Besha Rodell

Credit: Anne Fishbein

Best Prix Fixe Dinner Deal

When you say “prix fixe” in L.A., it generally means some kind of ultra-expensive tasting menu at one of our fine-dining restaurants. But at Papilles Bistro, the prix fixe qualifies as a bona fide bargain. Chef-owner Tim Carey serves a daily menu for around $36, which is a hell of......
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Best New Restaurant

After the success of Maude (which last year earned our Best Restaurant in L.A. award), the world has been watching to see what Aussie mega-star chef Curtis Stone would come up with next. It turns out, Gwen does not disappoint. For the project, Stone brought his brother Luke over from......
Seafood Platter (small); Credit: Anne Fishbein

Best Seafood Platter

Chef Bryant Ng has brought to Cassia some of the sensibility that made his now-shuttered Spice Table such a favorite, but the context here is slightly different: He's riffing on the interplay between French and Vietnamese cuisines, both the influences that are born of the historical French occupation of Vietnam......
The beet tartare tostada is more than just a punny name.; Credit: Anne Fishbein

Best Stoner Breakfast

It's a lot of fun to imagine the genesis of the menu items at Trois Familia, that "duuuude, wouldn't it be cool if ..." flash of inspiration that created dishes such as churro French toast and maple-chili glazed bacon. At the Silver Lake French/Mexican brunch restaurant opened by Jon Shook,......
Double cheeseburger at Button Mash; Credit: Garrett Snyder

Best Restaurant/Arcade

There's something about Button Mash and its dinging, ringing energy, about the mix of customers, old and young and hip and dorky and unpredictably diverse in the best possible way, that is massively appealing, even if you're not here for the impressive collection of old-school video games. The restaurant/arcade is......
Half rotisserie cabbage with pickled mushroom yogurt; Credit: Anne Fishbein

Best Veggie Dish

You could eat a 100 percent vegetarian meal at Moruno and be totally satisfied, despite the fact that there's plenty of meat on the menu. There's a ton of meat-free fun to be had — the roasted butternut squash with dukkah deserves its own cheering section — but vegetable dish......
Credit: Anne Fishbein

Best Brisket

My main beef with most barbecue joints outside of the South is their failure to recognize the benefits of regionality and instead try to do too much, to be all barbecue to all people. Maple Block Meat Co. is just such a place — but it works. Chef Adam Cole......
Requesón cheese topped with snap peas

Best Upscale Mexican

Ray Garcia has been hinting for years that he's capable of greatness, and at Broken Spanish he lives up to that promise. Located in the former Rivera space downtown, Broken Spanish gives the chef the creative freedom to explore the place where his Mexican heritage and his fine-dining background meet......
Pescado zarandeado; Credit: Anne Fishbein

Best Fish Tacos

Chef Sergio Peñuelas, who gained a devoted following at Coni'Seafood and, before that, at Mariscos Chente, recently moved to Long Beach's Cheko El Rey del Sarandeado. Peñuelas is justly famous for his pescado zarandeado, the Sinaloan specialty of whole grilled snook. But equally worth driving for are his marlin tacos,......
The bibim salad has a slightly sticky base of oat

Best Modernist Korean Health Food

It's almost impossible to describe to the uninitiated, and yet Baroo inspires instant devotion from many who venture through its unmarked door in a Hollywood strip mall. As much an exercise in philosophy as an actual restaurant, Baroo's chefs Kwang Uh and Matthew Kim take all kinds of inspiration from......