Tag: restaurant

Los Angeles’ Restaurant Options on New Year’s Day

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In Spain, they eat one grape at midnight for every toll of the clock bell. In Mexico City, tamales are the go-to food. In Japan, households bid farewell with a bowl of soba noodles. While the particulars of what one eats to welcome in the new year, one thing is certain: food and drink are often used to ring in a fresh year of prosperity. Yet, heading out to restaurants to celebrate the new year may take some research and a little preplanning.

For Los Angelenos who don’t need to spend all New Year’s Day recovering from New Year’s Eve, January 1 can be quite a peaceful day in the city, with many shops, businesses, museums, and restaurants closing their doors for the holiday. If you would rather kick off the new year enjoying someone else’s culinary skills, there are plenty of restaurants that are open in Los Angeles on January 1—but you want to make a plan before 2025 arrives, as New Year’s Day reservations tend to get booked quickly.

Below are some of the top tasty spots you could head to for New Year’s Day celebrations.

The Lonely Oyster

The Lonely Oyster, a seafood restaurant in Echo Park, is open every day of the year—including New Year’s Day. Consistently proving to be one of Southern California’s best places for lunch or dinner, you can welcome in 2025 with The Lonely Oyster’s saltwater menu, featuring crab cakes, fish and chips, cioppino, lobster rolls, and fresh oysters. Looking to celebrate with a drink? Check out this spot’s wine and cocktail list, curated to pair beautifully with every item on the menu.

1320 Echo Park Ave (Sunset), Los Angeles, CA 90026

(213) 279-9413

Encanto

Located in Los Feliz, Encanto is a Baja California-inspired restaurant that is ringing in 2025 with an on-site DJ and specials. Partnering with local brewer Skyduster, Encanto is offering a $45 per person brunch on New Year’s Day. The brunch will feature micheladas on deck, a bloody mary/maria cart, oysters, churro French toast, an open-faced lox torta, and more.

2121 Hillhurst Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90027

(323) 741-0140

The Benjamin

Open for dinner on January 1 is partner Ben Shenassafar’s Hollywood restaurant, The Benjamin. Chef Johnny Cirelle will be whipping up deviled eggs, crab beignets, branzino, and a hearty cheeseburger for guests (don’t forget to order yourself a martini). If you’re looking to spend New Year’s Day at The Benjamin, you’ll want to act fast, as reservations tend to get booked quickly.

7174 Melrose Avenue, Los Angeles, California 90046

(323) 888-9000

Ronan

Prefer to keep celebrations simple and easy? Check out Ronan, whose menu features excellent dishes such as blistered pizzas, broccolini, and pork meatballs covered in sauce, basil, and Parmesan. Ronan’s drink menu features craft cocktails and biodynamic wines that are worth checking out. You may like to consider sipping the French 36 with Old Forester Bourbon, pomegranate, lemon, Angostura, and prosecco as you say hello to 2025.

7315 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90046

(323) 917-5100

La Boheme

In West Hollywood, you will find La Boheme hosting brunch from noon until 3:45 p.m. on New Year’s Day, serving up oysters, grilled octopus, omelets, and brioche French toast with berries. La Boheme is ready to celebrate 2025 with you, offering bottomless mimosas for $19 and a selection of non-alcoholic options from their innovative, zero-proof menu.

8400 Santa Monica Blvd (at Orlando Ave), West Hollywood, CA 90069

(323) 848-2360

Ryla

Welcome in the new year in Hermosa Beach, with chefs Ray Hayashi and Cynthia Hetlinger’s restaurant Ryla. Just blocks away from the Pacific, this South Bay hotspot features dishes such as Hokkaido milk bread, fried snapper collars with chile-lime sauce, blue crab California rolls, miso ramen, and a Sichuan-laced grilled lamb chop.

1220 Hermosa Avenue, Hermosa Beach, California 90254

January 3, 2025
Four Restaurants to Try in Los Angeles This Fall

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Spice up the month with four delicious restaurant recommendations in Los Angeles. As the weather cools off, enjoy refreshments at The Punchbowl, warm hearty meals at Holy Basil, a breakfast of champions at John O’ Groats, and indulge in Korean food at Ham Ji Park. These four eateries will satisfy any indulgences that come with the beautiful fall weather.

Sweet Smoothies and Refreshing Juice: The Punchbowl

The Punchbowl has introduced a new pumpkin spice shake to the menu. Smoothies don’t have to be only for summer months– enjoy the spice flavors of fall-themed drinks. With generous-sized portions, The Punchbowl packs organic goodness into all drinks.

