The Resy Hit List: Where In L.A. You’ll Want to Eat Right Now

After permanently closing the doors to his cherished Cantonese spot, Pearl River Deli, chef Johnny Lee did what any reasonable person would do: he left the country and ate his way through Southeast Asia. Inspired by the bustling roadside hawker stalls he’d seen, Lee returned to L.A. to open Rasarumah, a swanky Malaysian restaurant in Historic Filipinotown serving fusion dishes like pork jowl satay (juicy, Hainanese-style meat skewers) and char kway teow, stir-fried noodles laden with Chinese sausage. In a match made in sambal-slathered heaven, he’s also partnered up with Last Word Hospitality, the restaurant group behind Barra Santos, Shins Pizza, and Queen St., among others.

Do not sleep (or even nap!) on this new Spanish tapas and wine bar in Silver Lake, where drinking delicious sherry is all but a requirement. Here, L.A.’s love affair with tinned fish lives on, with Botanica co-owner Heather Sperling and the husband-wife duo behind cult-favorite tinned fish brand Siesta Co. at the helm. Compared to the building’s previous tenant, Alimento, the 38-seat dining room is almost unrecognizable, with its warm, earthy color palette and antiques sourced from Spain, creating a cozy and inviting atmosphere. Rustic Canyon and Botanica alum Keith Phillips runs the kitchen, so expect traditional tapas made with Californian produce, like ensalada de achicorias, which uses chicories from Roots Organic Farm in Santa Ynez. The pan con tomate is always a good idea, too, served on a crusty slice of Bub & Grandma’s bread.

In a Westchester strip mall just two miles from LAX, you’ll find this three-floor farm-to-table restaurant that redefines airport-adjacent dining. Led by husband-and-wife team Harry Posner and Natalie Dial, Tomat is uncompromising in its use of high-quality, hyper-local ingredients sourced exclusively from farmers’ markets, local fishers, and regional dairy producers. The menu, a unique fusion of Persian, Japanese, and British flavors, is a testament to the couple’s diverse culinary heritage: think saffron-scented tahdig, a Persian rice dish adorned with pickled raisins, pumpkin seeds, and dill, cooked in a Japanese donabe. Try the Future 75, a refreshing cocktail made with gin, sparkling wine, and a hint of lemon  — a collaboration with Future, a queer and women-owned distillery in L.A., with 100% of the proceeds being donated to World Central Kitchen.

Los Angeles has plenty of excellent Peruvian spots, like Mario’s Peruvian & Seafood in Hancock Park or Western Avenue’s Pollo a la Brasa, but much like Paddington, Mamita offers a taste of Peru in somewhere unexpected: Glendale. Open since the 1990s, Mamita was founded by Sonia Gubeara and is now managed by her daughter, Natalie. The homey little restaurant is charm personified: each table receives a basket of freshly baked bread, and families chat amongst themselves, contently, throughout the evening. The ceviche de pescado is a great place to start — a properly bright, citrusy rendition soaked in an exceptional brine of lime juice and garlic. And no order is complete without the lomo saltado, Peru’s national dish, in which salty fries become the ideal vehicle for sopping up all the extra steak sauce.

No reservations. Find more info here. 

KinKan is a genre-defying culinary playground where Thai-American chef Nan Yimcharoen throws almost everything at the wall — chirashi bowls inspired by Japan’s Nishiki market, $250 tasting menus dedicated solely to crab, warm house-made pumpkin mochi served in a stunning pumpkin dish — and we, in Los Angeles, collectively say “thank you.” At its core, KinKan is a bold union of Thai and Japanese cuisines, a masterclass in the unlimited potential of “fusion” cooking. Every few months, she’ll reveal a new tasting menu, each one thoughtfully centered around a specific idea or memory, because beyond its food, KinKan excels at storytelling. Dishes are imbued with significance, whether it’s a ten-course omakase homage to her grandma (who cooked for the Thai royal family), or a green curry dessert presented as a magic trick.

