15693 Leffingwell Road : Whittier, CA 90604 : 562-947-2250
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 Sí, Whittier isn't Orange County, but Arturo's Puffy Tacos might as well be, located just two blocks from La Habra, a postgame favorite for fans of La Habra High's mighty Highlanders football squad. Get the puffy, a fresh disc of masa flash-fried until the thing puffs up to create air pockets, t... More >> |
| Out of Town |
Mexican |
Kid Friendly, Patio-Sidewalk Dining, Takeout, Wheelchair Accessible |
$ |
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700 S. Grand Ave. : Los Angeles, CA 90017 : 866-418-9162
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 It's hard not to be dumbstruck by Bottega Louie, a majestic food hall in a
former Brooks Brothers flagship, a slab of urban renovation that suggests less downtown Los Angeles than Rodeo Drive. The enormous, double-height room, big enough to swallow a basketball arena, whitewashed and gleaming,... More >> |
| Downtown |
Italian |
Takeout |
$$ |
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1088 S. Baldwin Ave. : Arcadia, CA 91007 : 626-574-7068
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 If you are of a certain bent, you have probably spent many mornings milling around the parking lot outside the original Din Tai Fung, checking off too many items on the clipboard menu issued with your queue number, waiting for your shot at a steamerful or three of the renowned soup dumplings.... More >> |
| Foothill Cities |
Chinese |
Family Style, Kid Friendly, Takeout |
$ |
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1014 Wilshire Blvd. : Santa Monica, CA 90404 : 310-451-2311
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 You could put a "brunch" sign up over a cell-phone store in Santa Monica and a line would probably curl down the block. But Sunday mornings at Huckleberry, the new bakery/café from Rustic Canyon pastry chef Zoe Nathan, come perilously close to full-contact brunch, a scrum of Prada, Lululemon and U... More >> |
| Santa Monica |
American, Bakery, Pastries, Salads, Sandwiches |
Catering, Takeout |
$$ |
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1408 E. Valley Blvd. : Alhambra, CA 91801 : 626-300-8654
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 A bleak mini-mall storefront next to a bowling alley, 101 Noodle Express isn't undiscovered, exactly, although in all my visits I have never had a waitress say a word to me in English that didn't happen to be "7-up" or "Coca-Cola." Everybody orders a lovely if orthodox bowl of hot-sour soup,... More >> |
| Monterey Park/ Alhambra/ S. Gabriel |
Chinese |
Family Style, Takeout |
$ |
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12565 Washington Blvd. : Mar Vista, CA 90066 : 310-398-7700
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 Where Roy Choi goes, people will follow - this has been well-established. Because if the legions of the hungry are willing to follow his Kogi trucks when they alight in deserted motel parking lots or alongside Orange County topless clubs, it stands to reason that they will go where they might... More >> |
| West L.A. |
Gastro Pub, Hawaiian, Korean |
Family Style |
$$ |
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913 1/2 S. Vermont Ave. : Los Angeles, CA 90006 : 213-389-6764
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 At its best, Japanese sashimi is something exquisite; delicate ultrafresh nibbles meant to be contemplated as much as they are to be eaten. Korean sushi is something else entirely - it is bar food, seasoned with raw garlic and hot peppers, smeared with bean paste, consumed in great quantities... More >> |
| Mid-Wilshire/ Hancock Park |
Korean, Sushi |
Catering, Private Party, Takeout |
$$ |
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9543 Culver Blvd. : Culver City, CA 90232 : 310-845-1700
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 The Culver City restaurant scene is well into its mannerist phase, an era of sleek surfaces, theatrical settings and food that coolly defies nature. But the standard-bearer at the moment has to be the eco-intensive Akasha, where the recycled wood is sealed with beeswax, the chairs are... More >> |
| Culver City |
New American |
Business Dining, Catering, Patio-Sidewalk Dining, Private Party, Takeout |
$$$ |
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816 S. Brookhurst Blvd. : Anaheim, CA 92804 : 714-635-4353