Their juices are raw, cold-pressed ingredients that don’t compromise quality or health. Smoothies don’t have fillers like ice or preservatives, just fruit, homemade nut milk, coconut water, or cold-pressed juice.

The outdoor seating allows customers to enjoy the beautiful LA weather year-round. Feel the breeze while sipping the chocolate frost for a nostalgic, chocolatey taste, or The Golden Idol for a health kick with turmeric and cayenne.

The owners created The Punchbowl with a peaceful environment in mind. Their menu reflects that amity by combining vegan options into delicious sippable drinks.

4645 Melbourne Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90027

Holy Basil: Thai Cooking From Your Dreams

Atwater Village is home to Holy Basil’s second-ever location. Featuring a hearty menu with mouth-watering options like Pad Thai Noodle, Gra Pow, and Thai Shrimp Fried Rice, Holy Basil’s options will leave you craving more.

Reviewers rave about their signature Moo Krob and Gra Pow, both made with pork belly or optional Wagyu Beef for the latter. The restaurant also offers sides to elevate any meal or as a smaller, affordable option. Holy Basil’s luxurious vegan desserts will make your meal a lasting memory. Drink options include several teas and lemonades—a great refresher with such a rich meal.

3170 Glendale Blvd, Unit C, Los Angeles, CA 90039

A Breakfast of Champions: Say Good Morning at John O’Groats

John O’Groats is a local family-owned diner “serving old-fashioned Americana and Biscuits from Heaven,” according to their website.

And it sure does look like heaven, as their menu features mouth-watering photos of strawberry pancakes, fresh eggs, and sizzling bacon. John O’Groats has several pancake options that satisfy many particular tastes, including spiced pumpkin pancakes representing the heart of fall.

For a more satiating meal, try John O’Groats’s egg and choice of meat options with fries, cantaloupe, cottage cheese, and biscuits or toast on the side. Ziggy’s Get Fit menu is an excellent option for high-protein or lower-carb meals that still please the taste buds.

Accompany your meal with sides like cheesy grits for a southern twist or additional meat for those particularly hungry mornings.

10516 W Pico Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90064

Ham Ji Park: For a Taste of the East in The West

Ham Ji Park is a Korean restaurant famous for its Dwaeji Galbi (Pork Spare Ribs) and Gamjatang (Pork Neck Bone Stew). You’ll rarely find such elite, traditional Korean meals in the far west US.

The restaurant has an outdoor seating area that accommodates customers for their preferred dining experience. One reviewer recommends that everyone try Ham Ji Park, including Korean customers who may know the dishes well.

Customers love the huge portion sizes provided, leaving a full tummy and a satisfied experience. Ham Ji Park has rich appetizer options such as squid and octopus to start your meal with a bang. There are also vegetable options for customers who prefer not to eat meat, making Ham Ji Park a great restaurant that caters to all food accommodations.

Find your next meal at Ham Ji Park with a stew, barbecue, or even a simple kimchi rice bowl. They are sure to fill your heart and stomach’s desires.

3407 W 6th St Ste 101C Los Angeles, CA 90020

September 25, 2024
LA Restaurant Wins Resy One to Watch Award of World’s 50 Best Restaurants

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The food industry can be rather difficult to break into, and for California restaurant hopefuls, the Golden State proves even more challenging than other areas across the nation. With the pressures of launching a restaurant including long hours, financial strain, marketing, and more, many foodie dreamers may find themselves hesitant. This isn’t the case for San Gabriel Valley’s Jon Yao, a Taiwanese-American chef and owner of Los Angeles-based Kato, which was recently named as the recipient of the Resy One To Watch Award 2024 from The World’s 50 Best Restaurants.

Originally established in a nondescript strip mall on the west side of L.A., Kato opened in 2016, with Yao serving up a tasty menu selection of Asian-American cuisine. This natural-born cook is taking the flavors from his childhood with his Taiwanese immigrant parents and interpreting them into fragrant, modern dishes. When describing Kato’s mission, Yao expressed, “The food we do at Kato is our way of speaking up for young Asian-Americans. There’s a cultural reference behind every dish, but we try to make sense of it in a modern context.”

Since founding Kato, Yao has worked with sommelier Ryan Bailey, who is the Director of Operations. In 2022, the team relocated Kato to a newly expanded, fully licensed location at the ROW DTLA in the Arts District of Los Angeles, where long-time general manager Nikki Reginaldo was promoted to managing partner. This move also saw Kato bring aboard a seasoned bar director, Austin Hennelly, who is already serving up stunning cocktails like Mandarin Garibaldi and The Paloma that look almost too good to drink.

