In Hollywood Hills, Clark Street Diner fills up on weekends for all-day breakfast, but weekday lunch is a calmer affair with roomy booths and comfort-driven dishes with farmers market ingredients.
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Escape the work day with 28 of the best lunch restaurants in L.A.
It’s time to take lunch seriously. Stuck between all-important breakfast and curtain-closing dinner, it can be tempting to minimize the middle child of meals, especially during the work week. But the L.A. region is full of standout daytime dining options, and taking intentional breaks from work has a host of health benefits, from increased job satisfaction to reduced stress.
Maybe it’s a lunch meeting with visiting clients or the only hour that you and a friend can fit in a quick catch-up. Perhaps you’re proposing a casual lunch as a first date. If the work week is feeling stagnant, a solo lunch can serve as a small act of self-care, adding a dose of newness to one’s regular routine.
With smaller portions and a less formal atmosphere, dining out for lunch tends to be more affordable than dinner. It can be a hack for trying a popular restaurant that typically requires reservations, and a chance to sample menu items that are offered only during the day.
Whatever your lunch vibe is, you’ll find a match in our city’s food scene. You can impress colleagues with a prix fixe power lunch, meet up with a friend for slices from a famed pizzaiolo or unplug in a plant-filled oasis serving Japanese comfort dishes. In this guide, we offer 28 of our favorite L.A. restaurants perfect for a weekday lunch.
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All Day Baby
Silver Lake Eclectic $$
As the name suggests, Silver Lake’s All Day Baby is a prime restaurant pick for any time of day, but I find that its perennial popularity ebbs during weekday lunches. Even though breakfast is served through the afternoon, heading to the corner diner for lunch is an excuse to branch out from my reliable favorite, the buttermilk biscuit sandwich, either stuffed with smoked bacon and sausage or fried chicken. Instead, I go for filling plates such as a wedge salad drizzled in thick buttermilk labneh dressing and a barbacoa burrito with tender, smoked beef brisket, lime rice, melted Jack cheese, chopped cilantro and onion and a side of salsa verde. At All Day Baby, I always go for the upgrade: In this case, a slab of bacon on the salad and creamy avocado in the burrito. It makes my mood that much brighter when I return to my desk.
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Ammatolí
Long Beach Middle Eastern $$
The Levantine restaurant that traces chef-owner Dima Habibeh’s Palestinian, Syrian and Jordanian roots is a great lunch option in downtown Long Beach, with mezze and kebab plates that are ideal for sharing. That way, you don’t have to choose between lamb-beef gyro and chicken shawarma or spicy hummus, fire-roasted mutabbal and spinach-stuffed kibbeh. Soups, salads, wraps and a handful of loaded manoushe flatbreads round out the lunch offerings, along with house moussaka layered with baked eggplant, ground beef and zucchini. Find a seat on the verdant street-side patio or in the light-filled interior where ivy drapes from the ceiling. Turkish coffee is available if you need a jolt, but the mint lemonade is a refreshing and restorative option if you want to skip the caffeine.
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Azizam
Silver Lake Persian $
What started as a Persian pop-up from Cody Ma and Misha Sesar in the summer of 2021 recently found a permanent home as a cozy lunch-and-dinner cafe on Sunset Boulevard in Silver Lake. Azizam offers a concise, order-at-the-counter menu of delicious, home-style Iranian stews, rice dishes and mazeh, or small cold appetizers — you probably should order these as a platter: smashed green olives with pomegranate molasses, walnuts and mint oil; a creamy yogurt dip or seasonal borani, served with house pickles, feta and freshly baked barbari bread scattered with sesame seeds. The kofteh tabrizi feels like a celebration, a glorious beef and rice meatball stuffed with dried stone fruit and walnuts. Sesar makes the desserts, including a rustic Napoleon layered with cardamom-tinged custard, pistachios and rose jam. Don’t skip the homemade sharbat and fruity-herbal spritzes. Beers (draft or canned), bottles of sake and a short but sweet list of wines also are available.
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Brooklyn Ave. Pizza Co.
