StaffLA Weekly's Best of L.A. issue is live! And as always, we've delivered a ton of ways to eat and drink your way across the city. To give you a taste, we've arranged some of our most delicious food finds below in economic order. From super bargains to blow out dinners, here's how you can eat the best of Los Angeles at any budget.
Under $10: Cheap Eats
There's a ton of cheap eats to be found in our Best Of food section, but perhaps the most obvious place to start is our Best Restaurant Where You Can Eat for Less Than $10 winner, Ricebar. The bargain is even more of a treat when considering that Ricebar's chef, Charles Olalia, comes from the fine dining world. Down in Long Beach, you can find the winner of our Best Fish Tacos category, Cheko El Rey del Sarandeado, where the marlin tacos come in under $10, as do many other dishes on the menu. The entire premise of our Best New Fast Food winner, Locol, is to deliver delicious food that's affordable, and there isn't a single item on the menu over $4.
The bibim salad at Baroo, where you can eat well for well under $20.; Credit: Anne Fishbein
$10-$25: Bang for Your Buck
Looking for a bargain but willing to spend more than the change you found in the couch cushions? At our Best Restaurant/Arcade winner, Button Mash, you'll find “a greatest-hits album of Asian and American drunk food: crispy tofu balls, appropriately lacquered double-fried chicken wings, and a cheeseburger that is — like the games — pure old-school nostalgia.” Most dishes are priced at $6-$15, meaning you can get fed, get a beer, and play a game or three for under $25. At Salazar, winner of our Best Patio award, you can likewise get fed and get a drink for around $20, and do it in a beautiful location. At Baroo, winner of our Best Modernist Korean Health Food award, you can sample “kaleidoscopic dishes with dozens of elements that are stunningly beautiful, and nourishing in more than one sense of the word.” And they're all under $20.
Charred octopus on Papille's Bistro's $36 prix fixe menu; Credit: Anne Fishbein
$25-$50: Night on the Town
Want a memorable meal but don't want to break the bank? Let's start with one of the better deals in town, and winner of our Best Prix Fixe Dinner Deal award, Papilles Bistro: “Chef-owner Tim Carey serves a daily menu for around $36, which is a hell of a good deal given the quality of the food.” It would be possible to spend a ton of cash at Moruno, winner of our Best Veggie Dish award, but it would also be possible to get full for far less than $40, especially if you stick to those amazing veggie dishes. At Lasa, winner of our Best Modern Filipino award, the current prix fixe is $48 per person, for which you get “dishes such as red snapper kinilaw, a Filipino ceviche of sorts, with black plum, fermented Fresno chili, lemon cucumber and sugar cane vinegar; twice-cooked pork belly with smoky eggplant bagoong, summer vegetables and ampalaya powder; or a cassava cake of toasted fig leaf tres leches and black mission figs.”
Cassia's seafood platter; Credit: Anne Fishbein
$50-$100: High on the Hog
For a special night out, there's nowhere better to start than Cassia, winner of our Best Seafood Platter award. Begin with that seafood platter and then move on to more of chef Bryant Ng's “riffing on the interplay between French and Vietnamese cuisines.” At Broken Spanish, winner of our Best Upscale Mexican award, chef Ray Garcia “is playing with an inventiveness that feels natural, and he puts deliciousness first.” If stunning design is what you're after, check out Otium, winner of our Best Restaurant Design award.
White asparagus, oyster, bone marrow, sauce gribiche at Trois Mec; Credit: Anne Fishbein
$100+: Blow it Out
Looking for that once a year (or once in a lifetime) blowout? We've got you covered. You could go for our Best New Restaurant winner, Gwen, where Curtis Stone “has proven again that sometimes spending a silly amount of money on dinner is well worth it.” Our Best Chef winner Michael Cimarusti is still killing it at Providence: “The best evidence for his talent, though, remains the elegant, measured, gorgeously presented food at Providence, L.A.’s most special of special-occasion restaurants.” And there's nothing that says blowout like going for the best of the best: our Best Restaurant winner, Trois Mec.
Of course there are tons more winners, serving food and drink at all price ranges, over at our Best of LA site. So check it out!
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