Kato’s new industrial-luxe home is reimaging the fine dining experience, with Yao’s dishes creating the perfect harmony between classic Taiwanese cuisine and the contemporary edge trending throughout the food industry. Already making a name for himself in the food world, Yao channels childhood favorites, like his mother’s fish fragrant sauce that is commonly used in Yao’s meat and vegetable stir-fries, filling the senses with its garlic, ginger, and doubanjiang (Sichuan chile bean paste).

Kato customers can enjoy a tasting menu of 12 standout courses, served from a custom wood-fired hearth and grill that anchors the kitchen and helps Yao curate dishes such as caramelized sablefish with abalone and basil, grilled lobster with lobster toast and a sauce of roasted shells, and Dungeness crab custard with fish maw and crab vinegar.

For those desiring something sweeter to tickle their taste buds, Kato’s desserts include dishes such as a boniato yam boba with fresh cheese and sable, as well as roasted Taiwanese pineapple mille feuille.

Recently, this restaurant was named the recipient of the Resy One To Watch Award 2024 from The World’s 50 Best Restaurants, an award that recognizes rising-star restaurants that are serving up some serious international waves in the gastronomic scene. Director of Content for The World’s 50 Best Restaurants, William Drew, stated, “Kato is blowing diners away with its blend of original flavours and old-school hospitality and this award will bring Yao’s cooking to a wider international audience. We are delighted to reward the team’s dedication, passion, skill, and originality with this hugely deserved accolade.”

Thriving in their Southern Californian scene, Kato, despite the upgrades and beverage debuts, remains a poetic expression of bringing the past and present together, creating a dining experience that is worthy of the splurge.

May 17, 2024
Popular Los Angeles Vegan Restaurant to Start Serving Animal Products

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A well-known Los Angeles vegan restaurant announced that it would begin to incorporate animal products into its menu this past April.

Sage Plant Based Bistro, the restaurant in question, has stated that it will add dishes with animal products that have been raised through regenerative farming practices starting on May 29. Regenerative farming is a method that aims to reduce the dependency on chemicals, as well as promote biodiversity in crop and livestock raising. The restaurant will also rebrand its name to Sage Regenerative Kitchen and Brewery.

Sage chef-owner Mollie Engelhart stated in an open letter, “I no longer feel that a vegan lifestyle for all is a viable solution for the planet and its soil which is one of our most precious resources.”

Engelhart has also stated that the restaurant has not been profitable since 2020. The restaurant has already closed one location in Agoura Hills and converted its Culver City location into a take-out-only space.

“People are not going to stop eating meat, so why not offer an option where it is done right,” Englehart said.

Engelhart sold the Sow a Heart farm in Fillmore, California this past December. The farm—which provided up to 25% of the restaurant’s produce—continues to receive orders from Sage.

However, the announcement of the change sparked backlash on Instagram, upon which multiple commenters shared they would no longer support the business.

Amber Canavan, a vegan campaigns project manager for PETA, said that Sage Bistro “is trying to rebrand itself as a champion of the environment while serving meat, and it’s like a firefighter spraying fuel on the flames and saying they’re doing something to help.”

Engelhart defended the changes in an open letter as part of her shift in thinking about how to protect the planet. She pointed toward the changes after the pandemic and the proliferation of vegan-based options as reasons for the change.

“It’s vulnerable to publicly say, ‘I believed one thing, and maybe I was wrong and now I believe something else,’” Engelhart said. “I hope that it inspires people in their own lives to be willing to be open-minded when something else makes more sense to you.”

The restaurant, according to Engelhart, will still offer vegan operations, and she added that regenerative farming could provide a common meeting point for people with different dietary preferences. “All of these people should be able to come together for foods with less chemicals,” Engelhart said.

According to the website of Regenerative Farmers of America, regenerative farming is an approach to agriculture that not only prioritizes soil health and biodiversity but also the natural processes that go along with it.

While traditionally farmed fields tend to rely on chemicals and focus only on single crops at a time, regenerative farmers “use a variety of practices such as crop rotation, cover cropping, reduced tillage, and the integration of livestock to improve soil health, conserve water, and promote biodiversity.”

The association claims that the practices involve creating greater, more nutrient-dense produce, and improve not just the yield of the crops but also create drought-resistant soil.

May 8, 2024