How to Eat Your Way Around Los Angeles

Los Angeles may not be known for the best food in the world, but you can get a taco from any number of truck vendors and have your world rearranged as you discover all the wondrous things you can fill inside a tortilla. It’s a city brash enough to sizzle the senses with the kind of Thai food that will have you smacking your lips back to your parked car. Oh, and if you like Asian fare, there’s an entire San Gabriel Valley of options. Good luck conquering that in a lifetime.

Come to think of it, this place has sushi that will have you pulling a Meg Ryan in the restaurant, delectable Cuban baked goods and a plethora of higher-end dining establishments that pack as much personality into their locations as they do taste into their dishes.

Often times the food is so good you don’t even mind waiting in a long line to get it, even after sitting in the usual Los Angeles traffic.

OK, so maybe this city does have the best food in the world.

The good news is that your options are abundant. The bad news is there's no way you will conquer it all. Maybe... maybe if you had a couple of lifetimes and loose enough pants. You can, however, devour a big enough slice of this city to keep you satiated until your next visit.

Los Angeles is huge. And I don’t mean you can walk it in a couple of days Manhattan huge—it’s more of an ‘it will take you an hour to cross it by car’ kind of huge. So, any kind of intrepid dive into its food scene means you will have to digest the city one area at a time. Instead of mushing all of your food together, it’s sometimes best to keep things separate. L.A. is also best consumed in this fashion.

The Generally Delicious

Every part of the country has its homegrown talent, the restaurants and dives that welcome locals and tourists in the know. Los Angeles has a few of note: In-N-Out is the most obvious, the kind of establishment that beckons with nostalgia and comfort for locals and the promise of a fine burger for those just now tasting it for the first time.

Tito’s Tacos in Culver City is another joint that is perhaps viewed through the eyes of those who were raised on the inexpensive tacos and burritos.

Philippe’s in the downtown area argues that it’s the first to French dip their sandwiches. What is inarguable is the satisfaction that washes over you when you devour a double-dip with their homemade mustard.

Tommy’s is another regional classic, topping their burgers with specialized chili for over 70 years. Yes, you will smell like their menu for a day after enjoyment, but it’s worth it.

San Gabriel Valley

While L.A. adjacent, the San Gabriel Valley is too close and too delicious to ignore. Some of the best Asian cuisines can be found just a dumpling’s throw from the 10.

In fact, you could have quite the stomach sojourn visiting such places as Chengdu Taste for some sizzling hot pots, fried dumplings at Beijing Pie House and the Vietnamese fare you get at Golden Deli Restaurant as you head east. The final spot would have to be Sea Harbour Seafood Restaurant, which brings nuance and sophistication to its dim sum while maintaining flavors that cause immediate addiction.

Downtown

As with any major metropolis, the downtown area is going to be daunting and made up of its own myriad sections and districts. Los Angeles is no different.

While not walkable, downtown is certainly Uber-able. And so many of these landing spots feature post-meal entertainment.

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Take Little Tokyo for example—it presents its own wonderful conundrum of resplendent choices. Do you dive into a bowl of soul-satisfying broth at the renowned Daikokuya or, perhaps, walk over and sample the many beers and sausages being doled out at Wurstkuche?

Live jazz and frantic button-mashing are just some of the reasons to pencil in a stop.

But you want more. You want to taste the classic and the new. Well, you’ve come to the right spot. Philippe’s has been serving French dip for as long as the sandwich has been a thing. And the reimagined Grand Central Market continues to do what it set out to accomplish over 100 years ago, serving the community some of the best food around.

You’ll notice constant construction as this city’s skyline gets a makeover. All the while, its food scene continues to evolve and mature with places like Bestia and Broken Spanish paving the way for Italian and Mexican cooking that is both forward-thinking but wonderfully nostalgic.

As for the best tacos in town, you would be hard-pressed to find just one place. But if you have just one dinner to devour, then drop by Guerrilla Tacos, which recently took the operation from food truck to permanent brick-and-mortar. It’s there that they continue to take simple concepts, like a sweet potato taco, and blow your mind with execution and flavor.

From downtown, you can head just east and dive into taco and burrito havens like Guisado’s, which will test your personal best Scoville score; or you can chow down at area mainstay El Tepeyac. It’s tucked away but worth the hunt, the kind of establishment that welcomes folks who ‘have been going there for years.’