Boyle Heights Pizza Bar Bites $$
This Boyle Heights pizzeria, whose name references the original name of Cesar Chavez Avenue, celebrates the surrounding neighborhood with menu items such as a mole pizza with stringy Oaxacan quesillo and “Chicano gravy,” crispy potato wedges drenched with beef chorizo gravy, queso fresco and cilantro. The spacious restaurant with a street-side patio, plant-lined entry and exposed brick walls gets busy with families during dinner, but lunch is refreshingly low-key, with a few neighborhood locals working on laptops. Order a guava-jamaica or pineapple, cucumber and mint agua fresca, perhaps spiked with tequila depending on how the meeting is going.
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Clark Street Diner
Hollywood Hills American $$
Few diners serve quality stalwarts such as thickly stacked club sandwiches or corned beef hash with eggs alongside some of the best pastries in the region, but such is the beauty of Clark Street Diner. After expanding his cafe and bread empire, Clark Street baker-founder Zack Hall brought new life to the sadly shuttered 101 Coffee Shop space in 2021, and the retro diner serving classics heaped with farmers market ingredients has been buzzing ever since. Clark Street Diner recently added dinner service, but the daylight gleams off those tan booths and swiveling barstools, making it an especially picturesque spot for grabbing a morning or midday meal. On weekends guests line up for the all-day breakfast, crunchy onion rings, towering salads and sandwiches like tuna melts, burgers, crispy fried chicken and every other offering served on Hall’s freshly baked bread. Weekdays prove a little slower and a little more chill, which means less competition for the goods in the pastry case and more time to linger in those roomy booths.
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Destroyer
Culver City Breakfast/Lunch $$
Chef Jordan Kahn’s restaurants tend to be highly conceptual and stylized, but his counter-service cafe in Culver City’s startup-dotted Hayden Tract neighborhood is surprisingly restrained. The menu leans Scandinavian with simple, freshly sourced and smartly composed dishes. The loaded avocado confit is presented in a bowl with burrata, finely shaved prosciutto, confit tomatoes, puffed rice, charred onions and a runny fried egg. Break the egg, spread the burrata and mash the avocado until it’s a vibrant mess. If you can, pile each element of the dish into every single bite. Cold-smoked black cod, beef tartare with smoked egg cream and crispy chicken schnitzel topped with a labneh-dressed salad round out the lunch options, although the entire menu is available daily until 4 p.m., just in case you’re craving French toast in the afternoon.
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Ditroit Taqueria
Downtown L.A. Mexican
Mexico City chef Enrique Olvera’s alleyway taco shop, Ditroit Taqueria, is located behind his landmark L.A. restaurant Damian: It’s a plant-lined oasis on the southeastern edge of the Arts District, where you can enjoy the bestselling fish flautas and a refreshing hibiscus-bougainvillea fresca. The daytime-only, order-at-the-window taqueria serves a rotating selection of tacos, recently beefy suadero, pork carnitas and an Ensenada-style batter-fried eggplant vegetarian option. Also on the menu overseen by chef Jesus “Chuy” Cervantes are the tamales del dia and soft serve in flavors such as guava. It’s hard to resist ordering the flautas every time. The long, crispy-crunchy flautas are filled with swordfish and fried in rice bran oil, then topped with shredded lettuce, salsa de aguacate, crème fraîche and queso fresco. Each bite is an explosion of textures and flavors.
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Great White
Windsor Square Californian $$
All three Great White locations — in Larchmont, West Hollywood and Venice — are an ideal camp for lunch on a sunny day, with a bright and light menu to match. Al fresco seating is abundant, and the simple coastal design is perfect for showing an out-of-towner a TV-approved version of L.A. There’s the prototypical avocado toast, smoothies and a breakfast burrito that’s quickly become a favorite option in the city’s crowded scene. Order a pizza for the table — I rotate among the truffle mushroom, spicy diavola and smoked salmon with chive crème fraîche. Natural wine is available by the bottle or glass if lunch turns into happy hour.