Esme (“beloved” in Farsi) is a cheery all-day bistro in Culver City that’s surprisingly flying under the radar. The restaurant’s motto—”a little bit of this, a little bit of that”—describes its sprightly menu to a T, which blends Persian, Middle Eastern, and Latin flavors with aplomb. Life partners and co-owners Ivan Corona (formerly of Bouley and Thomas Keller’s Per Se) and Gabby Ardaki run this dual-personality charmer. By day, Esme serves smoked salmon bagels, shakshuka, and merguez sandwiches packed with harissa-scented lamb. At night, it transforms into a cheffy  gastropub, offering mussel toast, Spanish-style striped bass, and sumac-dusted short ribs perched atop a potato rösti throne. Don’t miss their daily happy hour, which runs from 4-6 p.m., when all  beers and wines are buy one, get one half price.

No reservations. Find more info here.

Though he’s no longer in the kitchen, the spirit and legacy of recently deceased chef Akira Hirose are still felt throughout Azay, the cheery French-Japanese cafe that’s one of Little Tokyo’s most treasured gems. For the most part, the daytime menu has shifted away from its French roots (a specialty of Hirose’s, who trained in the French countryside and possessed a pedigree most chefs can only dream of), but still offers some of the best homestyle Japanese cooking you’ll find this side of the Pacific. The star is the Japanese breakfast, a surprising rarity in a city bursting with sushi spots, that balances simplicity and utilitarianism in equal measure. At night, the freshly introduced dinner service is led by chef Chris Ono, whose four-course tasting menu plays with the concept of “Japanese food,” as it’s understood in America, similar to his work at the now-shuttered Hansei.

Self-described as a “lounge at the end of the world,” Evangeline Swamp Room only has two modes: Open and “Curing our hangover.” Run by Marcus Christiana-Beniger and Eunah Kang-Beniger, the husband-and-wife team behind Little Jewel of New Orleans, this Chinatown cocktail bar is a neon-bright, disco-ball-lit party inspired by Louisiana. Drinks pay tribute to the French Quarter, like the brandy milk punch classique, spiked with Napoleon brandy and garnished with freshly grated nutmeg. Or, if you’re feeling feisty, you could try the Little Jewel Hurricane, described intriguingly: “Drink up. Her ingredients don’t matter.” The food here also conjures the spirit of New Orleans, with dishes like jambalaya fritters with creamy remoulade, and smoky, buttery charbroiled oysters, too.

No reservations. Find more info here.

As one can imagine from the name, the team at Vin Folk takes its wine seriously. Its thoughtful list constantly changes and features various bottles from small, sustainably-minded producers. Recent offerings include Johan Vineyards’ “Jazzy Juice,” a vibrant light-bodied red from the Willamette Valley, and a lovely pét-nat from Petaluma’s Cruse Wine Co. The terrific wine list, paired with a cozy, romantic dining room, has quickly made it a gold-star destination for Westside date nights. In the kitchen, chefs Kevin de Los Santos and Katya Shastova (who both previously worked at Michelin-starred Vespertine, Maude, and Somni) have crafted an eclectic bistro menu to go with all of that wine, like spicy, spreadable red pepper ‘nduja over rye bread, and a beef tongue that comes with tomatoes and Hrenovina, a somewhat obscure Slovenian horseradish.

Torikizoku, a popular Japanese yakitori chain with more than 600 locations throughout Asia, just landed in Torrance. First established in Osaka in 1985, Torikizoku has become a trusted favorite in Japan amongst students, young professionals, and salarymen, all of whom flock to the izakaya for its affordable, high-quality meats and lively atmosphere. With its stark, gray concrete walls and windowless room, a meal here can sometimes feel like a deleted scene from The Brutalist. It’s a curious design choice, to be sure, but easy to forget once the scent of grilled meats hits your nose. Everything on the menu is priced at $4 or $8, from tender chicken breast to scallops to shrimp to quail eggs, all grilled over binchotan charcoal. Beyond the yakitori, there are also several draft beers, sake, and cocktails, too.

No reservations. Find more info here.

Like chef-owner Travis Lett’s previous ventures (Gjelina, Gjusta, that impossibly tasteful apartment on the Westside the restaurant group casually rents out, etc.), RVR is a certified hit. Sure, the stylish Japanese izakaya (pronounced “river”) feels light-years away from the smoke-filled dens of Tokyo. (Between its dreamy Abbot Kinney digs and the floor-to-ceiling vinyl collection, RVR shares more DNA with Japanese listening bars than the country’s drinking taverns.) But fussy details like that tend to fade away while you’re eating roasted mushrooms draped in miso butter, or gyoza stuffed with Peads & Barnetts pork belly. At the helm at RVR are executive chef Ian Robinson and wine director Maggie Glasheen (previously of Anajak Thai), who’ve teamed up for a robust menu of hand rolls, binchōtan charcoal-grilled meats and seafood, and ramen served with house-made noodles.

