stars), Vespertine (Jordan Kahn, 2 stars), Hayato, Kato, Sushi Ginza Onodera, and the modern Italian rooms (Bestia, Mother Wolf, Felix Trattoria). Spago at 50 years old is the original celebrity restaurant. The city's food map is too big for any one trip; pick three neighborhoods and stay there.

Koreatown: the world's largest outside Seoul

Koreatown is the densest, biggest, and most active Korean-immigrant neighborhood outside Korea, occupying roughly 32 city blocks bordered by Wilshire to the north, Olympic to the south, Western to the east, and Vermont to the west. It runs more than 1,500 Korean restaurants, banchan shops, soft-tofu houses, knife-cut-noodle counters, dosirak lunch bars, fried-chicken counters, Korean barbecue rooms, and the deepest late-night eating scene in Los Angeles. The Korean BBQ tier is the entry point: Park's BBQ, Quarters, Soowon Galbi, Kang Ho Dong Baekjeong, Ahgassi Gopchang. The soft-tofu (sundubu jjigae) tradition is anchored at BCD Tofu House (open 24 hours) and So Kong Dong. The knife-cut-noodle (kalguksu) destination is Myung Dong Kyoja. The fried-chicken corridor runs to Kyochon, BB.Q, and Pelicana. The destination modern Korean room is Yangban (Katianna and John Hall, opened 2022). Most of the major KBBQ rooms run from 11:30-02:00 or 03:00. Park within the strip-mall lots (free with validation), not on the street; Koreatown street parking is famously tight.

East LA taquerias and the al pastor cult

Los Angeles eats more tacos than any city in the United States, and the East LA, Boyle Heights, and South LA neighborhoods hold the densest taqueria map. The defining LA taco is the al pastor (marinated pork on a vertical spit, sliced onto small corn tortillas with pineapple, cilantro, and onion), invented by Lebanese-Mexican immigrants in Mexico City in the 1920s and adopted by LA in the 1970s. The destination al pastor stalls and trompo trucks are Leo's Tacos (multiple locations), Tacos El Trompo, Tacos El Cunado, Tacos El Pecas. The Sonoran-style flour-tortilla taco is the second corridor (Sonoratown in Downtown). The Tijuana-style adobada taco (similar to al pastor but Baja-rooted) is at Tacos La Carreta. The birria taco wave (taco dipped in beef consomme) is centered on Tacos Y Birria La Unica and Birria Gonzalez. The Oaxacan diaspora in Koreatown and Mid-City runs the tlayuda corridor (Guelaguetza is the destination, since 1994). The taqueria scene is overwhelmingly cash, late-night, and best on a weekend after 22:00. Mariscos (seafood) trucks like Mariscos Jalisco are the Sinaloa specialty.

San Gabriel Valley: regional Chinese

The San Gabriel Valley (the SGV, a string of cities running east of LA along the I-10 and I-210) is the most concentrated Chinese-American community in North America, with the deepest regional Chinese restaurant scene outside Asia. Monterey Park, Alhambra, San Gabriel, Rosemead, Temple City, Arcadia and Diamond Bar form the corridor. Valley Boulevard is the spine, with hundreds of restaurants between Atlantic and Rosemead. The regional Chinese scenes are: Sichuan (Chengdu Taste, Sichuan Impression, Mian, Pine and Crane in Silver Lake), Cantonese (Sea Harbour for dim sum, Lunasia, Bistro Na's, Elite, Longo Seafood), Shanghainese (Mei Long Village, Wang Xing Ji for soup dumplings), Taiwanese (Din Tai Fung's original US outpost in Arcadia, Pa Pa Walk for beef-noodle soup), Northern Chinese hand-pulled noodles (Heavy Noodling, Old Country Cafe), and the late-night barbecue and lamb-skewer Beijing scene. Most SGV restaurants run from 11:00-22:00; dim sum is the morning specialty (06:00-14:00). The SGV is 20 to 30 minutes from Downtown LA by car; the Gold Line metro extension reaches Pasadena and the western edge.

Modern California fine dining

Los Angeles fine dining is shaped by its proximity to the produce: the Santa Monica Farmers Market on Wednesdays is the supplier for most of the city's serious kitchens (Spago, Providence, Republique, Gjelina, Bestia, Felix). The destination tasting-menu rooms are n/naka in Culver City (chef Niki Nakayama, modern Japanese kaiseki, 2 Michelin stars, the kaiseki room Chef's Table on Netflix introduced to the world), Providence in Hancock Park (chef Michael Cimarusti, seafood-focused tasting menu, 2 stars), Vespertine in Culver City (chef Jordan Kahn, 2 stars, an architectural building by Eric Owen Moss), Kato (chef Jonathan Yao, Taiwanese-American), Hayato (chef Brandon Go, kaiseki, 1 star), Morihiro. The modern Italian wave is Bestia (Ori Menashe, Downtown LA arts district), Mother Wolf (Evan Funke, Roman cooking), Felix Trattoria in Venice, Mozza. Spago Beverly Hills (Wolfgang Puck, since 1982 in West Hollywood, Beverly Hills since 1997) is the original LA celebrity-restaurant template and still cooks well. Most LA fine-dining rooms book 30 to 60 days ahead on Resy or Tock. The lunch slot at Spago is the easier and lighter version of the room.