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Gucci Osteria
Beverly Hills Italian $$$$
There’s lunch, and then there’s Gucci lunch. At Gucci Osteria da Massimo Bottura, one of L.A.’s most stylish and posh restaurants, lunch comes with a side of views, people-watching and whimsy. Take the restaurant’s dedicated elevator, located next to the Gucci store, and find yourself on a terrace above Beverly Hills surrounded by plants, red velvet banquettes, and a variety of Gucci wallpapers, with dishes served on the fashion house’s iconic Herbarium-print plates. The Michelin-starred restaurant, with an original location in Florence, opens for lunch Monday to Saturday from 12:30 to 2 p.m. and serves a very California spin on Italian cuisine in both tasting-menu and à la carte formats: the former is an abbreviated, less expensive option than the dinner tasting menu ($170 versus $285), while the latter offers a quicker taste for the busy or simply curious.
Though Bottura’s name and signature dishes — such as his labor-intensive tortellini in Parmigiano Reggiano sauce or his Emilia burger, available in full or mini sizes — are front and center, executive chef Mattia Agazzi shapes much of the menu, lifting multicultural inspiration from the city that’s unique to the L.A. location. Fennel-and-sturgeon salad gets a sprinkling of nori and tostada-like buckwheat crackers, Milanese-leaning cod is miso-marinated and panko-fried, insalata di mare involves California-coast seafood and pops of seaweed. In a sea of see-and-be-seen Beverly Hills restaurants, this is where to lunch above it all, literally, for an elegant splurge.
Though Bottura’s name and signature dishes — such as his labor-intensive tortellini in Parmigiano Reggiano sauce or his Emilia burger, available in full or mini sizes — are front and center, executive chef Mattia Agazzi shapes much of the menu, lifting multicultural inspiration from the city that’s unique to the L.A. location. Fennel-and-sturgeon salad gets a sprinkling of nori and tostada-like buckwheat crackers, Milanese-leaning cod is miso-marinated and panko-fried, insalata di mare involves California-coast seafood and pops of seaweed. In a sea of see-and-be-seen Beverly Hills restaurants, this is where to lunch above it all, literally, for an elegant splurge.
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The Hideaway
Beverly Hills Mexican Steakhouse $$$
The Hideaway feels like the place where the cast of Netflix’s “Selling Sunset” would do business lunches. Sitting at a mint wrought-iron table across from the terracotta fireplace, there’s a person reading their own tarot cards to my left and a posh neighborhood mom on a lunch date with her sweats-clad teenage son to my right. I visited the Beverly Hills restaurant on one of L.A.’s recent rainy days, but the skylit “patio” was awash in a warm glow and the dining rooms — even the dim interior with its private booths — carried a motivating buzz.
As the name suggests, the Mexican-ish steakhouse is hidden in a narrow Beverly Hills business center, and dining here feels like it’s reserved for those in the know. The scene turns more, well, scene-y for dinner and beyond, but lunch offers the affordable Uno Dos Tres menu for $32 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., with starters including tiny tuna tartare wonton tacos and Wagyu flautas, mains like fajitas and short-rib enchiladas with Mexican rice and refried beans, and churros or flan for dessert. The space was lively enough that I inquired about ordering a frozen strawberry margarita from the cocktail menu; the machine was down so they made me a freshly muddled one instead.
As the name suggests, the Mexican-ish steakhouse is hidden in a narrow Beverly Hills business center, and dining here feels like it’s reserved for those in the know. The scene turns more, well, scene-y for dinner and beyond, but lunch offers the affordable Uno Dos Tres menu for $32 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., with starters including tiny tuna tartare wonton tacos and Wagyu flautas, mains like fajitas and short-rib enchiladas with Mexican rice and refried beans, and churros or flan for dessert. The space was lively enough that I inquired about ordering a frozen strawberry margarita from the cocktail menu; the machine was down so they made me a freshly muddled one instead.
