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Los Angeles may be known for its beach living and celebrity-infused backdrop, but it was once a farm town. The hillsides were covered in citrus orchards and dairy farms, and agriculture was a major industry. Today, even as L.A. is urbanized, the city's culinary landscape has re-embraced a local, sustainable, and seasonal philosophy at many levels—from fine dining to street snacks.
With a growing interest in farm-to-fork, the city's farmers' market scene has exploded, becoming popular at big-name restaurants and small eateries alike. In Hollywood and Santa Monica you can often find high-profile chefs scouring farm stands for fresh produce.
Yet the status of the celebrity chef continues to carry weight around this town. People follow the culinary zeitgeist with the same fervor as celebrity gossip. You can queue up with the hungry hordes at Mozza or try and snag a reservation to the ever-popular Trois Mec that’s much like getting a golden ticket these days. Elsewhere, the seasonally driven bakery and insanely popular Huckleberry in Santa Monica has been given a Brentwood counterpart with the rustically sweet Milo & Olive created by the same owners. In Culver City, a run-down International House of Pancakes has been turned into the ski chalet–inspired A-Frame Tavern. The Ace Hotel opened an L.A. chapter Downtown, creating a hip haven when you can enjoy cocktails and locally sourced menu items poolside or in the restaurant.
Ethnic eats continue to be a backbone to the L.A. dining scene. People head to the San Gabriel Valley for dim sum, ramen, and unassuming taco lounges; Koreatown for epic Korean cooking and late-night coffeehouses; and West L.A. and "the Valley" for phenomenal sushi. Latin food is well represented in the city, making it tough to choose between Guatemalan eateries, Peruvian restaurants, nouveau Mexican bistros, and Tijuana-style taco trucks. With so many dining options, sometimes the best strategy is simply to drive and explore.
The Butcher's Daughter now has multiple locations due to its popular vibrant setting and plant-forward menu, café, and juice bar. Start your day with a Superfood smoothie or honey lavender latte; later enjoy mushroom "calamari," a quinoa bowl, or stone oven pizza. They also have a kid's menu. On Friday there is live music in the evening, and a live DJ set on Saturday starting at noon.
Just because Bea Bea’s is a no-nonsense kind of place, it doesn’t mean the food (of which they have a lot, like 23 different takes on pancakes a lot) isn’t special. This diner serves breakfast food that is about as close to extraordinary as the most important meal of the day can be. Plates are piled high but chances are you'll have worked up an appetite during perpetually long waits.
Mediterranean-inspired Casaléna, a bi-level maze of large luxe dining rooms, pretty patios and rooftop spaces decked out with dramatic chandeliers, modern art, potted trees, and fireplaces, is another example of the second generation successfully breathing new life into the family business. Befitting the space, the menu is also big, plucking ideas from Italy, Spain, and Greece and putting them through a California filter which results in mostly pasta, pizza, seafood, share-sized salads, and pricey cuts of beef. With a strong bar program, weekend brunch, and special occasion pricing, it's quite popular for date nights and big-group celebrations and, given the scope of the restaurant, it can get pretty busy and then noisy. Never enough however to keep you from the beet salad, the whole branzino in chimichurri, or fried squash blossoms.
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