Inside the busy Mercado La Palma food hall, chef Fátima Juárez is hard at work, turning dried corn into masa, the glorious dough that, with a bit of alchemy, will become Komal’s signature tortillas. The tiled walls of this bustling Mexican molino—yellow, brown, and white—mirror the varicolored Indigenous corn Juárez uses in her cooking, sourced directly from farmers in Mexico. Here, fresh masa is ground on-site and sold by the pound, alongside pre-Hispanic dishes like tlacoyos—thick, oval-shaped, blue-corn tortillas filled with beans and topped with slivers of cactus—and quesadillas filled with squash blossom flowers. Juárez’s signature tortillas can also be found at its neighbor, Holbox, the Michelin-starred Mexican seafood stand where Juárez and her husband, Conrado Rivera, worked before branching out on their own.

No reservations. Find more info here. 

The Benjamin flaunts its old-school glamour, like a film shot in Technicolor or an actress speaking with a transatlantic accent. The dimly lit, 58-seat dining room is pure Art Deco drama, with custom marble tables, wallpapers made by Gucci, frosted glass chandeliers, and a stately solid oak bar sitting at its center. Chef Johnny Cirelle (formerly of Spago and Bestia) runs the kitchen, which serves upmarket American classics like braised short ribs laid over dashi parsnip puree and a twice-baked potato with optional bacon lardon or caviar add-ons. Regardless, you will need to order the Benjamin Burger. Sporting a hefty eight-ounce patty, the restaurant’s signature dish is rich, unctuous, and served on a seeded brioche bun — and according to Cirelle, the entire menu was built around it.

Found Oyster, chef Ari Kolender’s postage stamp-sized East Hollywood ode to seafood, is still one of the most sought-after tables in town.  And now, for the first time, you can actually make a reservation there (hello!). Gone are the days of walking up, putting your name down, and waiting for an hour to be seated. (Although the walk-in will never die at Found Oyster — as their website cheekily reminds us, “Wham bam, thank you, clam!!”) For the uninitiated, Found Oyster is an East Coast-style seafood shack that lives next to the city’s bluest, most Scientology-est building. Gorge yourself on the raw bar, paying special attention to the wonderfully plump oysters sourced from general manager Joe Laraja’s family’s farm in Massachusetts, the peel ‘n eat prawns, and a lobster roll that rivals the best in Maine.

This modern Mexican pop-up, roving around L.A. since 2021, has finally entered its next chapter: a residency in Echo Park. The dimly lit restaurant and bar (with a fun playlist ranging from nostalgic hip hop to R&B) is a playground for chef Andrew Ponce’s (formerly of Bestia, Jon & Vinny’s and Taco María) farmers market-influenced take on upscale Mexican food. His tiny-but-mighty menu sings with dishes like crispy duck mole with house-made blue corn tortillas, and an amplified hard-shelled taco made with braised beef shank that pays homage to Tito’s Tacos. While everything is a labor of love, including bar director Dave Fernie’s Japanese-laced Latin cocktails (like a michelada punched up with dashi), Ponce aims to keep things casual with simplified menus and an easygoing atmosphere that fits nicely in the neighborhood.

In a rushed, rattled world that seems to be screaming “Go!” all the time, La Sung feels like an oasis. The Koreatown restaurant, on the corner of Olympic and South Ardmore—just steps away from its sister establishment, Lasung House, and its supermassive, Frisbee-sized pork cutlets—celebrates life in the slow lane through gentle, deliberate, and mindful cooking. Traditional Korean sotbap and soondubu take center stage alongside a supporting cast of short ribs, bossam platters, and seolleongtang—a soul-warming bone broth that’s simmered for three days. Unlike Japanese donabe (clay pot), sotbap is prepared in cast-iron or stone pot, which creats a pillowy, aromatic rice with a crackling, crisp bottom. Pair this nourishing rice with minari-laced clams, salted pollack roe, or lovely grilled eel.