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Highly Likely
Highland Park American $$
Highly Likely opened a sunny all-day spot — its second location (the first is in West Adams) — on a stretch of Figueroa in Highland Park late last year, and it has been bustling ever since. Chef Kat Turner’s robust daytime menu emits “This is a neighborhood restaurant” vibes, packed with sandwiches, wraps, toasts, bowls, salads and egg dishes for anyone who wants breakfast after noon. Pretty much everything is under $20. Lunch-goers will find the familiar, with twists. The kale salad is crispy with cumin-scented puffed quinoa and frizzled onions. A fish sando is called Fish (Don’t Have) Fingers Sandwich and features fried wild snapper with yuzu kosho tartar sauce. A long list of sides are diner-like add-ons but better, because in addition to eggs any style or bacon or grilled chicken, you can get crispy halloumi, roasted mushrooms or a gluten-free bun with cultured butter. The beverage list is extensive too: cocktails, iced and hot teas, coffee drinks, soft drinks, wine and beer. The central wraparound bar in the middle of the dining room is solo-diner-friendly, and the big patio out back — with a separate bar of its own — beckons parties of all sizes.
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Holy Basil
Atwater Village Thai $$
It’s hard to believe Holy Basil’s new Atwater location, which arrived just a few months ago on a bustling strip of Glendale Boulevard, is still in soft-opening mode. The menu at the second, larger location of Wedchayan “Deau” Arpapornnopparat and Tongkamal “Joy” Yuon‘s Thai restaurant adds shrimp in yellow curry and a Thai omelet, in addition to dishes first introduced at their original downtown stall, such as beef tataki swimming in a piquant sauce threaded with cilantro that you’ll want to pour over every dish. With the interior limited to a handful of seats at a short steel bar that overlooks the kitchen and a few tables clad in plastic red-plaid tablecloths, the patio that’s tucked in a narrow alley off the street is where I prefer to eat. Though I’m told it can get a little chilly at night, the shade is perfect during lunchtime.
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Houston's Pasadena
Pasadena American Restaurant
I’ve never really understood the Hillstone Restaurant Group marketing strategy, which seems to be … whatever the opposite of building brand recognition is. Houston’s, Hillstone, R+D Kitchen, Honor Bar, South Beverly Grill — these are all Hillstone-owned restaurants with very similar menus but, obviously, very different names. I guess they don’t want to be grouped in with the other chain restaurants? Regardless, the strategy seems to be working, and I still love Houston’s.
Houston’s is fun because it feels clubby. It feels like a classy Cheesecake Factory. Dark wood, drawn shades, martinis at the bar, capacious booths. It still has its funny “no hats” policy but I’m not sure how strictly it’s enforced. Burgers and a fried chicken sandwich are solid, the spinach and artichoke dip is the gooey mess you need it to be, and salads — the emerald kale salad in particular — are better than you’d think. But sushi might be the real power move at Houston’s. The Thai tuna roll, which is, let’s just say, nontraditional, is stuffed with fish, avocado, crunchy coconut and macadamia nuts and reminded my dining partner of a bowl of cereal. It’s surprisingly good.
Houston’s is fun because it feels clubby. It feels like a classy Cheesecake Factory. Dark wood, drawn shades, martinis at the bar, capacious booths. It still has its funny “no hats” policy but I’m not sure how strictly it’s enforced. Burgers and a fried chicken sandwich are solid, the spinach and artichoke dip is the gooey mess you need it to be, and salads — the emerald kale salad in particular — are better than you’d think. But sushi might be the real power move at Houston’s. The Thai tuna roll, which is, let’s just say, nontraditional, is stuffed with fish, avocado, crunchy coconut and macadamia nuts and reminded my dining partner of a bowl of cereal. It’s surprisingly good.
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Johnny's West Adams
Jefferson Park Deli $
Pull up to this parking lot-turned-patio with a local who’s most interested in having a chill yet satisfying meal. Danny Elmaleh of nearby Mizlala and Vicky’s All Day took over the historic, previously Black-owned stand in June 2020 after several years of closure. He touts a similar menu, specializing in tender, marbled pastrami that you can order piled on a burger; tossed with fries, melted Swiss, caramelized onions and thousand island sauce; and in warm white corn tortillas with chopped onions and cilantro that rival some street versions. If lunch turns to happy hour, mosey over to the Bar at Johnny’s next door, which has garden seating as well as an indoor bar.
