The Roze Team was curious about some of the top-rated eateries in Los Angeles (L.A.) County among the thousands of Los Angeles restaurants. We wanted to share what makes them unique.
Part 1:
Explore L.A. County and its approximately 20,000 restaurants offering every flavor and culinary trend imaginable.
From beach comfort food to quick affordable nibbles from a mobile kitchen. Pasta or pastries from a pop-up. With a Michelin-starred tasting menu atop a white tablecloth in an elegant dining room, you’ll find it all.
There are many eatery choices. Choosing a restaurant for dinner can be a challenging task. The restaurants listed below serve a diverse selection of excellent cuisine.
Hotville Chicken
With a name that combines Nashville and hot chicken, it’s clear the red-hot food trend isn’t local. Considering the sheer number of corner shops, parking lot pop-ups, and food trucks. These locations serve the hot fried delights in the form of tenders, sandwiches, wings, and even whole birds. It’s evident that the Tennessee treat is well received in the West. Yet, not all Nashville hot chicken is made equal.
It was invented in the 1930s by Kim Prince’s great-great-uncle. Created after a girlfriend sought to punish his philandering with a dish of his favorite poisoned with eye-burning spice. He launched the famed Prince’s Hot Chicken with his brothers, it turns out that revenge is best served hot. Kim is now continuing on her family’s legacy in Baldwin Hills. This is where chicken is brined, breaded, and cooked with a special blend of spices. The specialty chicken is served with white bread and dill pickles. Customers can select between simple and “can’t feel their face” hot. Don’t forget to include some sides. Hotville Chicken serves mac & cheese, potato salad, or kale slaw.
Park’s Barbecue
Jenee Kim, a Seoul expatriate, created this shrine of grilled gluttony in 2003. Applying her culinary science degree to the meals she grew up cooking and eating. Her food swiftly became the Korean BBQ standard-bearer in Los Angeles, if not the country.
The huge seafood pancake, beef kimchi dumpling soup, and vast choice of grade-A meats. American Wagyu, beef tongue, and a sweet-savory marinated short rib are the actual reasons to make a reservation.
Cooking your selections on the in-table hibachi is part of the enjoyment. If that seems frightening, don’t worry. The waiters appear to prevent accidents. It’s expensive, and you’ll smell like smoke for days.
Crossroads Kitchen
Even in a city with a plethora of excellent vegan and vegetarian eateries, Chef Tal Ronnen’s meatless masterpiece stands out. Crossroads Kitchen debuted in 2013 and has an exquisite low-lit dining room. It is a great backdrop for the delicate vegan cuisine it provides. There are mushroom scallops, specially made marsala, and lemon mille-feuille. On the menu are artichoke oysters with kelp caviar, and chilled leek and carrot soup. The food is creamy, savory, hearty, and rich. A seven-course tasting menu, a five-course truffle-forward tasting menu, and a la carte selections are available. It’s a great choice for gluten-free customers.
Madre! Oaxacan Restaurant & Mezcaleria
Ivan Vasquez’s three-part empire, Madre! is a special place. At the newest site in West Hollywood, order enchiladas. Three types are always available. You can try multiple ones in an enchilada quartet. Tamales wrapped in banana leaves are popular menu items.
Tortillas are thick and handmade. They’re excellent for mopping up the final drips of queso fundido or the wonderfully complex mole. Vasquez adapted the wood-burning oven, from the previous pizza restaurant, to cook delectable lamb barbacoa.)
Visit Madre! Oaxacan Restaurant & Mezcaleria
Girl & The Goat
Acclaimed Chef Stephanie Izard’s first venture outside of Chicago combines T.V. stardom and real culinary chops. She adds fresh produce to intense globally inspired flavors. Some items are imported from the flagship location. Others are based on seasonal Golden State delights found at Farmers Markets.
Izard is known for creating robust and distinctive flavor profiles. Shrimp and kumquat salad, roasted oysters with sausage butter, and lamb skewers with pickled cranberry relish.
Enjoy eating goat curry or confit belly, which are special choices. There’s a vegan menu and plenty of plant-heavy meals. Girl & The Goat is ideal for mixed gatherings of carnivores, pescatarians, and vegetarians.
Fia Steak
Restauranteur Michael Greco and chef Brendan Collins decided to transform the interior of Fia into a steakhouse. They were already wowing diners with gourmet fare in a garden setting. The food is very good and expensive. Fia Steak is a restaurant is within a restaurant.
A dinner here begins with one of the nicest bread baskets ever made. It consists of four or five different types of carbs. It is served with high-quality butter, salt flakes, and a jar of drippings. Next move on to meatballs and raclette fondue. There are bubbles and caviar bumps, bluefin tuna tartare, or a salad prepared at your table.
Most meals here feature a large-format cut. Which could be a 1.5 lb. bone-in ribeye, a rack of lamb, or a bone-in pork chop. Some meat selections have been dry-aged for 1-2 months and will all be cooked on the wood-burning grill. The meal is excellent with pasta and fish. Save room for dessert, which will please anyone with a sophisticated sweet tooth.
Bicyclette
Walter and Margarita Manzke have become a vital part of the fabric of the mid-city and downtown eating scene over the two decades. Their quaint Parisian café is their newest enterprise.
Bicyclette’s celebrates French cuisine. It has dishes like duck liver mousse with blackberry peppercorn gelée. An in-shell Kaluga caviar-crowned soft egg with smoked sturgeon hidden within. The Norman butter, cheese plate selections, and Justin Severino’s saucisson sec are all chosen with care. Sardines, too, have a vintage year. Anything involving bread is excellent. The desserts and ice creams are seasonal and prepared in-house.
Sonoratown
Tacos aren’t just for Tuesdays around here. The Mexican street food staple is a continual, everyday occurrence. Jennifer Feltham and Teodoro Diaz-Rodriguez whipped up some of L.A.’s best food at affordable prices for over five years.
The casual downtown taqueria honors the taco stylings of Teo’s Northern Mexico border town. Noted for using mesquite wood fire to cook carne asada. The meat is served in flour tortillas. It is now a staple stop for Fashion District lunch groups and taco tours. You are not confined to steak or tacos. Chicken, chorizo, and roasted poblano chile are fillers. Pinto beans and crispy tripe are other filler alternatives that can be added to burritos, quesadillas, and chimichangas. Add some spice with chiltepin salsa, and wash it all down with lime cucumber agua fresca. There are huge lines and there are never enough seats.
Broad Street Oyster Co.
Most people struggle to get to Malibu. It has magnificent beaches and breathtaking mountain walks that await. Broad Street Oyster Co. provides a location for seafood lovers to unite.
After a few years as a popular mobile pop-up. They opened a permanent location in Malibu Village, which has to be one of the world’s greatest strip malls.
It has a relaxed surf shack-styled dining room with lagoon views. It has an improvised pandemic terrace. Using its drive-thru, order one of L.A.’s best lobster rolls. The simple hot buttery meaty alternative always wins the flavor race. The raw bar has titular bivalves and mussels. Broad Street Oyster Co. has uni sea urchin from Santa Barbara and other sea critters that are in season. Look through the daily special menu for unusual finds like Japanese river crabs or full box crabs.
The Roze Team wants people to visit and enjoy many types of Los Angeles restaurants. Including Mexican cuisine to a rich, full-course meal, each eatery listed explores the diversity in cultures and cooking.
The Roze Team will continue sharing part 2 and part 3 articles. They are about incredible restaurants in Southern California you should visit.