5 Great Chicken Liver Dishes in Los Angeles

Leading up to this year's Best of L.A. issue (coming out Oct. 3), we'll be bringing you periodic lists of some of the best things we've found to eat and drink around town. Ice cream sandwiches and bowls of tsukemen, fish tacos and dan dan mian, cups of boba and glasses of booze. Read on.

It wasn't that many years ago that it was hard to find chicken livers anywhere but Jewish delis and as pâté in upscale French restaurants. Now, liver is everywhere — some form of chicken liver on toast is on half the menus in town, it seems.

This is a trend we're all for. Chicken liver is one of those things we just can't get enough of, in any form — fried, chopped, as pâté, or as pasta sauce. Turn the page for five of our favorite chicken liver dishes around town.

The chicken liver bruschette at Pizzeria Mozza; Credit: B. Rodell

5. Chicken Liver Bruschette at Pizzeria Mozza

As with many things at the Pizzeria, the chicken liver bruschette's success comes from its simplicity. The livers are chopped, then combined with capers and parsley and topped with a very thin, crisp slice of pancetta. Creamy meets piquant meets smokey. Of course, it also helps that it's served on Nancy Silverton's fantastic grilled bread.

4. Fried chicken livers at The Hart and the Hunter

The fried chicken livers at Hart and the Hunter come under a glorious mound of arugula, radish, apple and hazelnuts. The fresh, crisp, crunchy salad contrasts with the richness of the livers beautifully, for one of the most well-conceived modern Southern dishes in town.

See also: 5 Great Burgers in Los Angeles

3. Chicken liver toast at Animal

As with many things at Animal, this dish looks very much like what a thousand restaurants around the country are doing, but here it's just better. Chicken livers, cooked with butter and thyme, blended and pushed through a fine sieve so they're silky, then smeared on toast. Rich, classic, delicious. Best of all, the dish costs $3.

Pan roasted chicken gizzards, roasted beets, Belgian endive, aged capra sarda at Bestia.; Credit: Anne Fishbein

2. Chicken gizzards at Bestia

OK, so technically these aren't livers. In fact, that's part of why we love them — Bestia chef Ori Menashe has taken the liver trend and pushed it one step further, serving gizzards, which are very close in flavor but perhaps a little more of a challenge for some folks. They shouldn't worry: He pairs them with beets and Belgian endive for a deep, iron-rich dish that has all the tang and soft bitterness to balance it. If you're a stickler and think this dish doesn't belong, Bestia's chicken liver crostino with aged balsamic is pretty great too.

1. Chicken liver ragu at Sotto

What's best about Sotto? The pizza? The cocktails? The porcetto? It's very hard to say, but some days we think the best thing about Sotto is the rigatoni with chicken liver ragu. Hearty, comforting, intensely rich and with enough funk to satisfy the true liver devotee. Hooray for livers on something other than bread. Hooray for livers in general.

See also: 5 Great Lobster Rolls in Los Angeles

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