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Knife Pleat
Costa Mesa French $$$$
Knife Pleat is where you go for a power lunch or decadent midday meal with friends. At $95 for a three-course prix fixe menu, it’s a splurge. Look on the bright side: Lunch is at least $100 less expensive than dinner at this 101 Best Restaurants pick. Yes, it’s an extravagance, but every dish is on point and so is the service. I’m particularly fond of the libation cart they glide from table to table, offering formidable cocktails. I like to start with the Yves Saint Laurent, a floral-forward concoction of vodka, kumquat and rose water.
There is caviar service and a fun Knife Pleat CBD Power Lunch menu priced at $110. But the seasonal menu is the real star, with your choice of appetizer, main and dessert. To start, the crudo was a standout with fresh shima aji, ginger, heart of palm and cashew providing a delightful medley of taste and texture. For the main, the tender American Wagyu melts in the mouth and pairs perfectly with the morel and short rib “en croute.” Wash it down with a glass of the 2019 Manuel Moldes Bierzo. If you’re partial to chocolate and hazelnut, bookend your meal with the gold-leaf-decorated Louis XV. My favorite was the rhubarb and elderflower panna cotta, which is equal parts aesthetically pleasing and delicious. Note: There is a 23% service fee tacked on to your bill.
There is caviar service and a fun Knife Pleat CBD Power Lunch menu priced at $110. But the seasonal menu is the real star, with your choice of appetizer, main and dessert. To start, the crudo was a standout with fresh shima aji, ginger, heart of palm and cashew providing a delightful medley of taste and texture. For the main, the tender American Wagyu melts in the mouth and pairs perfectly with the morel and short rib “en croute.” Wash it down with a glass of the 2019 Manuel Moldes Bierzo. If you’re partial to chocolate and hazelnut, bookend your meal with the gold-leaf-decorated Louis XV. My favorite was the rhubarb and elderflower panna cotta, which is equal parts aesthetically pleasing and delicious. Note: There is a 23% service fee tacked on to your bill.
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Lalibela
Carthay Ethiopian $$
Any way you look at it, eating Ethiopian food is a bonding experience. If your lunch guest is new to the cuisine that features an array of dishes traditionally eaten with your hands, you’ll earn their trust as you instruct them on creating the perfect folded bite of spongy injera bread, sauteed veggies, herbs and spices. If they’re familiar with the cuisine, you’ll reinforce your expertise as you trade menu tips and converse casually with the staff. Get the veggie sambusas to start and consider ordering the cornis special that combines three of the most popular meat dishes to share (the vegetarian platter is a great option too, even if you’re not strictly plant-based). Finish with a traditional coffee ceremony if you need a boost before heading back to work.
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Lulu
Westwood Californian $$
If the artful, always rotating seasonal dishes by some of the world’s most famous chefs don’t draw you to Lulu, at the very least the setting should. With lanterns hanging from the trees’ far-reaching branches, the Hammer Museum’s courtyard restaurant is not only a tranquil place to graze before or after a wander through the free museum but also serves as the canvas for daily, affordable prix fixe and a la carte dishes by legendary chefs Alice Waters and David Tanis. The lauded Chez Panisse chef-owner and alum Tanis, who heads the kitchen, might offer clams with beans and broth one afternoon and tuna with crème fraîche and mustard greens the next, regularly sourcing from roughly two dozen California farms, with produce often hand-picked from the market by Tanis himself. At dinner, the three-course prix fixe menu is priced at $65, but at lunch it’s $45: a bargain for a multicourse meal by two of the innovators of California cuisine.
