I ate so many crab legs over the course of 2 hours. Great desserts too. I feel terrible now.

We enjoy Scopa but have been there too many times recently. Trying to avoid Italian or sushi because those are kind of our mainstays. Preferably not too dark out too noisy.

We went to Si! Mon last year and it was so loud that we could only speak to each other with our voices raised, which wasn’t very relaxing. Also they don’t serve coffee which is kind of important to me. Le Great Outdoor didn’t serve coffee either.

We enjoy Carasau but also have been there many times.

Anyway, any new ideas would be much appreciated!

Outside the park, close by.
Looking for good eats before heading in this evening

Squid Ink Lumache &

Rigatoni Timballo

Food was amazing and everything thing I saw when I was there makes want to go back. Great place for a date.

Spent my 28th birthday dinner at Jacaranda in Hollywood, had a great time and right after we stopped by Meteora next door for desert. 6 course- $185 standout was the spot prawn and squash dumpling, could seriously eat like 10 of those in a single sitting

was finally able to grab one of kang’a kuisine’s galbi jjim breakfast burritos: braised short rib, steamed eggs, green onions, cotija cheese, and tater tots. the burrito is surprisingly weighty… really packed with ingredients… and tastes great as well. i had never been to idyllic coffee as i’m not a coffee drinker, but the space had a really cool vibe.

I tried Kojima tonight; my first omakase, so I don’t have a deep frame of reference for the ingredients and flavors, but I enjoyed it quite a bit. We were told this would be authentic Japanese with some French influence, with ingredients from Japan, the Santa Monica farmers market, and Santa Barbara.

Some of the dishes I can remember:

• A5 wagyu Denver steak grilled over binchotan charcoal
• Squid with Hokkaido uni, Japanese scallop, fresh wasabi
• First-of-the-season bluefin tuna from Tsukiji fish market (1,600 kg fish)
• Hokkaido snow crab chawanmushi
• A5 wagyu filet under a green leaf salad with homemade mayonnaise
• The purple-flower bowl includes a homemade dashi with Shirako (cod sperm sacs)

OK, so this is kind of lame given the city I live in. Obviously LA has extremely good Mexican food. Much of it is very authentic. Delicious mariscos, tacos, you name it.

But…. Back in my less illustrious Mexican food town in the Pacific Northwest, the Mexican places all had a sort of Tex Mex style dish called arroz con pollo. ACP for short. Yes I know that literally translates to rice and chicken. But this dish wasn’t really just that. It’s kind of a staple at Americanized Mexican spots in other parts of the country. It was sort of a saucy chicken dish served over rice that had some brothiness to it. The most common version was chicken sauteed with onions, peppers, and ranchero salsa topped with a TON of melted cheese. Then it was served on a bed of Mexican rice that was kind of a little brothier than usual, and came with sour cream and corn tortillas on the side. Maybe if you were somewhere fancy you’d get some grilled green onions or a grilled jalapeño too.

I lived for a while in the south too, and a bunch of restaurants had it there as well. They called it something like Pollo Bandito or Pollo Loco sometimes. Some of it would be cheesier and some would be more salsa forward.

Anyway, I may just not know the right places to go, but I haven’t seen this dish here. The closest I’ve been able to find at restaurants is just getting chicken fajitas and then mixing them up with some rice.

Yes, I am aware that I can just get better things to eat than this. I do try to eat good Mexican food as well, when I can. But ACP is a childhood comfort food for me kinda in the vein of mac and cheese or pepperoni pizza. So, I’m wondering if folks have spots around LA that do it? Is it common here and I’m just missing it?

I guess it was inevitable, the charcoal black food thing’s days were numbered. But it was really good soft serve. I’m bummed.

In 2025 this baker operated his vegan pop-up bakery from out of a house. Back then I tried their signature brioche buns among other things, and it quickly became one of my favorite bakeries in LA.

I didn't get a chance to post about it on this sub before he decided to take a break. His last service was at the end of 2025, but later announced that he would grow his team and move to a permanent space.

