It has been another great year of dining in Los Angeles, with new restaurants to explore and old favorites to revisit. The L.A. food scene is going as strong as ever and we’ve had a lot of outstanding meals this year. It’s always a difficult task to narrow down the best bites of the year, but looking back at the past year, these are the dishes that left a strong impression and live rent free in my head.
Bifana at Barra Santos
Los Angeles has a dearth of Portuguese restaurants, but that changed with the opening of Barra Santos, a tiny restaurant in the Cypress Park neighborhood. I would happily return to Barra Santos for one thing on the menu: bifana, the classic Portuguese pork sandwich. At Barra Santos the bifana features pork marinated in urfa chili, paprika, and coriander. It’s served between a soft but crusty bread with a spread of piso herb sauce. With pork as the only filling, the sandwich looks exceedingly simple, but it certainly does not lack in flavor. It’s easy to see why this sandwich is so popular across Portugal and the version at Barra Santos does it justice. – Fiona Chandra
Corn soft serve at Damian
Soft serve ice creams have made their way to a number of dessert menus around Los Angeles, including at fine dining restaurants, and they’re quite the crowd pleasers. These dressed-up soft serves aren’t your childhood ice creams, and the corn version at Enrique Olvera’s fine dining Mexican spot Damian has become one of my favorite desserts in the city. The soft serve flavor at Damian rotates, but I’m hoping this one stays for a bit. The ice cream itself is creamy but airy, the corn flavor subtle. It’s the perfect refreshing bite, with a nice crunch from the caramelized popcorn topping. – Fiona Chandra
Zaab crispy pork belly at Heng Heng Chicken Rice
Heng Heng Chicken Rice brought Thai-style Hainanese chicken rice to Thai Town, and while I’m a fan of the chicken rice, my favorite thing on the menu was something else. What I can’t stop thinking about is the zaab crispy pork belly. You can also get this dish with crispy chicken or fish, and the meat comes with lime dressing, onion, green onions, cilantro, dried chili flakes and rice powder. The ingredients for the dressing are almost the same ingredients as the Thai salad larb. The combination of the tangy and savory larb-like dressing with hot, deep-fried pork belly results in a rather addicting dish, especially when eaten with garlic rice. The word “zaab” is a slang term that means “very delicious,” and it’s a fitting name for the dish. – Fiona Chandra
Iberico pork pluma at Stella West Hollywood
Stella is a glitzy Italian restaurant in West Hollywood that opened earlier this year, and it’s an impressive one that serves rare pastas from Sardinia among other great dishes. One of the most memorable bites here was the Iberico pork pluma. The pluma usually comes from the Iberico pigs specifically and is said to be the equivalent of the flank cut. It’s a triangular cut on the back of the spine which is the bottom end of the loin, and it’s an incredibly tender cut of meat. At Stella, the pluma is served simply, like a steak, seasoned with porchetta spices and saba, a kind of grape syrup. The flavor and texture certainly do not lose to any steak. – Fiona Chandra
Tostada raspada with kanpachi head pâté and scallops at Holbox
I have long been a fan of Gilberto Cetina’s Holbox, a casual counter at Mercado La Paloma, but this year was the first time I managed to try his tasting menu, which is only offered on Wednesdays and Thursdays. The entire tasting was impeccable and it was hard to choose a favorite from this menu alone. In the end, I selected the tostada raspada, slathered with kanpachi head pâté and topped with raw scallops. The tostada itself has a story: to make a tostada raspada, the handmade tortilla is cooked only on one side so the top end is still raw, then the raw masa is scraped off. What’s left is fried into a thin, brittle tortilla. The smoked kanpachi head pâté was originally made in order to use the leftover parts of the fish, but it certainly makes for an intensely flavored base for the tostada that somehow doesn’t overwhelm the delicate, raw scallops. The dish combines many things that Holbox excels at and it’s the perfect example of what the restaurant can do. – Fiona Chandra
Honey’s Hammered at Side Pie
I often ask for no dairy, no gluten, and less sugar when dining out, to maintain my wellness-focused Los Angeles identity. But at Side Pie, I go all-in. Each slice of the Honey’s Hammered pizza rests on a thin yet sturdy dough base that holds heavy cream, fresh mozzarella, fresh parmesan, ham slices, and a sweet honey drizzle. Born as an at-home pop-up during the pandemic, Side Pie has now settled into a permanent location in Altadena, the first restaurant you see when coming down the San Gabriel Mountains. With pizzas “tossed by hand, cooked by fire,” every bite, packed with carbs, fat, protein, and sugar feels like a ripple in time, creating a perfect blend of flavors, leaving me with nothing to do but smile. – Ulysses Salcido
Morning Glory Salad at Jitlada
A fresh crop of hungry customers driven by social media are making their way to Jitlada, L.A.’s hottest Thai restaurant. Owner Sarintip Singsanong, also known as Chef Jazz, was a co-owner before taking full responsibility in 2017 after the passing of her brother, Chef Suthiporn “Tui” Sungkamee. Chef Jazz has worked endlessly on national television, public appearances, and in her restaurant to maintain a menu that is recognized by the Ministry of Commerce of the Royal Thai Government for its authentic Thai flavors and recipes. Among the 400 flavorful items on the menu, the Morning Glory salad sprouts to the top. It begins with a bed of freshly picked water spinach stems that are fried crispy in tempura batter then topped with crunchy shallots, red onion, and shrimp. The salad is then sown with fish sauce, citrus, and chili – you’ll be ordering it again before you know it. – Ulysses Salcido
Triple Jalapeno Smash at Easy Street Burger
One of the biggest trends of the year in L.A. has been smash burgers. The concept is simple – ground beef patties are smashed on a griddle until paper thin, charred, and crispy – but it’s the execution that makes Easy Street stand out. Each patty is pressed with a large weight and firm pressure against the griddle. However, this creates a challenge: the patty is fragile, often breaking into holes or cracks during cooking. To keep the patty intact while adding flavor, melted cheese and caramelized onions come into play. A gooey, melty variety like American or Swiss cheese acts as a binder, while onions provide moisture and sweetness, sealing in the flavors and maintaining the patty’s integrity. You get three thin, flavorful patties, seared to perfection, topped with spicy “wild sauce” and freshly cut jalapeños nestled in a soft potato bun. It’s big, filling, spicy, and sweet – and it’s worth the long wait. – Ulysses Salcido
Peanut Butter Latte at Makisupa
At Makisupa Coffee Bar in Silverlake, peanut butter makes the leap from a pantry staple to drinkable delight in the rich and silky peanut butter almond milk latte. The espresso lays a deep, robust foundation, while the peanut butter adds smooth, savory richness that lingers on the palate. Together, they offer a unique contrast – slightly bitter from the espresso, yet with the sweet and comforting, decadent flavor of roasted peanuts. In L.A., we often prefer iced drinks over hot, so the peanut butter latte at Makisupa is perfect when temperatures soar above 90 degrees. Sip it slowly while relaxing on wooden benches with views of Silverlake neighborhood foot traffic or drink it quickly before a run or bike ride around the reservoir. – Ulysses Salcido
Published on December 13, 2024