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Manuela
Downtown L.A. Southern Californian $$$
Manuela’s courtyard dining room at Hauser & Wirth’s Arts District gallery is one of the best all-purpose lunch spots downtown. Meet a friend or co-workers or visiting out-of-towners, or go solo and cruise through the gallery bookstore on your way in or out. Executive chef Kris Tominaga’s lunch menu has plenty of options: dips, biscuits with country ham, salads, oysters. An aguachile of tiny Pacific white shrimp scattered with cucumber, avocado, sesame seeds and slivered watermelon radish is served with a pile of crispy purple-carrot chips. A bright citrus salad of Cara Cara orange and sweet onion zings with garlic miso, spiced cashews and serrano chiles. Among nearly a dozen mains are a hefty venison burger, a shrimp roll, grass-fed skirt steak and grilled yellowtail. The art, cocktails and valet parking are all bonuses.
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Pane Bianco
Downtown L.A. Pizza Sandwich Shop $$
Big sandwiches on fresh-baked bread and pizza by the slice are the draw at Pane Bianco, the daytime restaurant from famed pizzaiolo Chris Bianco, who took over part of the sprawling former Tartine space at Row DTLA. The menu includes red, green and salumi-topped New York-style pizza slices; Roman pizzas alla pala (“on a paddle”) straight from the oven, such as my favorite slathered with Fontina and garnished with Meyer lemon, red onion and rosemary; and seasonal salads — but who’s here for salads? As for sandwiches, it’s hard to choose between the roast beef with pickled banana peppers on a baguette smeared with fermented Fresno chile butter and calçots aioli, or mortadella with kishu mandarin mostarda on focaccia. Come with a friend and share both of them.
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Perilla L.A.
Chinatown Korean $
Jihee Kim started Perilla as a banchan-focused pop up during the pandemic, but the project gained permanence with the launch of her cozy, Chinatown-adjacent takeout post last year. Here, Kim proves banchan are more than just sides, offering made-to-order combination plates and pre-packaged items that combine produce of the moment with varying degrees of fermentation. You can stock up on good-for-the-gut kimchi collard greens, sugar snap peas drizzled with fermented and roasted soy bean powder or find a seat on the sunny courtyard and dig into dosirak lunch boxes with chicken or cod over banchan and steamed rice. Cold soy garlic noodles, gimbap and spicy, gochuchang-glazed dupbap complete the menu. Get a house-made yuzu lemonade soda to wash it all down, or stop by Heavy Water Coffee shop in the same open-air complex if you’re in need of a caffeinated beverage.
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The Rose
Venice New American $$
A glowing pink sign greets you at the Rose, one of your first clues that the industrial exterior is more than meets the eye. Plants lead you inside and bob in crocheted hanging planters throughout the restaurant. The expansive space encompasses a Verve coffee bar, bakery and market, 40-foot-long cocktail bar and open kitchen, with plenty of high-top and long communal tables, plus multiple outdoor areas. The clientele is an eclectic mix of influencing locals, sunburned hippies and polo-collared tech bros, another opportunity to validate a visiting client’s reality-TV-fueled assumptions about L.A. Celebrated local chef Ray Garcia took over the menu in February but is sticking to its market-fresh roots with a citrusy ceviche loaded with shrimp, squid and octopus, and agnolotti stuffed with kabocha, covered in a brown butter sauce and garnished with crispy zucchini slivers and thyme.
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Saffy's Coffee & Tea
East Hollywood Coffee Mediterranean $
When one of L.A.’s most popular chef-restaurateur duos debuted a coffee shop adjacent to their dinner-only East Hollywood restaurant, caffeine and pastry lovers quickly began heading to the daytime spot for flaky bourekas, frothy lattes and saffron lemonades. Now that Saffy’s Coffee & Tea serves brunch and lunch from Wednesday to Sunday — featuring some of the city’s best shawarma — fans are flocking. Husband-and-wife team Ori Menashe and Genevieve Gergis, who also operate Bavel and Bestia, are offering Middle Eastern flavors from Saffy’s during the day; items are ordered next door at the coffee shop but the full restaurant’s patio seating is available, with brunch served from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. and lunch from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. The marble and wood tabletops quickly fill up with orders of Arabic breakfast and shakshuka, but the lunch menu features one of the city’s terrific new sandwiches: the beef and lamb brisket pita, positively packed with tender meat that’s brightened by generous squiggles of tahini, amba and zhoug. Arrayas, focaccia sandwiches, chicken shishlik pitas and salads also are on offer, but get there early because the most popular items can sell out. Want to take some of Saffy’s home with you? Be sure to order the house-made pitas, cookies and bread loaves to-go from the coffee shop.