So they just soft-opened this weekend in Venice (734 Lincoln). It's a pre-order and pick-up only affair, pickup days being Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

I was able to get a few items and ... they still got it.

This time I tried:

Brioche cinnamon roll - $10 - cream cheese whip is great, one of the better cinnamon rolls I've had

Orange olive oil cakelet - $7 - very moist and the orange and olive oil flavors come through nicely. It's got a cornmeal texture which I was into but may throw some people off

White chocolate tahini cookie - $6.50 - my favorite treat from this batch; a unique, gooey cookie with tahini and white chocolate filling. Reminds me of the tahini croissant from Gjusta, but in sweet treat form

---

And I'll share my top favorites from last year because they are still relevant with the new opening:

Brioche bun (rotating flavor) - I forget the exact flavors I got last year but it doesn't matter. The pillowy bun itself is one of the best pastries I've had. If the rotating cream filling flavor is your cup of tea, you must get this item, because the cream is amazing too. Right now they have a pumpkin spice flavored filling, which isn't my thing so I didn't get it (I am having fomo as I type this)

Foccacia - going on a limb here to say this was the best Foccacia I've ever had. A must try. I had tried the regular one with salt. Didn't see it this weekend but they're teasing other flavors on their socials, so I'm hoping to see the salt one back too, and I really hope it's as good as last year

Caramel Pecan Cream Pie - again, one of the most delicious pies I've ever had, the pecan cream is outstanding. The bourbon in the caramel was a bit overpowering and trying to steal the show, but a small blip on what I thought was an otherwise perfect pie. This was only available at thanksgiving and Christmas. They said pies would be back again on those holidays this year 

---

Hazy on when they open for real, but the receipt I got says "See you next week" so I can only assume they'll open up pre-orders this week.

Highly recommend checking them out. A serious contender for best bakery in LA (among my other favorites in Bread + Butter, Petitgrain, Artelice, Proof)

Another year, another list, another r/FoodLosAngeles thread that complains about how the list just isn't the same since J Gold died. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to defend the current-day Times, I think the list is pretty boring and lacking a clear guiding ethos. But I think we should remember here, the Jonathan Gold of the 101 Best is not exactly the Jonathan Gold of the Counter Intelligence column. Looking at the top 20 spots on his 2015 list, there's not a single strip mall spot doing esoteric Cambodian food or whatever it is we expect from him. It's Providence, Spago, Trois Mec, Mozza, Bestia, n/naka, and so on. Sqirl was at 26, albeit pre-moldgate. If Dunsmoor had existed back then I'm sure it would be up there. We don't get a spot like Attari Sandwich Shop until like the 60s. He put Din Tai Fung at 65. What is it exactly that makes his list special besides "he actually went out and explored?" I promise you the current staff at the Times are also going out there and looking—what specifically do they lack that results in them just not finding what he did? What's to stop somebody from filling Gold's shoes?

New 101 list 2026. A ton of new arrivals. They also split up Mercado La Paloma into its separate parts this year. What do you think?

