When it comes to LA, there are plenty of resources one might consult when deciding where to eat a particular meal. Kevin Eats is a must-read. EaterLA regularly updates their “heatmap,” which provides a list of the hottest restaurants in the city at a given time. They also offer a list of the 38 best restaurants in the city at a given time. There are other blogs offering other lists. Some are broken down by category (SGV Chinese! Taco Trucks! $$$$!), some are divided by meals (lunch! brunch! other meals!). When I was working at the old gig an acquaintance told me he started his own new website, simply called “Twenty Meals.” The idea was incredibly simple: “A list of places to eat in Los Angeles” (it has since been deleted). No pretensions, no rules, just a list of his twenty favorite places to eat in the city. I liked the idea so much I decided to copy it and make it a regular (as in, updated…sometimes) feature on this website.
Version 1.0 of this list was limited strictly to places whose mailing addresses officially state “Los Angeles, CA” as the city. Until somebody says otherwise I’m go to stick with the same format as the first list. Sure, that means some great places I’ve tried (Cassia, MB Post, Inotheke, etc.) are not going to appear on the list. Maybe next time I’ll change up the criteria for inclusion. Because, honestly, is Tasting Kitchen that much more of a hassle to get to than Tsujita? One’s further west, but one’s right by the 405 (ugh).
Like in any venture, Version 4.0 is vastly different from Verison 3.0, mostly because I haven’t updated this list in two years.
Restaurants that appeared on list 3.0 which have “dropped off” this list are: Hinoki And The Bird, Meals By Genet, Horse Thief BBQ, Red Medicine (closed), Pine & Crane, Plan Check Kitchen + Bar, Red O, ink., Little Beast, Cacao Mexicatessen.
Restaurants that appeared on list 2.0 which have “dropped off” this list are: Allumette (sadly closed), Hungry Cat, Valerie Echo Park, The Heart + The Hunter, Dan Sung Sa.
Restaurants that appeared on list 1.0 which have “dropped off” this list are:Square One, Maximiliano, Church & State, Eastside Market Italian Deli, and Yang Chow.
Without further ado, here’s volume four of my favorite places to eat in Los Angeles:
Baroo
Chi Spacca
Smorgasburg LA
Guerilla Tacos
AOC Wine Bar
Seongbukdong
Manuela
Golden State
Aburiya Raku
Odys & Penelope
Kanpai
Jar
Myung In Dumplings
Salazar
Tsujita
Pizzeria Mozza
Lukshon
Pollo a La Brasa
Howlin’ Rays
Night Market + Song
And for good measure, because I’m in a list-making mood, here are the five best meals I had anywhere in 2016. If the list seems tame compared to years past it’s because my disposable income has been out of whack for months while I pay down the debt I accrued when I had no income.
05. Libertine Social; Las Vegas, NV
04. Dozzino; Hoboken, NJ
03. Lukshon; Los Angeles, CA (if only for regularly offering Drie Fonteinen on the beer list)
02. Odys + Penelope; Los Angeles, CA [Swan Fungus Review]
01. Aburiya Raku; Los Angeles, CA
There’s a lot still on my list to try for 2017. It’s going to be a very fattening year.
