The November Hit List: Damian, Angler, Eszett, Keepers LA, and More

Enrique Olvera’s first Los Angeles restaurant is everything we’ve come to expect from the Mexico City chef: gorgeous food that’s as much about Los Angeles as Mexican tradition; a space that’s sultry and colorful; cocktails made with small-batch Tequila and mezcal you won’t find everywhere else. A neighbor to Bestia in the Arts District, Damian is more laid-back than its siblings: Pujol in Mexico City, Cosme and Atla in New York, and now Elio in Las Vegas. Look for dishes like Baja clams with salsa macha, albacore carnitas, and an elote tamal topped with toasted ants, plus wines from Baja’s Valle de Guadalupe.

Dining status: Reservations are open for dine-in service only.

The seafood-focused spot from chef Joshua Skenes has reopened for outdoor dining at the Beverly Center. Taking over the former entryway area, there’s now a covered patio for a more curated menu, things like whole grilled trout or California rockfish; hen of the woods mushrooms; radicchio with XO sauce; cold, briny oysters; and antelope tartare. An old fashioned, or glass of Gruber-Roschitz grüner veltliner, feels right here.

Dining status: Limited outdoor dining Tuesday through Saturday nights.

Taking a beat from her wonderful Porridge & Puffs café, chef Minh Phan has debuted an all-outdoor, tasting-menu experience in the courtyard at Second Home, a workshare space in Hollywood. Named for a rare mineral that forms into gems under extreme pressure and conditions, Phanakite features dishes like spot prawns and sweet-potato fritters; braised short ribs with calamansi and cinnamon basil; and porridge with smoked abalone.  The chef herself makes masked appearances at well-spaced tables during the course of the meal.

Dining status: Twenty spots are available on Friday and Saturday nights beginning Nov. 6; tickets are released two weeks in advance of reservations.

This casual Little Tokyo spot offers an all-day menu — from a coffee window with matcha buns and donuts in the morning to dinner and weekend brunch. Chefs Vincent Valezona and Chadd Haratani create savory and sweet dishes for all-outdoor dining with an emphasis on local, seasonal, and fun. Think: Creamy crab dip, fish and chips, Wagyu and Point Reyes blue-cheese burgers, crackling pork belly, and a tight list of beer, natural wines, and cocktails. Most food is half off during happy hour (4 to 6 p.m., Wednesday through Saturday).

Dining status: Walk-up coffee window opens Wednesday through Sunday mornings. Reservations required for outdoor patio seating.

The diminutive Silver Lake wine bar was just getting its bearings when all this hit, so it’s great to see chef Spencer Bezaire, and his wife and general manager Sabrina Bezaire, feeding the neighborhood again. The duo built a patio in the parking lot for a pandemic-friendly menu that tastes like L.A.: Addictive “big” fries, sometimes topped with merguez sausage and harissa; charcoal-grilled chicken wings with salsa macha; crispy albacore sandwich; and frolickly pét-bat and skin-contact wines by the glass.

Dining status: Reservations are recommended for patio seating; call for takeout orders (menu here).

Chef Danny Elmaleh made SBE’s Cleo restaurants smash hits from Hollywood to Las Vegas and beyond. But Mizlala is a concept closer to his heart. For the first location in Sherman Oaks, he took over his father’s long-standing space and turned it into a neighborhood favorite for things like chickpea-topped hummus, housemade laffa bread, green falafel, shawarma, and crispy Brussels sprouts spiked with smoky paprika. These are the dishes you’ll find at the new West Adams location, too, along with tahini milkshakes, and a smart beer and wine list. Order inside and eat on the leafy brick patio surrounded by trees and twinkle lights, or get it to go.

Dining status: Open for outdoor dining. Or order pickup or delivery here.

Chicagoans craving a real deep-dish experience can hightail it to the Valley for pizza, antipasti, beer, wine and more. Based on the same recipes and ingredients used at the original for the last 50 years, you’ll find famous pies like the Meaty Legend and Chicago Fire, homemade mozzarella sticks, big salads, and more (including, sure, thin-crust pizza, too). There’s an expansive patio to eat there, or you can get everything to go.

Dining status: Reservations open for patio seating. Order here for curbside pickup or delivery.

This small strip-mall spot has gone through a few iterations during the pandemic, including some flavor-bomb à la carte meals and boxes to-go, but chef Jon Yao and team are back to doing tasting menus only. Yao still intermingles the flavors of Taiwan and L.A. to beautiful and delicious effect; now it’s for 12 courses or more, all served on the newly installed outdoor patio.

Dining status: Reservations required for patio service. Takeout and delivery are no longer offered.

With an expanded outdoor patio that mimics its lush greenhouse setting atop the lobby of the Line hotel in Koreatown, Josiah Citrin’s vibrant market-driven menu is more fitting than ever. Dishes change with the Los Angeles seasons, picking up global flavors along the way — things like steamed buns with red kuri squash and Calabrian chili jam, hibachi-grilled prawns with grapefruit achiote, and roast Jidori chicken with green garlic sambal. Cocktails are a must.

Dining status: Open for nightly dinner and weekend brunch. Delivery is also available.

With bars closed to indoor imbibing, many are getting clever with their offerings, from doing canned cocktails and DIY kits to partnering with food trucks and neighboring restaurants for food. Being a part of the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, The Spare Room lucked out with an outdoor space hidden behind the iconic David Hockney painted pool. Moving outdoors means no bowling, but there is bocce and plenty of Mad Libs. Plus Yael Vengroff’s award-winning cocktails, like the tropical Birds Aren’t Real, or the savory-sweet Highway to Bell. For food, snack on burrata and pomegranate, or a cacio e pepe-inspired beef tartare.

Dining status: Reservations are recommended for groups no larger than six at a time; there’s a two-hour table limit. 

After Wes Avila stepped away from Guerrilla Tacos to consult on a project in Kyoto, he needed to get back to cooking again. Enter Angry Egrett Dinette, named for two birds he saw fighting in the Los Angeles River one day, now open in Chinatown’s Mandarin Plaza. The menu is small but mighty, mostly involving his versions of a Mexican torta, with ingredients like grilled beef belly, prosciutto, or crispy chicken thighs, all stuffed into toasted birote rolls. There’s a walk-up window for ordering, and an expansive patio for seating.

Dining status: Open for lunch, Wednesday through Sunday. Watch for specials and updates here.