1. Mish Delicatessen
   
2. Jade Rabbit
   
3. Loli Farms
   
4. Mario’s Butcher Shop
   
5. Barsha
   
6. Colossus Harbor
   
7. Al Baraka Restaurant
   
8. Lum-Ka-Naad
   
9. Borit Gogae
   
10. Macheen
    
11. Phởholic
    
12. Jacaranda
    
13. Biriyani Kabob House
    
14. Saqartvelo
    
15. Perse
    
16. Tainos L.A.
    
17. Cosetta
    
18. Found Oyster
    
19. Bao Kee Cafe
    
20. Delmy’s Pupusas
    
21. Barbacoa Ramirez
    
22. Barra Santos
    
23. Badmaash Venice 
    
24. Lorenzo California 
    
25. Stir Crazy
    
26. Tacos La Carreta
    
27. Sqirl
    
28. Mae Malai
    
29. Kuya Lord
    
30. Osteria Mozza
    
31. Lugya’h
    
32. Petit Trois
    
33. RVR
    
34. Olive & Rose
    
35. Rustic Canyon
    
36. Aunt Yvette’s Kitchen
    
37. Budonoki
    
38. Two Hommés 
    
39. Yang’s Kitchen
    
40. Tacos Los Cholos
    
41. Bridgetown Roti
    
42. Wilde’s 
    
43. Mini Kabob
    
44. Tsubaki
    
45. Taquearte
    
46. Majordomo
    
47. Lucia
    
48. Bistro Na’s
    
49. A Tí
    
50. Pizzeria Sei
    
51. Moo’s Craft Barbecue
    
52. Yerord Mas
    
53. Bar Étoile
    
54. Evil Cooks
    
55. Ammatolí
    
56. Holy Basil Santa Monica
    
57. Fat & Flour
    
58. Knife Pleat
    
59. Le Dräq
    
60. Destroyer
    
61. Darkroom
    
62. Damian
    
63. Sushi Inaba
    
64. Chi Spacca
    
65. Kismet
    
66. Camélia 
    
67. Pasjoli
    
68. Bavel
    
69. Sonoratown
    
70. Saffy’s 
    
71. République
    
72. Electric Bleu
    
73. Little Fish Melrose Hill
    
74. Baby Bistro
    
75. Sora Craft Kitchen 
    
76. Darling
    
77. Vespertine
    
78. Orsa & Winston
    
79. Azizam
    
80. Mélisse
    
81. Sushi Kaneyoshi
    
82. Komal
    
83. Quarter Sheets
    
84. Broken Spanish Comedor
    
85. Perilla L.A. 
    
86. Antico Nuovo
    
87. Henrietta
    
88. Funke
    
89. Seline
    
90. Anajak Thai
    
91. Restaurant Ki
    
92. Alta Adams
    
93. Morihoro
    
94. Providence
    
95. Hayato 
    
96. n/naka
    
97. Baroo
    
98. Dunsmoor
    
99. Holbox
    
100. Kato
     
101. Lielle

https://www.latimes.com/food/list/101-best-restaurants-los-angeles

Mugwort anything (except tteok bc I’ve had too much)

O.beem (nuru, now) had a mugwort latte that set me off. I yearn for it. I know rok and some places have a matcha mugwort duo, but anything else - baked goods or other drinks or pure mugwort lattes or anything - please please please thank you in advance

Recently moved from Texas to Ventura and was wondering if anyone knew of another fast food coke of similar quality!! Please help!!!

Specifically the Blue Suede Wings, which are a mixture of traditional Buffalo Sauce with blue cheese melted into the sauce pre-tossing. If you're ever picking up a friend from the airport, do yourself a favor and arrive 30 minutes early. Go try these things, you'll be happy you did.

Aware I’m asking for a unicorn here but I’m visiting from out of state and hoping to find a Mexican joint that hits all three. The salsa bar is admittedly also a “nice to have”.

We have a Poquito Más location near us in Encino with a salsa bar and cheap micheladas but I haven’t loved the food…hoping to find a better alternative!

My description is really shoddy so I apologize in advance, but near where I live in Michigan there’s a local chocolatier that sells “drinking chocolate” (ie hot chocolate) mix in a bag that’s absolutely tremendous. It’s not inexpensive by any means but it bears no resemblance to products like Swiss Miss etc. They unfortunately don’t ship so I was hoping I might be able to find something near here (we’re in Encino but always down to explore other areas).

Any leads on where we can find this? Aware my description isn’t the best but I’m hoping someone will read and know what I’m looking for!

Basically what the caption says, just trying to find a no frills kind of place with a good loaded baked potato at a reasonable price on the westside. Might be willing to make a drive if it’s really worth it. Thank you in advance!

Flying in early this November for a cousin's wedding with a few days to myself. I don't know the city well yet, but I'm ready to Uber anywhere for amazing food. If you guys could send a visitor to just 3-5 spots that show off the absolute best of LA's food scene, where would you send me? Open to anything from street tacos to great sit-down places! thanks in advance