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Saltie Girl
West Hollywood Seafood Restaurant $$
With a sizable, seafood-focused menu that includes towers, salads, sandwiches (the lobster roll!), toasts and lunch plates, you can stop in for something quick or have a three-hour blowout lunch. Most of the favorites from dinner are available on the lunch menu, including all the tinned fish, plus a few lunch plates like the truffled eggs. It’s a decadent plate of sunny-side-up eggs under a winter truffle sauce with plenty of buttery toast points for dipping. Or have a lunch meeting over one of the restaurant’s smoked fish platters, served with bagels, cream cheese and all the fixins. If you’re with someone from out of town, ask for a seat on the patio. It’s the ideal spot for people-watching along Sunset Boulevard.
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Sonoratown
Mid-Wilshire Mexican $
The Mid-City second location of Jennifer Feltham and Teodoro Diaz-Rodriguez Jr.’s taquería, which became an immediate staple among our city’s plentiful options when it opened downtown in 2020, is great for a quick and filling lunch, with metal bar counters in the narrow interior and a handful of colorful tables on the sidewalk patio. It even has (limited) free parking in the lot of the shopping plaza where it’s located. You can’t go wrong with the original downtown outpost either, which features a similar teal-and-orange color palette and a patio bar that faces the restaurant. Everything that’s wrapped in flour tortillas made in the style of Diaz-Rodriguez’s hometown of San Luis Río Colorado, Sonora, is worth ordering; I volley between the Burrito 2.0 with char-flecked steak, folded caramelos with Sonoran-style chorizo and chivichangas with smoky shredded chicken. Daily agua frescas temper the heat of chiltepin salsa that I can’t help pouring over everything.
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Sugarfish
Hollywood Eatery
For the purposes of this map, I’m happy to be a Sugarfish supporter. It won’t come close to the best sushi you can get, but how many foods do you eat that are the superlative of the form? Sugarfish, with 11 L.A. locations, is pretty quick, fun to go to, tasty enough and — this is the most important thing — you always know what you’re getting. Think about the number of things in your life that are there not necessarily because they’re the best but because they’re a known quantity. This can extend to food, clothing, employment, even marriages. We are all, to some degree, creatures of habit.
The food is also pretty reasonably priced — variations of the “Trust Me” menu range from $22 to $59. The menu is a bit reliant on ponzu sauce, I’ll admit, but it’s a pretty good ponzu. You’ll probably end up getting tuna and albacore drenched in that tart, sweet sauce along with a couple of other pieces and a hand roll while you’re eavesdropping on the next table’s conversation about who’s in and out at a particular studio. Sugarfish takes the planning out of lunch, and that can sometimes be a good thing. It’s even one of the few no-tipping establishments around, which makes the prices look even better, and is just one less thing to think about.
The food is also pretty reasonably priced — variations of the “Trust Me” menu range from $22 to $59. The menu is a bit reliant on ponzu sauce, I’ll admit, but it’s a pretty good ponzu. You’ll probably end up getting tuna and albacore drenched in that tart, sweet sauce along with a couple of other pieces and a hand roll while you’re eavesdropping on the next table’s conversation about who’s in and out at a particular studio. Sugarfish takes the planning out of lunch, and that can sometimes be a good thing. It’s even one of the few no-tipping establishments around, which makes the prices look even better, and is just one less thing to think about.
