Besha Rodell

Credit: Anne Fishbein

Best Up-and-Coming Chef

Besha Rodell
The recent reinvention of Michael's, the 38-year-old Santa Monica mainstay that helped to define modern Californian cooking, rests mainly on the brilliant decision to hire Miles Thompson, the young chef who used to run Allumette in Echo Park and then left town for a couple of years. Thompson's cooking was......
Credit: Anne Fishbein

Best Mexican Seafood

Besha Rodell
There's been some debate and consternation over the fate of Coni'Seafood since chef Sergio Peñuelas left, but we're here to tell you there's nothing to fear. Left in the hands of owners Vicente Cossio and his daughter Connie Cossio, the restaurant is still turning out some of the best Mexican......
Trofie

Best New Restaurant

Besha Rodell
Felix, the Venice restaurant from pasta maestro Evan Funke, has it all. The space is wonderful in the way that only restaurants built in old houses can be, outfitted in warm brown leather booths and green botanical wallpaper that feels both modern and vintage. The service is lovely. The cocktails......
Credit: Frank Lee

Best Fast-Casual Restaurant

Besha Rodell
BäcoShop is restaurateur Josef Centeno's first foray beyond downtown, where his five other restaurants dominate the couple of blocks where Main and Fourth streets meet. It's based on the food item that defines Bäco Mercat, his original downtown restaurant, the bäco — a Centeno-invented folded flatbread that is part sandwich,......
N/naka chef Niki Nakayama; Credit: Courtesy n/naka

Best Restaurant

Besha Rodell
Sometimes I take notes on my phone while dining out, in order to remember later how something tasted or how it made me feel. From my last meal at n/naka, I have only one entry. It reads, "Sushi course: This is what fairies eat. On their birthday." In addition to......
Credit: Anne Fishbein

Best Instagrammable Restaurant

Besha Rodell
Even before Vespertine, chef Jordan Kahn was known for his visually stunning food, at Red Medicine (where dishes were as likely to turn up in goldfish bowls as on plates) but also prior to that, when he was Michael Mina's corporate pastry chef. That hasn't changed at his daytime place, Destroyer,......
Credit: Anne Fishbein

Best Restaurant in Silver Lake

Besha Rodell
The competition for the distinction of best restaurant in Silver Lake gets tougher all the time — great new restaurants are opening in the neighborhood practically weekly. But Alimento still holds the crown. Zach Pollack's Cali-Italian storefront spot is both a perfect neighborhood restaurant and a worthy destination eatery. It's......
Credit: Anne Fishbein

Best Affordable Hot Spot

Besha Rodell
Where to begin? The menu is scrawled in marker on greasy brown paper bags. It's BYOB. It has a phone number and a website, but neither is currently functional. Your server might not remember that he's already taken your order, but he will confer "blessings" upon you multiple times. The......