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A takeout window seems an apt location to begin thinking through some of the Los Angeles restaurants that managed not only to open in 2020, but also to enrich the city’s culture with creative achievement and personal narrative. This carryout setup...

My apologies to anyone who subscribes to the doctrine that a fried egg makes everything better. I am going to make the argument that the only thing that makes an egg palatable is mayonnaise (preferably Kewpie). And that the best way to eat this...

For decades, Rafael “Ray” Vega made the rounds in the brick-lined dining room of Casa Vega restaurant in Sherman Oaks, dressed sharply in a sweater vest with a name tag fastened to the front. “Hi, I’m Ray Vega and this is Casa Vega,” he would say....

Dry January has been canceled. We’ll try again next year. For now, it’s margaritas for everyone! Correct me if I’m wrong, but margaritas to-go might be the greatest innovation of the pandemic. I’ve taste-tested a lot of restaurant margaritas at...

On Nov. 1, Ashley and Tyler Wells were deep in rural Northern California, driving south, about 10 hours outside of Los Angeles. They were returning from a camping trip in the wilderness. Although the cell service was spotty, a call from one of the...

While all restaurants have been forced to pivot dramatically in response to the pandemic, the restaurants making the biggest adjustments have been those whose entire concepts revolve around interactive dining. Restaurants, for example, like...

Shiku at Grand Central Market Anyone lucky enough to try Kwang Uh’s creamy pink noorook at Baroo, the much-lauded, profoundly innovative Korean restaurant he opened in a Hollywood strip mall in 2015, will be relieved to know the chef is back....

What to even say about this first week of 2021? My colleagues LZ Granderson and Gustavo Arellano express it clearly. Read (or reread) Michelle Obama’s words. As I vacillate between scrolling through apps and staring at the laptop and TV to process...

Today, a metal gate secures the door of the 101 Coffee Shop on Franklin Avenue in the Hollywood Hills. Graffiti is scrawled across the windows and a lonely, dusty jukebox stands in the corner begging to play another classic rock tune. The...