No one will mistake the menu at Wilde’s in Los Feliz for pub grub. With the arrival of spring comes the shape-shifting kitchen’s lightness, swells of vegetables and a sense of refinement.

Lucia, the only Afro-Caribbean fine dining restaurant in L.A., is a destination on Fairfaix Avenue.

At Yerord Mas, a second-generation son of the city takes the cooking of his people and turns it into something personal, deeply researched, modern in lightness and inspiringly delicious. His viral $38 basturma brisket sandwich is worth the hype.

At Loli Farms in Pasadena, find excellent Peruvian-style rotisserie chicken, lomo saltado sandwiches and a Peruvian market with Inca Kola.

Culinary celebrities Phil Rosenthal and Nancy Silverton built a nostalgia-fueled dream diner in Max & Helen’s and everyone showed up.