Certain restaurants are a lot more fun to dine alone in than others. Trendy lounges and burger joints: no. Upscale restaurants where you can eat at the bar: yes. And then there's Pizzeria Mozza, which falls into none of those categories yet remains the single best place to eat solo in this town. You can eat at either of the two bars: the pizza bar, which is more like a counter where you await your meal while watching the chefs only a few feet from your plate; or the actual bar, where you can chat with knowledgeable bartenders about Mario's latest The Chew episode or what Nancy is working on in the labyrinthine kitchens. The place has the friendly, nosy atmosphere that you'd find in a home kitchen during the holidays, and it's filled with regulars. But these are not your normal regulars: The person seated next to you at the bar, or at one of the tables, or maybe just wandering in from the back room, is as likely to be Paul Bertolli or Lidia Bastianich as some wine writer from Hancock Park or hipster from Silver Lake. But the best thing about eating alone at Pizzeria Mozza isn't that you can eat your dinner next to a former Chez Panisse chef. It's that you can wander in anytime and get a seat — no reservations needed at one of the most consistently difficult reservations in town. Just walk in by yourself and you'll probably be seated within minutes, your fennel sausage pizza being formed in front of you before you can even properly scan the crowd. 641 N. Highland Ave., Hancock Park. (323) 297-0101, pizzeriamozza.com.

—Amy Scattergood