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Sushi Tama
Beverly Grove Sushi $$
Sushi Tama is the type of place that will make you a cut tuna roll if you want one, or serve you an omakase meal that will impress any purist. You can be in and out in less than an hour. Watching the chefs expertly slice and shape nigiri feels like a real break from work in the middle of the day. If you’re with a group, there are tables both inside and out, where you can comfortably hold a meeting over a steady progression of well-made nigiri and hand rolls. The Wagyu and Hokkaido uni hand roll is a showstopper, with a warm slab of steak nestled up against the cool uni, surrounded by seasoned rice wrapped in crisp seaweed. It’s noticeably better than any hand roll you’ll get at that chain that just serves hand rolls. You know the one.
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(Trishna Patel)
Yuko Kitchen
Mid-Wilshire Restaurant
All of chef-owner Yuko Watanabe’s eponymous restaurants — two in downtown and one in Mid-Wilshire — feature foliage-filled interiors and patios with plants available for purchase, offering a peaceful oasis in two of L.A.’s busiest neighborhoods. Tucked on a quiet residential block away from the traffic of Wilshire Boulevard, the Miracle Mile location remains a relative secret and my favorite of the three. In the cozy shop, animated Hayao Miyazaki films play on repeat and potted plants and ferns border tables for a jungle atmosphere. The covered patio shares a similar vibe, with plants climbing the walls and draping overhead. The menu offers comforting dishes inspired by those Watanabe grew up with in Japan, including salmon skin salad and fresh rolls stuffed with spicy salmon, shrimp tempura or avocado. The special plates are a hard deal to beat with your choice of protein (minced beef, barbecue catfish, chicken teriyaki or tofu), rice, four rolls or two spicy salmon cakes, green salad with cucumber and tomato, a shot of the day’s soup and a dessert sample. For beverages, the mint lemonade is blended into a thick icy shake and a selection of boba, tea and coffee drinks also are available.
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(Cindy Carcamo / Los Angeles Times)
608 Dahlia
Newport Beach Farm-to-table $$
Tucked away in a lush garden at the Sherman Library in Corona del Mar, you’ll forget you’re just steps away from the hustle and bustle of Pacific Coast Highway. At executive chef Jessica Roy’s restaurant, the beauty of the flowers and vegetables on your plate rival your view of the gardens. It makes sense. Roy handpicks many of the garnishes and Manassero Farms herbs from the library gardens or from her home garden. Produce is sourced from Orange County farms and Roy scours local farmer markets for fresh ingredients.
Start with the seasonal beet salad. The orange slices and aged balsamic lend just the right amount of acid and sweetness, playing well with the creaminess from the whipped goat cheese and avocado. Crispy quinoa, salty Point Reyes blue cheese and tarragon herb dressing in the Cultivar salad make it a delicious combination of crunch and freshness. Sitting atop a bed of Israeli couscous salad with wild mushrooms, the lamb shank is a standout, braised so well that the meat just falls off the bone. You also can’t go wrong with the seasonal quiche with house-rolled crust and leeks, served with a mixed garden salad. The wine list is adequate, but try the infused-wine cocktails. I’m fond of the classic citrus Dahlia margarita.
Start with the seasonal beet salad. The orange slices and aged balsamic lend just the right amount of acid and sweetness, playing well with the creaminess from the whipped goat cheese and avocado. Crispy quinoa, salty Point Reyes blue cheese and tarragon herb dressing in the Cultivar salad make it a delicious combination of crunch and freshness. Sitting atop a bed of Israeli couscous salad with wild mushrooms, the lamb shank is a standout, braised so well that the meat just falls off the bone. You also can’t go wrong with the seasonal quiche with house-rolled crust and leeks, served with a mixed garden salad. The wine list is adequate, but try the infused-wine cocktails. I’m fond of the classic citrus Dahlia margarita.
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Updates:
3:01 a.m. April 25, 2024: This article is an expanded update of a guide that was first published in April 2023. Citizen Public Market and Alta Adams have been removed and numerous places have been added, including All Day Baby, Ammatolí, Azizam, Clark Street Diner, Ditroit Taqueria, Gucci Osteria, Highly Likely, Holy Basil, Knife Pleat, Lulu, Pane Bianco, Perilla L.A., Saffy’s Coffee & Tea, Sonoratown, Yuko Kitchen and 608 Dahlia at Sherman Library and Gardens.
