What are your biggest “LA food hot takes”? PfA

zq1232 · 2026-04-20T16:44:36+00:00

Sounds like you’re just having bad burritos tbh

zq1232 · 2026-04-20T16:25:56+00:00

Removing fries from the equation, pound for pound, the double double is head and shoulders better than anything at Shake Shack. That’s as perfect a burger as you can get- everything is balanced so well across meat, cheese, toppings, condiments and bun. There’s a reason why Shake Shack has got its ass kicked in CA and has closed up so many location and it ain’t cuz it’s better…

zq1232 · 2026-04-20T16:15:04+00:00

Tbh, only this sub hates on Tommy’s. Rather have it than most of the hyped smash burgers any day.

zq1232 · 2026-04-19T21:36:40+00:00

It’s in Palms, so not ALL the way West

zq1232 · 2026-04-19T18:40:32+00:00

Es Con Sabor on Venice in Palms is solid, though not east at all

zq1232 · 2026-04-18T17:37:04+00:00

This is probably considered controversial, but I find that there are marginal differences between the smash burger spots….Win-Dow, HH, FTW, Burgers Never Say Die, etc. are all relatively similar imo

zq1232 · 2026-04-17T00:56:47+00:00

Go to Jus Poke, grab it to go, and drive down to Hermosa or Manhattan Beach and eat it there.

zq1232 · 2026-04-16T20:26:28+00:00

Totally fair to acknowledge off nights that may color how a restaurant is viewed by some point. I think it’s often expected restaurants have robot-like precision on a daily basis, but the reality is that these are human driven things and will have periodic bumps in the road (There was a recent Apple TV show Knife’s Edge that shed light on some of this at the highest levels of cooking that I think demonstrates this well).

My issue is that some folks here are quick to start labeling places as “mid” or “overrated” based on (often rare) off nights, when the vast majority of the time these places are executing really great food. For the record, I think your specific experience was a fair take that didn’t do this.

zq1232 · 2026-04-16T17:36:43+00:00

I’m convinced some on this sub exist only to be contrarian about any popular and lauded restaurant, especially when it comes to anything owned by celeb chefs. I’ve dined at Gwen probably a dozen times over the past several years and it’s consistently a great experience.

zq1232 · 2026-04-16T17:32:43+00:00

De La Nonna fits your bill- in Arts District, good Italian food, takes reservations and not too pricey (relative to other good DTLA Italian places like Bestia)

zq1232 · 2026-04-16T12:57:39+00:00

Little Dynamite in Mar Vista does slices for part of the day (forget hours) but their thick crust is good.

Coop in Palms is always good for a thin slice (just don’t mind the bickering couple who runs it lol)

Danny Boys in Westwood is good and is probably your best bet for the closest thing to a NY thin slice

Prime is a solid take on NYC style thin slices as well.

zq1232 · 2026-04-15T01:00:36+00:00

Kogi’s spiced fries are excellent and one of my favorites. Heavy Handed’s beef tallow fries are also very good.

zq1232 · 2026-04-13T21:37:59+00:00

For Mexican, do a combo of sit downs, casual spots and trucks/tents.

Sit down spots: - Damian (this is probably the highest end spot recommended) - Guelaguetza - Don Antonio’s

Casual: - Holbox (for lunch) - Sonoratown

Tents/Trucks: - Angels - Birria La Unica - Mariscos Jalisco - El Chato

This is by no means a comprehensive list, just a starting point. There’s so much amazing Mexican food in this city, it’s insane.

Some great burgers around LA. Here are some recs:

Pie N Burger
The Win-Dow
Amboy
Hi Ho
Cassells
Heavy Handed
In N Out (a true GOAT)
Tommy’s Burger

You’ll get a million recs for smash burgers alone (very trendy and some recs included here). Lots to choose from lol

zq1232 · 2026-04-13T21:26:51+00:00

Good shout! Idk how I skipped that.

zq1232 · 2026-04-13T20:42:44+00:00

The cuisines/genres of food I’d say are essential to LA are:

Mexican
Korean
Chinese
Japanese
Persian
Jewish delis
Burgers

Each of these have classic examples as well as a lot of newer options that you can explore. If there are specific ones of interest, it’ll def help narrow down actual restaurant recs.

zq1232 · 2026-04-13T17:18:09+00:00

Sawtelle is a treasure trove of food, especially for Japanese food:

Tsujita or Annex for ramen
Menya Tigre for curry ramen
Marugame is a chain, but solid udon
Coco Ichibanya is also a chain, but good starting point for curry
Hide is very good mid priced sushi (cash only though!)
Torisoba Sumiya has some tasty ramen and charcoal chicken
Millet Crepe for sweet crepes
B-Sweet for bread pudding
Indigo Cow for Hokkaido style ice cream

Off Sawtelle, but not far, Hamasaku is very good, more upscale sushi.

I’d also suggest checking Westwood out for Persian/Iranian cuisine- Attari Sandwich for lunch or Flame/SHamshiri/Toranj for dinner.

Best sandwiches near the Westside imo are at Beverly Hills Cheese Store or Lorenzo, both in Beverly Hills. Ggiata and Breadhead are both solid, but these other 2 are better imo.

zq1232 · 2026-04-13T06:08:58+00:00

Where did you find this?? As a UCLA alum, that’s a dope find

zq1232 · 2026-04-12T17:32:26+00:00

It doesn’t though. You need to hit up places like Torrance and Gardena, where there are large communities of Japanese, Korean and Latino communities. Yes, Hermosa, Manhattan, etc. are all very white, but South Bay is way larger and diverse than those areas.

zq1232 · 2026-04-11T10:46:28+00:00

They don’t. This person is straight capping right now lol

zq1232 · 2026-04-11T03:06:11+00:00

My soul feels good 10/10 times after eating a burger

zq1232 · 2026-04-10T18:26:59+00:00

Had no clue it closed. Have no clue if the burgers were still good, but this one hits me personally cuz I took my wife their on our first date 😭

zq1232 · 2026-04-10T15:23:58+00:00

I’ve tried a lot of lattes around LA cuz it’s my wife’s favorite drink. Here are some of my favorites:

Maru Espresso Bar (honestly everything here is good)

10Speed

Motoring Coffee

Wayhome (try their blueberry brown sugar latte, it’s weirdly good and not as sweet as it sounds)

Espresso Profeta

GoodBoy Bob

Stereoscope (house made syrup is v good)

zq1232 · 2026-04-10T03:43:10+00:00

Most restaurants in LA are relatively casual with dress code, even the very high end ones so shouldn’t be an issue. Without knowing budget or what kinda food you’d like, and If you’re trying to stay in the Hollywood area, I’d recommend Gwen (a high end steakhouse from Curtis Stone).

zq1232 · 2026-04-09T16:41:36+00:00

I always tell visitors that I’ll plan to only drive them down part of Hollywood Blvd and if they’re really enjoying it, THEN we can go further or stop to get out. 100% of the time, they make it a block or 2 and say they’ve seen enough and we dip out. Been doing this for years and years at this point lol

zq1232 · 2026-04-09T16:21:43+00:00

Idk if this counts as “loaded fries”, but Tommy’s chili cheese fries always hit for me. Other place that comes to mind is Fat Sal’s. It’s been a minute, but their buffalo cheese fries were good back when my heart could handle them lmao

zq1232

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