Los Angeles Restaurant Diary
Nibbles & Bites Issue #5: Where to eat in LA
Welcome back to another issue of Nibbles and Bites!
I have returned from a brief hiatus and trip to Southern California, where I spent quality time with friends and got to bask in the sunshine far away from the blue light of my computer. That said, I’m so excited to be back in my kitchen after not preparing a single meal for myself in ten days, and I’m thrilled to share some restaurant recommendations with you.
For this issue, I put together a food diary of sorts documenting all of the restaurants that I dined at during my trip to Los Angeles and Santa Barbara, which I have split up into two parts. The restaurants are in no particular order, and some are definitely worth trying out while others are not, so see the associated star ranking for each spot. Also, while in LA we spent most of our time within a 30-minute drive of our Airbnb in Silver Lake, so this list is by no means exhaustive or comprehensive in any way, and there are so many more delicious food spots that I didn’t have time to try.
And a little PSA - although we had our fair share of Hailey Bieber Strawberry Glazed smoothies and admired the $40 jars of sea moss gel at Erewhon, I will not be including the store in this list. That being said, if you’d like to read why people are so mesmerized by this extremely expensive grocery store, I encourage you to read my friend Rosa’s take here. I simply could not top what she had to say about it!
Bodega Park is an ode to NY delis with strong Korean influences, and so good that we ended up going there three times for breakfast. They have bodega classics like bacon, egg and cheese sandwiches served on hot toasted rolls and breakfast burritos with a twist. I was tempted to ask them if they made their own American cheese because it tastes a thousand times better than any Kraft single slice that I’ve ever found in the grocery store. They’re also known for their Misugaru black sesame espresso drink, which is a Korean iced coffee with sweetened black sesame cream on top and flakes of black sesame and other roasted grains throughout. It was so delicious, I’m going to figure out how to replicate this one at home. All in all, Bodega Park is a must visit and I hope nothing about it changes.
Stars: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Must order:
Misugaru black sesame drink
Avocado, egg and cheese or breakfast burrito
Bulgogi Roll
Courage Bagels serves us some of the best Montreal-style bagels in LA and they’ve mastered the contrast between the chewy, sweet inside and crispy, crunchy exterior. I love that you’re able to order your everything bagel extra-burnt and can also order bagels by the half in order to try all of their unique combinations side by side. This place has become super trendy and is known to have long lines, but it was worth it.
Stars: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Must order:
Salmon Roe Bagel
Lox Bagel
Run it through the Garden Bagel
Burnt Everything Bagel
Kismet is a modern Middle Eastern restaurant in Los Feliz that has some of the best small plates and flaky bread I’ve had. It’s rare that I write home about any rice dish, but I literally came back to this restaurant a year later to enjoy their rich and buttery tahdig again. It is studded with currants and pumpkin seeds and comes with two egg yolks nestled in the center of the fluffy, buttery grains of rice.
Stars: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Must order:
Persian Crispy Rice
Fried Cauliflower with Caper Yogurt
Lamb Meatballs
Cultured Ricotta Cheesecake with Passionfruit Caramel
Botanica is a natural food restaurant and market with a classic farmer’s market centric menu. Personally, this was not my favorite brunch/breakfast spot on our trip and I left the restaurant disappointed by the Japanese sweet potato dish that featured a meager amount of food and left me unsatisfied. My $17 dish included a quarter of a baked sweet potato, a tablespoon of salsa verde and two eggs. We also ordered lamb sausage and out came two pieces of sausages the size of Hershey kisses - not worth it! That said, the iced cacao-date mocha was delicious and the star of the coffee menu.
Stars: ⭐⭐
Must order:
Cacao-Date Mocha made with local dates, cacao powder & nibs
Dunsmore is a Southern-leaning restaurant that cooks everything over a central wood-fire pit. It’s also an absolutely gorgeous restaurant and made the perfect Valentine’s Day date spot. I personally loved the chopped chicken liver mousse with caramelized onions, and the sour milk cornbread that they’re known for. The cornbread almost leans into the sweet dessert category because it’s slathered in butter and heavily doused in maple syrup, and it swayed me to the merits of eating dessert mid-meal. More people should make an excuse to serve dessert-ish dishes mid-meal. It was perfect.
Stars: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Must order:
Edna’s Sour Milk Cornbread
Chopped Chicken Liver
Wood-Roasted Oysters
Baby Albacore
Chicory Caesar
Bé Ù - Vietnamese Street Food & Comfort Food is a little off of the beaten path but definitely worth checking out. They have incredible Banh Mi Sandwiches that are ten dollars, which is something you never find in NYC for the same price, quality and with the same amount of fresh vegetables. I also love their popcorn chicken, which is served with fried curry leaves and spicy aioli that, if you asked me blindfolded, I might say was queso. Who doesn’t love crispy chicken that comes with a flavorful dipping sauce?
Stars: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Must order:
Popcorn Chicken with Fried Curry Leaves
Banh Mi
Rice Noodle Plate
La Purepecha immediately felt familiar, comforting and like home to me. It is the perfect spot for lunch if you’re in Santa Monica and looking for a place to grab delicious tacos or burritos near the beach. You could tell there were a lot of regulars coming into this spot for lunch, which is how you know it’s great!
Stars: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Must order:
Burrito Mojado
Street Burrito
Chilaquiles Burrito
Tamarind Agua Fresca
Ggiata Delicatessen is an Italian deli that the owners say was “conceived in Montclair New Jersey” and brought to LA by two childhood friends. It’s the perfect spot to pick up sandwiches to bring to the beach or on a road trip. I really enjoyed their “Spicy P” sandwich, which is a chicken cutlet smothered in spicy vodka sauce topped with pesto, mozzarella and romano, and served on a seeded roll.
Stars: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Must order:
The Spicy P
The Meatball Parm
The Draper
The Turk
Holy cow, we sure did eat well this trip! Thanks for reading about some of my favorite LA spots, let me know if you make your way to any of these restaurants and feel free to share some of your favorites spots in the comments below. I’ll be sending out a separate newsletter this week with my Santa Barbara restaurant recommendations. I’m so thrilled to cooking up magic in my home kitchen, and there will be many more posts featuring new recipes and projects coming soon.
Happy cooking and traveling,
Kristen