Eastside

Or you can always go just north from downtown and enter the eastside haunts of Echo Park and Silverlake.

Sqirl is sometimes the only reason to get out of bed in the morning. Even the worst hangover can be made tolerable by their rice bowls, breakfast sandwiches and French toast—a dish that should legally be called a dessert.

It’s easy to run smack dab into flavor the rest of the time with restaurants like Tsubaki and Night+Market Song, enticing with heat and unforgettable flavor.

If your hankering for homemade pasta kicks in, slide on over to Alimento, where the pasta is prepared in such a way that you are guaranteed to discuss the “bite” and addictive “chew” during your commute home.

The Valley

If you want sprawling, then slide down the 101 or 405 into the San Fernando Valley, although you’re more than likely crawling along at the breakneck speed of five miles-per-hour. There, the jungle is concrete and the streets are thoughtfully arranged in more of a grid formation.

You can allow plenty of time to idle discussion traveling from Asanebo and its pristine sushi to Brent’s, where you will be hit with the sudden realization that Angelenos do have great pastrami and it’s not just at Langer’s—a place that gives New York’s Katz’s some serious competition.

Koreatown

New York might be the city that never sleeps, but Los Angeles’ Koreatown is certainly bleary-eyed with its resplendent display of diners, bars and speakeasy locales.

Good food just finds its way into the K-Town fold, regardless of whether it’s Korean. Guelaguetza and the aforementioned Langer’s remain Angeleno institutions.

But if you are willing to deal with the traffic, chances are you have a hankering for banchan and mounds of barbecue. Park’s BBQ is good if you’re in the mood for a pile of meat you grill yourself in a location that won’t let you down.

Sun Nong Dan is the spot if you never know when you’ll be in the mood as it’s open 24 hours and has the stews that will stick to your bones or that hangover you’re working on.

Local favorites Soban, Jun Won Restaurant and Ma Dang Gook Soo are also must-eat destinations.

West Los Angeles

It’s best to leave West L.A. to the final chapter in your trip. Thanks to traffic, you are pretty much stuck here anyway after you arrive. People go decades without ever traipsing back across the 405, settling down and raising a family after considering what sitting in a car for an hour might feel like.

The good news is that this more than a little pocket of Angeleno goodness. It’s a melting pot of delicious cuisine and family-friendly attractions.

And, moving west, you’ll hit any number of remarkable and important restaurants like Petit Trois and Animal. But, for the sake of brevity, let’s take an offramp to the westside.

With bookend locations in Santa Monica and Culver City, you have little excuse to not descend upon Father’s Office, imbibe a fine selection of beer and taste one of the best burgers you will ever have.

If you are in the mood for refinement and impeccably prepared seafood, then pencil in n/naka. Just plan your trip accordingly (Read: Reserve a spot months in advance). And Santa Monica’s Cassia is good enough to plan a weekend trip around.

Just before you hit the ocean lay a quaint area of bustle, especially on the first Friday of every month. That’s when you can taste test one food truck after another along Venice’s Abbot Kinney.

If you miss out, you’re in luck. The immediate area commands the good kind of traffic jam, one festooned with amazing dining options.

Tasting Kitchen is that singular institution that simply does everything perfectly. From the bread to the final course, you’ll be gobsmacked by sophistication. Felix Trattoria is relatively new to the area, a haven for classic pasta-making, thanks to maestro Evan Funke who takes his pappardelle and orecchiette very seriously. And if you don’t mind a wait, Gjelina, or ordering in an unorthodox manner, Gjusta, Venice will have you planning a return visit as soon as you pack up the to-go box.

But I implore you to consider one street to venture, and that’s Sawtelle. Positioned between Olympic and Santa Monica Blvd. lay a cavalcade of mainly Asian restaurants such as Tsujita LA, Killer Noodle and Furaibo. If ever there was an area made for restaurant hopping, this would be it.

Obviously, I missed a lot of towns and a remarkable number of restaurants that are worth your time, money and stomach space.

There are a few things to glean from our brief tour of Los Angeles and its food scene. The most important is that options are abundant. But almost as important is how you can get to know L.A. a bit better.

Instead of looking at it from afar and noticing its clogged freeways, smog and the frenetic pace of its population, you would be better served to get a little closer. Explore one or a few of its neighborhoods and discover that it’s rather easy to fall in love with this town. It just happens one block at a time.