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Top Ten Los Angeles Restaurants

by Stett Holbrook on Mar 18, 2011
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Pizzeria Mozza
When is a pizza more than dough, sauce and cheese? When it's elevated to high art like it's done at Mozza. Nancy Silverton, Mario Batali and Joseph Bastianich meld their prodigious talents at Pizzeria Mozza. Mozza has become the place in Los Angeles for pizza pie—and the celebrities and regular folks continue to flock. That's means you'll wait for a table but it's worth it.

Lucques
This LA mainstay has still got it. Chef/owner Suzanne Goin delivers impeccably sourced, California-meets-Mediterranean food with homey style. Lucques kitchen excels at hearty meat dishes like the braised short ribs, grilled steak for two or the Greek inspired slow-roasted lamb sirloin with skordalia, lima beans, yogurt and marinated cucumber.

Kogi
This is the one the started it all. The Korean-Mexican taco truck has inspired a host of cross-cultural imitators on wheels but Kogi, beloved by soused club goers and the on-the-go lunch crowd alike, is the original. Kimchee quesadilla? Spam-a-Lot-Short-rib Burger? It's all at Kogi and powered by Twitter (78,000 followers and counting) at twitter.com/kogibbq.

Huckleberry Bakery and Cafe
If you can deal with the line, Santa Monica's Huckleberry Bakery and Cafe serves up what may be the best, homiest breakfast and brunch in Los Angeles. The place is a showcase of inventive, crazy-delicious pastries and baked goods, such as Niman Ranch maple bacon scones and house-made, chocolate dipped donuts. The fried egg sandwich with arugula works, too, if you don't have a sweet tooth. Rise and shine indeed.

Animal
Meat-loving Animal has become one of the most influential restaurants in LA. Chefs Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo turned an appearing on Iron Chef into a book contract and a TV show before opening Animal, their first restaurant. Food critic Jonathan Gold declares it the place where visiting chefs go when they have time for only one dinner in town.

Street
Chef Susan Feniger, one half of the team that created the beloved Border Grill, has another hit on her hands with Street. As befits the name, Street celebrates street foods of the world and represents a branching out from her Latin American restaurant roots. Look for Egyptian koshary (spiced rice, lentils, and pasta with stewed collard greens), Bombay crunchy-sour-sweet-salty snacks called pani puri and a Vietnamese dish of fresh corn wok-cooked with spring onions and pork belly.

Valentino
Los Angeles has scores of Italian restaurants, but Valentino continues to stand out. The Santa Monica restaurant, flagship of Piero Selvaggio’s Valentino Restaurant Group, is widely regarded as one of the nation's finest Italian restaurants. Valentino has received critical acclaim for its food, wine and service from Wine Spectator, Bon Appétit, Gourmet and Food & Wine. The restaurant has also received James Beard Foundation awards for both its wine list and service. When it comes to top notch Italian food you really can't do much better.

Campanile
Venerable Campanile continues to shine. Housed in a dramatic structure built in 1929 by architect Roy Sheldon Price for Charlie Chaplin, Campanile is a showcase for chef Mark Peel's talent. Over the past 20 years, both the restaurant and chef Peel have received numerous awards, including the James Beard Foundation's Outstanding Restaurant Award and the Los Angeles Culinary Master of the Year Award. But it's the food that sets Campanile apart. The family style menus feature dishes like chunky mushroom soup, grilled venison, bouillabaisse and even Hungarian goulash.

The Bazaar by Jose Andres
In America, Italian food has Mario Batali and Spanish food has Jose Andres. And now lucky Angelos have The Bazaar, Andres' ode to the best of Spanish and the New World cuisine interpreted by a modern master of cutting edge, molecular gastronomic inspired technique.

Drago
Chef Celestino Drago has etched his name in culinary fame by cooking up some of the best Italian food in Los Angeles, and it all started with the opening of Drago Ristorante in Santa Monica. The Italian restaurant has been consistently rated as one of the top 5 LA Italian restaurants since its doors opened back in 1991.When dining at Drago’s, you won't find spaghetti and meatballs on the menu; instead, you will explore different selections of antipasti, pasta, and traditional Sicilian entrees that range from outstanding carpaccio salads to fresh, flavorful pastas; one of the most popular dishes on the menu is the Tortelloni di Zucca alla Salvia (pumpkin tortelloni in a creamy sage sauce). Chef Drago has been also praised for his preparations of rich game dishes straight from his homeland, such as the Coniglio all’Agrodolce, succulent pan roasted rabbit in a sweet and sour sauce.



by Stett Holbrook on Mar 18, 2011
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