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 The bakery makes only two dishes: pita sandwiches and sphiha. Within this simplicity, though, lies culinary greatness. More than half of the sphihas are strictly veggie affairs, but not the expected roughage-heavy dishes. Instead, the main ingredients are spices-and not the spicy kind.... More >> |
| Out of Town |
Bakery, Middle Eastern, Pizza, Vegetarian |
Kid Friendly, Takeout, Vegetarian Friendly, Wheelchair Accessible |
$ |
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17239 Ventura Blvd. : Encino, CA 91316 : 818-789-0991
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 "Zahle in the Valley," a friend calls it, a bit of Mediterranean Lebanon in the middle of Encino: a shaded terrace of music, grilled mullet and bright coals of apple-scented tobacco burning in brass hookahs. The cooks are reportedly Egyptian and Lebanese, but the owner, a well-known Armenian... More >> |
| San Fernando Valley |
Lebanese, Middle Eastern |
Patio-Sidewalk Dining, Takeout |
$$ |
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7313 Beverly Blvd. : Los Angeles, CA 90036 : 323-297-0070
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 Where my favorite osterie in Italy find purpose in the repetition of classic dishes, in menus that may not change for decades, Gino Angelini is by nature a creative chef who likes to mark dishes as his own. A regular at his restaurants could tell the difference between Angelini's saltimbocca... More >> |
| Melrose/ Beverly/ Fairfax |
Italian |
Catering, Patio-Sidewalk Dining, Takeout |
$$$ |
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511 S. State College Blvd. : Anaheim, CA 92806 : 714-533-1401
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 I defy anyone to find a finer summer Friday night than the kind you get at Angelo's: a burger-fries-and-Coke combo for 6 bucks, a girl/boy by your side, nameless kids chucking pickles at one another, buxom waitresses skating without pause, and the half-Latino, half-white crowd communally... More >> |
| Out of Town |
American, Burgers |
Kid Friendly |
$$ |
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435 N. Fairfax Ave. : Los Angeles, CA 90048 : 323-782-9225
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 The first thing you should know about Animal is that it is practically a shrine to bacon, which appears everywhere on the short, seasonal menu, up to and including a chocolate dessert. The chefs, Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo, former Food Network stars who call themselves the Food Dudes, are the... More >> |
| West Hollywood |
American, Comfort Foods, Contemporary |
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$$$ |
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2510 César Chávez Ave. : Los Angeles, CA 90033 : 323-264-1451
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 There are the pambazos, plump, soft French rolls stuffed with chorizo and potatoes, sogged out in a mild chile sauce, and griddled until the texture resembles that of the best French toast. And what you have come here for are the crisp, artfully fried discs of masa: the saucer-shaped sopes; the... More >> |
| East L.A. |
Mexican |
Takeout |
$ |
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8022 W. Third St. : Los Angeles, CA 90048 : 323-653-6359
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 The cheese-and-charcuterie-intensive inspiration for L.A.'s new generation of wine bars, Suzanne Goin's pan-Mediterranean A.O.C. is a fantasy of a modern small-plates restaurant, the kind of place you drop into for a glass of Friulian Tocai and a plate of sliced prosciutto, a Cairanne and some... More >> |
| West Hollywood |
California, French, Mediterranean, Small Plates, Wine Bar |
Business Dining, Catering, Patio-Sidewalk Dining, Private Party, Takeout |
$$$ |
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10801 Pico Blvd. : Los Angeles, CA 90064 : 310-475-3585
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 The top and bottom buns of an Apple Pan burger are crisped and slightly oily, crunchy at the edges, working toward a near-complete softness at the middle; the pickles are resilient dill chips; the sheaf of fresh iceberg lettuce provides a dozen-layered crispness at the core. The beef, generally... More >> |
| West L.A. |
American |
Takeout |
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11941 Ventura Blvd. : Studio City, CA 91604 : 818-760-3348
