Clockwise from top middle: Sandwich from Meymuni Cafe, ramen birria from Hoja Blanca, escargots from Regalade, a selection of dishes from Golden Leaf restaurant and pizza from Anna Pizza.
(Collage by Jaya Nicely / Los Angeles Times. Photos by Stella Kalinina / For The Times; Bill Addison / Los Angeles Times; Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times; Kayla Bartkowski / Los Angeles Times)
The best places to eat and drink this month, according to our Food writers
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Spring has sprung in Los Angeles. In just a couple weeks, thousands of music lovers will make the trek to Indio’s Empire Polo Club for the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival, with dozens of L.A. chefs joining them. While in the desert, many festival goers take a detour through neighboring Palm Springs to explore museums, restaurants and bars before the dry climate climbs into the triple digits.
Closer to home, Los Angeles’ food scene is mourning the loss of two legendary haunts forced to permanently close their doors. After months of extensions, Cole’s French Dip closed at the end of March, though owner Cedd Moses said he was still hopeful that the city’s longest-running public house and rumored creator of the French dip sandwich would sell to a new owner. In Echo Park, Taix restaurant closed after 99 years of operation to make way for a six-story housing complex.
But it’s not all bad news for local restaurants. In Melrose Hill, a Bangladeshi chef has returned to the kitchen after a two-decade-long break from the industry. Across town, a viral smashburger spot from a celebrated chef is drawing lines for its juicy Wagyu patties. And for those heading to the desert, restaurant critic Bill Addison insists a modern Mexican pop-up is worth the weekday trip. Here are 13 places to put on your dining agenda this month:
Showing Place Places
Anna Pizza
Valley Glen Italian American $$
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
After operating a pizza catering business for years, Thomas DeSantis has opened a permanent restaurant in a Valley Village strip mall with red-sauce pastas, chicken Parmesan sandwiches, fried zucchini and New York-style pies in a homey environment with family photos on the walls.
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Bevel Coffee
Altadena Coffee $
(Angela Osorio / Los Angeles Times)
After popping up on the patio of Prime Pizza since 2023, Bevel Coffee has opened a bricks-and-mortar in Altadena, becoming one of the first new storefronts to open in the neighborhood since the Eaton fire. Owner Kevin Mejia roasts beans sourced from Central America and Ethiopia at his home garage and offers them for retail purchase alongside coffee and espresso lattes, tea and pastries.
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Duke's Malibu
Malibu Seafood $$
(Duke’s Malibu)
The iconic restaurant along PCH was on the heels of opening after the Pacific Palisades fire last February, when heavy rain caused mudslides that led to flooding and extensive damage. Fourteen months later, Duke’s Malibu is reopen with significant renovations and limited lunch and dinner menus featuring Hawaiian-influenced seafood staples, such as crispy coconut shrimp, Korean sticky ribs and hula pie. As the restaurant celebrates 30 years in operation, plans are underway for an anniversary party this summer.
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Golden Leaf Restaurant
San Gabriel Valley Taiwanese $$
(Kayla Bartkowski/Los Angeles Times)
A Taiwanese restaurant in San Gabriel was forced to take stinky tofu, a popular, culturally significant dish, off the menu after repeated residential neighbor complaints and fines from the city. City officials have encouraged Golden Leaf restaurant to install an expensive filter to address the pungent smell, though owners insist that none of their immediate shopping center neighbors have complained about the odor. A Change.org petition was launched last summer to support the preparation of the dish at the restaurant.
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Henrietta
Echo Park Californian Italian $$
(Danielle Adams)
A new day-to-night bisto is open in Silver Lake courtesy of Max Lesser, formerly of Chi Spacca, with Alexis Brown, formerly of Alimento, heading the kitchen. Opt for deli sandwiches, $10 glasses of wine and a market with pantry goods during the day and Cal-Italian plates during dinner service, including ricotta dumplings with chanterelles.
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Hoja Blanca
Palm Springs Modern Mexican $$
(Bill Addison / Los Angeles Times )
If you’re heading to Coachella this month, it’s worth making a detour for this weekly pop-up at a sleek Palm Springs bar. From married couple Omar Limon and Blanca Flores Torres with help from Omar’s brother Arnold Limon, Hoja Blanca offers a a playful take on modern Mexican food with dishes such as quesabirria tacos, esquites with cauliflower and a tetela topped with pork belly, all served alongside Bryan Jimenez’s classic cocktails.
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Little Fish Melrose Hill
Seafood $$
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
The pair behind one of the most popular fried fish sandwiches in the city has launched a dimly lit seafood-focused restaurant in Melrose Hill, with a dry-aging refrigerator on view behind the nine-seat bar. The menu features daily crudo, a marinated mussels sandwich with potato chips that’s inspired by versions co-owner Anna Sonenshein ate at the beach during her childhood and cabbage stuffed with abalone rice. Kae Whalen, formerly of Anajak Thai and Baby Bistro, leads the restaurant’s natural wine program.
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Meymuni Cafe
Rancho Park Persian Coffee $
(Stella Kalinina/For The Times)
As war unfolds in Iran and neighboring countries, L.A.’s Persian community has found comfort and support at restaurants such as Meymuni, a modern Persian cafe that offers free tea and cookies to diners, many of whom stop by after related protests at the nearby Federal Building. The cafe opened in 2025 with barbari bread and lavash wrap sandwiches, tahini-date shakes and chai lattes, plus a full slate of events aimed at uplifting the local Persian community.
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NADC Burger
Westwood Burgers $
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
The rapidly expanding smashburger chain from Pasta Bar and Sushi by Scratch Restaurants chef Phillip Frankland Lee has opened its first L.A. location in Westwood Village, with plans to open additional locations in the city. The signature burger at NADC — an acronym for “not a damn chance” — features two Wagyu patties, American cheese, grilled onions, jalapeños, pickles and a house sauce, with beef tallow fries and brown butter chocolate chip cookies rounding out the short menu.
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Osusume Fumio
Atwater Village Japanese $$$
(Ron De Angelis / For The Times)
A notable new sushi den has taken over the Atwater Village space formerly occupied by Morihiro, even serving some of its dishes in ceramics left behind by the prolific sushi chef. At the seven-seat counter, chef Fumio Azumi offers Edomae-style nigiri at mid-range prices, including a lunch omakase for $120 per person, dinner for $160 per person and daily-changing a la carte options from $8 to $40. The beverage program includes complimentary hot tea, a selection of beers and sake by the glass.
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Regalade
Beverly Grove French $$
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
A new destination for French cuisine has opened in the former Slab space in Beverly Grove, courtesy of France native Jocelyn Bulow and Alessandro Iacobelli of neighboring Italian restaurant Oste. Expect crudos, steak frites, herby escargots and buttery baguettes alongside a 60-bottle wine list.
Roshona Bilash
Bangladeshi $
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
After stepping away from the kitchen for decades, Abul Ibrahim has opened a quick-service restaurant in Melrose Hill that celebrates the Bangladeshi flavors he grew up with. Roshona Bilash, which translates to “luxurious taste,” features Bengali classics such as bone-marrow nihari, rice pilafs and meats and breads cooked in a clay oven, with plans to expand with regional specialties such as seafood dishes popular along the Bangladesh coast.
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Sandough
Fairfax Italian American $
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
For those times when you want both pizza and a sandwich, Sandough has the answer. The new Melrose Avenue restaurant from chef-partner Frankie Guerrero of Trois Familia makes pizza sandwiches with Neapolitan-style dough using an assortment of ingredients, from mortadella and ricotta to crispy chicken cutlets, marinara and mozzarella to sweet options with Nutella, mascarpone and pistachio.
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