The Resy Guide to Splurge-Worthy Dining in Los Angeles

Chef Joshua Skenes’ “wild pizzeria” located in the former La Brea Bakery space is so much more than just a pizza joint. Hints of his culinary past helming Michelin-starred establishments like Saison in San Francisco can be seen in splurgey dishes like the waffle with Osetra caviar and cracklings (MP) and the $85 whole lobster cocktail with momotaro tomato and kizami (note: the menu changes frequently). The pizzas are more affordable, but it’s worth doing a mix of high and low here if you’re looking to celebrate. Do try the Califobrian, a clever, creamier variation on a pina colada made with stracciatella, and finish with the signature soft serve and cookies.

David Chang’s sprawling Chinatown fixture is known as much for its giant indoor-outdoor space as it is for its large-format meats. But whether you’re toasting to a birthday, an office holiday party, or even a hefty tax return, it’s a great place for a party. The whole plate short rib will run you $235 for a party of up to six, served with ssam wraps, beef rice, and condiments (24 hour pre-order required). Or go for smoked half bo ssam for four to five people at $110. If you’re dining with a smaller group, there’s also a wagyu skirt steak or a whole boiled chicken. Vegetarians in the group? Rest assured, you can still ball out with a $48 mushroom crispy rice with shitake, burdock, and yuzu.

What started as a private dinner series and morphed into a viral pandemic-era bento box sensation, KinKan is now a full-scale brick-and-mortar in Virgil Village. From a Bangkok-born chef who’s obsessed with Japanese sushi, the various tasting menus here reflect that very specific POV and feature top-notch sashimi, Mexican ceviche, and even French tartares. The dinner tasting menu offered Thursday-Saturday is the most decadent at $195 per person, with optional sake and wine pairing for $85. For lunch, a slightly more affordable five-course kaiseki menu is available Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday for $75 a person.

Silver Lake fixture Osen, previously known for its grilled skewered meats, transformed earlier this year into an omakase concept featuring a coursed sushi experience. There’s several omakase options to choose from, including the Nagatsuki, the longer, pricier menu at $140 a person, which includes sushi, sashimi, chawanmushi, and uni tofu, among other dishes. But there’s also a pared-down version called the Uzuki for $105 with slightly fewer courses—either menu, though, is available with optional sake pairings for $50.

Opened in February of 2020, this Italy-based chainlet is a collaboration between the luxury fashion brand and the lauded chef behind Michelin-starred Modena restaurant Osteria Francescana. The Beverly Hills location is helmed by Bottura’s protege, Mattia Agazzi, and situated on the rooftop of Gucci’s Beverly Hills boutique. With both indoor and outdoor views of Rodeo Drive (for maximal Pretty Woman effect), the restaurant serves a six-course $195 tasting menu for dinner with optional wine pairing for $185 or a nine-course meal for $285 per person. The menu includes playfully named dishes like the Risotto Camouflaged as Pizza and Catch Me Today, Tomorrow Might Be Late (aka the fresh catch of the day with pistachio pesto). Lunch and brunch are a la carte and slightly more affordable if you’re itching to try a few of the dishes.

Wolfgang Puck’s flagship is quintessentially southern Californian — which is to say that its menu, while local and seasonal, is slick, fusion-oriented, and heavy on the seafood. A staple of the L.A. fine-dining scene since the ‘80s, the twinkling light-strewn patio at the Beverly Hills location (opened in 1997) feels like a blast from indulgent days past. Treat yourself to the famous spicy tuna tartare cones, Brentwood white corn pizza, or the splurgey Kaluga caviar “cannoli.” If you really want to ball out, there’s an eight-course, $225 chef’s tasting menu as well. Japanese whisky, Belgian craft beer, and an expansive European and Californian wine list round out the kind of unforgettable evening that only L.A.’s most fashionably-fabled neighborhood can provide. 