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 In the heart of Studio City's sushi district, Asanebo is a second home for the hairy music-industry guys, the sophisticated expats and the tourists from Osaka that make up the clientele of so many of L.A.'s best Japanese restaurants. But Asanebo is no sushi bar - it specializes in the sashimi,... More >> |
| San Fernando Valley |
Japanese, Sushi |
Takeout |
$$$$ |
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1388 Westwood Blvd. : Westwood, CA 90024 : 310-441-5488
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 An Attari sandwich is close to a perfect thing, a length of toasted French bread, a layer of main ingredient, and a dressing that includes fresh tomatoes, a handful of shredded lettuce and a smattering of spiced, supertart Iranian pickles that somehow manage to give the impression of a good... More >> |
| West L.A. |
Iranian, Middle Eastern |
Patio-Sidewalk Dining, Takeout |
$ |
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1823 S. San Gabriel Blvd. : San Gabriel, CA 91776 : 626-288-7265
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 It may serve Guadalupe Valley Syrah instead of margaritas, and chiles en nogada instead of nacho plates, but Babita is a relaxed corner Mexican place with great food, an Eastside joint whose service is burnished to a white-tablecloth sheen. Chef-owner Roberto Berrelleza, who spent decades as a... More >> |
| Monterey Park/ Alhambra/ S. Gabriel |
Mexican |
Takeout |
$ |
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2737 N. Grand Ave. : Santa Ana, CA 92705 : 714-532-2216
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 Located in a Big Lots parking lot, all you can hear are the clangs of a wok and the smells of good
home cooking coming from this respected Thai restaurant. More >> |
| Out of Town |
Thai |
Takeout |
$$ |
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14520 Magnolia St. : Westminster, CA 92683 : 714-891-3718
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 You're tolerating brusque customer service here for the 10 choices of bánh mě, the foot-long sandwich that is one of the most delicious robberies in the gustatory world at $2.25 per stickup. Barbecue pork is charred to a ruddy crispness, yet it's moist. Meatballs are densely herbed and juicy, not bi... More >> |
| Out of Town |
Sandwiches, Vietnamese |
Takeout |
$ |
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8171 Sunset Blvd. : Los Angeles, CA 90046 : 323-650-0575
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 Sometimes a burger and fries is enough to sustain you through a night of serious drinking, and sometimes it's got to be boozy bacon prunes. It is at those latter times that you hope you have the pull to get past the doorman at Bar Marmont, whose list of regular customers still resembles US... More >> |
| Hollywood |
American, Contemporary |
Patio-Sidewalk Dining |
$$$ |
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822 Washington Blvd. : Marina del Rey, CA 90292 : 310-448-8884
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 Only in the 21st century could you find a restaurant quite so midcentury modern, with sleek love-seat sofas and machine-polished wood and a quantity of prefabricated design that probably would have amused Ray and Charles Eames back in the days when their aesthetic was found more in your... More >> |
| Out of Town |
American |
Patio-Sidewalk Dining, Private Party, Takeout |
$ |
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811 S. Long Beach Blvd. : Compton, CA 90221 : 310-637-1342
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 Bludso's is known for its barbecue beef brisket, which comes in a foam and foil container, dripping with meaty juices. The small, Texas-style joint, with simply a counter and few stools, is big on brisket ribs, rib tips, hot links, chicken. The Texas Sampler ($25.50) is a plate that can easily... More >> |
| Southeastern Cities |
Barbecue |
Catering, Kid Friendly |
$$ |
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13892 Brookhurst St. : Garden Grove, CA 92843 : 714-636-4885
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 Know this: wait times are routinely long and frustrating. But the payoff is
worth every minute lost to time. The hours spent thumb-twiddling outside
will eventually get you a wax-paper-draped table inside and a
bib tied around your neck. You'll then feast (with your hands!) like never before... More >> |
| Out of Town |
Seafood |
Kid Friendly, Takeout, Wheelchair Accessible |
$$ |
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Cuisine Type
