Besha Rodell

The decision to start a magazine and a restaurant that are based on one another speaks volumes about Botanica and its owners, food writers Heather Sperling and Emily Fiffer, and also about the state of restaurants in L.A. right now. This is an intellectual pursuit as well as an aspirational......

Chef Zach Pollack has already helped to define L.A.'s Italian food scene, first at Sotto and then at Alimento, his fantastic restaurant in Silver Lake. Now at Cosa Buona he's helping to define the new school of Italian-American food, serving pizzas and classic pizza-parlor fare with a cheffy spin. That......

It's only its tiny size that keeps Tsubaki from being a drinks-first izakaya, because if people used this place even remotely like a bar, the economics of the enterprise would fail spectacularly. The drinks, however, are what make Tsubaki so exciting, thanks to sommelier Courtney Kaplan, who co-owns the restaurant......

A giant shiny upscale American mall is probably the last place you'd expect to find fantastic food, but in recent years the Americana at Brand has made a vigorous push to change that. You can still eat at the Cheesecake Factory if you want to, but you also can eat......

What restaurant makes you feel fabulous and stylish and wonderful just because you were smart enough to walk in the door? Kismet does. The all-day restaurant from chefs Sarah Hymanson and Sara Kramer and restaurateurs Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo has a way of charming you so much, you become......

Gus's Fried Chicken in Mid-City has joined the list of restaurants bringing Southern fried chicken to the West Coast. The short, succinct menu specializes in its namesake fried chicken, but it also offers a delicious appetizer seldom seen on L.A. menus: fried green tomatoes. As for the spicy fried chicken......

Was there ever any doubt that Esters would be a boon for Santa Monica? When the team behind Rustic Canyon, Milo & Olive, Huckleberry and Cassia turned their attention to creating a neighborhood wine bar, it would have been foolish to bet against its greatness. Esters is a partnership between......

The owner of Hawkins House of Burgers, Cynthia Hawkins, knows a newbie when she sees one. "Your first time here?" she asks a couple of women, huddled facing the menu on the wall of this tiny burger shack. The women nod, and Hawkins says, "How did you hear about us?......