Food media darling Baroo returned this fall after five years away, with a multi-course $110 tasting menu from husband-and-wife chef team Kwang Uh and Mina Park. Known for their innovative approach to fermentation, the menu is now higher-end in tone, in a handsomely appointed dining room that’s a far cry from their strip mall beginnings. The offerings are inspired by the phases of life: tae (pre-birth), saeng (birth), etc. and the storytelling unfolds via artful dishes like a soy-braised wild black cod, or a Brandt beef short rib. Pairings will cost you a little more. But even on its own, the $110 price tag, all things considered, is a more approachable splurge.

What started as a pandemic-era food truck centered around local seafood is now a full-blown tasting menu experience. Located in a landmarked 1920s building, chef Junya Yamasaki, who worked extensively in London before relocating to L.A., offers a $110 tasting menu approach to what he calls “progressive Japanese” cuisine utilizing seasonal California produce. Focusing on fire-cooked fish and meat, previous dishes have included seared Stemple Creek tataki and grilled vermillion rockfish with shiso salsa verde. On Sundays, they offer a la carte option for lunch and dinner, but most days, you’ll be limited to the tasting menu with a choice of entree.

If you can get a table here—emphasis on the word if—we can’t think of a more glamorous way to treat yourself than Evan Funke’s three-story, Beverly Hills ode to Roman cuisine. The third concept from the chef that brought you both Felix and Mother Wolf, Funke goes back to his roots here cooking for a bougie BH crowd (he spent years at Spago), and the menu is filled with greatest hits like cacio e pepe, pasta alla amatriciana, and margherita pizza, plus new dishes like the handmade agnolotti del plin. And of course, you can catch Funke himself in action hand-making pasting in the large viewing window behind the hostess stand. If you really want to live large, order one of the mains, including the tagliata di manzo, a prime ribeye cap, or the branzino alla brace—a whole fish cooked over embers and served with a raw artichoke salad.

Far from the flash and dazzle of Hollywood, this 17-year-old anchor of the Rustic Canyon family of restaurants is warm, refined, and heavy on the local sourcing. From the wood-inflected decor to the impeccable plating, this is a restaurant we dream of dining at four nights a week. The menu reads like the greatest hits from SoCal farms, as chef Jeremy Fox shows his respect for ingredients by letting their natural flavors shine, and enhancing them just a bit. Add a Penicillin cocktail and you’ll be a new human by the time you walk out the door.

For all the Valley diners who don’t want to make the schlep to Santa Monica or even West Hollywood, there are plenty of options — but this Sherman Oaks sushi bar and robata offers just enough Hollywood glitz to feel glamorous. The vibe at this spaciously modern den is California-meets-Japan, with succulents, a bonsai tree, and a living wall over black and white tile. It’s a buzzing spot known for celebrations — don’t be surprised when the servers make a beeline toward the candles once you’ve finished your entree. Speaking of which, wagyu short ribs, salmon truffle rolls, lobster noodles, and kurobota fried rice are all solid bets, while on the robata side, cheesy grilled street corn gets a lovely char. Nothing here is trying too hard — so don’t hesitate to order the popcorn tempura shrimp and just enjoy the scene. 

No two visits are alike at n/naka, since chef Niki Nakayama, along with her partner and wife Carol Iida-Nakayama, keep notes on every single thing a guest eats during each meal. It’s possible in the tiny space, which offers a kaiseki-style tasting menu to just 26 guests a day, many of whom reserve months in advance. Courses are plated beautifully in unique sculptural vessels, and might feature heirloom Japanese vegetables the chefs grow in their own garden, or bonito they’ve dried and fermented in-house. The vivacity of the food is part of what’s sexiest about n/naka, despite its muted interior. You’ll be wondering when you can come back as soon as you leave.

Pro tip: Looking for something more casual? Don’t miss n/naka’s younger sibling, N/Soto.

Call 310-836-6252 or email reservations@n-naka.com for reservations.