The best places to eat and drink this month, according to our food writers
It's awards season and our restaurant scene deserves recognition. Weeks of catastrophic wildfires were particularly devastating to local restaurants and food businesses, with many damaged or destroyed and contending with loss of business and smaller staffs as a result.
But those challenges haven't discouraged chefs and restaurateurs from stepping up to provide continuous aid to those affected, including free community meals, fundraisers for wildfire relief and initiatives to help displaced fire victims replace home kitchen equipment.
And new spots continue to open, keeping our dining scene as fresh and exciting as ever. In Koreatown, a Hong Kong-inspired cafe launched a small-batch creamery next door. In downtown L.A., new vendors are switching things up at Smorgasburg L.A.'s weekly market. Recent debuts also include a pair of New York-founded restaurants landing in splashy West Coast digs and the expansion of a handful of locally renowned pastry shops.
If you want to stick to tried-and-true staples, you can't go wrong with a family-owned chicken pot pie institution, which will celebrate its 50th anniversary this year, or San Gabriel Valley spots specializing in rou jia mo, the world's oldest sandwich, which hails from the Shaanxi province in China.
Here are 25 places to add to your dining schedule this month, including a vegan Filipino bakery in Long Beach, budget-friendly charcoal-grilled skewers in Torrance and a new seafood restaurant on Melrose.
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Koreatown Ice cream $
The team behind perennially popular Liu's Cafe has another hit with Liu's Creamery next door. The small-batch creamery is overseen by pastry chef Isabell Manibusan, and the menu includes a seasonal sorbet (currently with pear and ginger) and Philadelphia-style rolled ice cream modeled after popular Asian desserts and flavor profiles, including a pineapple cake sundae and the Night Market special with Taiwan milk ice cream, candied-sesame peanut powder, house cilantro oil and fresh cilantro. Customers can also build their own sundaes with house-made toppings including granola, cured egg yolk, chile crisp and butter cookie crumbles.
Read about the new creamery from Long Hospitality.
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Beverly Hills Bakery $
The Middle Eastern-inspired bakery has expanded to a new location in Beverly Hills, offering a full espresso program, toasts, loafs, Jerusalem bagels, sandwiches, salads and pastries, plus market items including hummus, tuna salad and dough starter. A Pasadena location is expected to open by the end of the year.
Read about the new bakery in Beverly Hills.
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Arcadia American $
Juan Valerio Garcia took over Moffett's Family Restaurant & Chicken Pie Shoppe in 2023 after working at the restaurant for decades, first as a dishwasher and eventually a cook. The Arcadia diner will celebrate its 50th anniversary this year and its nostalgic spirit remains the same since Garcia and his family took the reins. The famed chicken pot pie is still rich with gravy, but now diners can choose between white or dark meat, or order pies filled with turkey or tri-tip and beef gravy, all served alongside whipped potatoes and steamed vegetables. Daily specials have been added, ranging from meatloaf on Monday to baby back ribs on Saturday. Columnist Jenn Harris says the restaurant is just as comforting as when she went during her childhood.
Read about the comforting pot pies at Moffett's. Route 1409 S. Baldwin Ave., Arcadia, California 91007
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Harbor Gateway Bakery $
After opening a pop-up bakery in Noga, Israel, partners Lee Begim and Avi Sabag moved to Los Angeles, where Begim's family lived, six months after Hamas militants attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. The couple planned on opening a restaurant, but much like their short-lived bakery in Israel, those plans didn't pan out. In September, Begim and Sabag were able to secure the use of a production company and their Noga Bread pop-up has found a semipermanent home at the Enclave in Torrance, where you'll find fresh focaccia topped with pesto, whipped ricotta and caramelized leeks; date-caramel sticky buns; lamb mergeuz-filled croissants and a host of rotating breads and pastries offered every Wednesday and Saturday. A forthcoming bakery and cafe is set to open in downtown San Pedro later this year.
Read about the twice-weekly bakery pop-up in Torrance.
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Chinese American $$
Columnist Jenn Harris reviews one of the most ambitious reopenings in the San Gabriel Valley with Panda Inn, from Andrew Cherng and his father, chef Ming-Tsai Cherng, who first opened the Panda Inn on Foothill Boulevard in 1973. The new digs feature an upscale dining room, private rooms, a full bar and sushi bar, but the Chinese American menu feels nostalgic with dishes such as orange chicken and beef and broccoli, plus new dishes from executive chef Aiguo Yang that bridge influence across Yangzhou, China; Taipei, Taiwan; and Yokohama, Japan. Harris suggests focusing on one aspect of the restaurant's expansive menu — either the Yangzhou specialties, sushi or Chinese American staples — for best results.
Read about the recently renovated Panda Inn.
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Long Beach Filipino Vegan Bakery $
After years of pop-ups, the Filipino-influenced vegan bakery from partners Kym Estrada and Arvin Torres has landed in a permanent space along Long Beach's 4th Street corridor, serving classic buko pie, pandesal, bitsu-bitsu and ensaymadas, as well as unique creations including ube pop-tarts and pandan cinnamon buns, plus coffee sourced from the Philippines by Los Alamitos-based Teofilo. Just down the street from artisanal panadería Gusto Bread, San & Wolves regularly sells out of by the end of the day.
Read about Long Beach's new vegan bakery.
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Downtown L.A. Eclectic $$
By Danielle Dorsey
A host of new vendors joined the lineup at Smorgasburg L.A. for 2025 and will pop up at the free open-air market held at the Row DTLA every Sunday this year, including a boba stand that blends Taiwanese and Chinese bubble tea with Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Indo-Fijian ingredients; Back Yard Jerk for Caribbean staples; withBee, offering cuisines that span West African, the Caribbean and Southern cuisines; and Filipino barbecue pop-up Full Send BBQ.
Read about the 2025 Smorgasburg vendors.
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Mexican $
By Danielle Dorsey
In the semirural community of Muscoy, tucked behind an auto body shop, is a taquería that boasts a specialty from Mexico's Laguna region. The stand from Francisco Salinas and Vanessa Sánchez serves cabrito, or spit-roasted baby goat, in soft tacos, grilled flautas or consomé, as well as an offal sausage with baby goat organs called machitos that are also roasted on the spike. Food editor Daniel Hernandez discovered the stand as part of his investigation into Southern California's pararetes culture, which brings the traditions of Western Mexico to rural pockets with raw goat's milk spiked with cane sugar alcohol and other ingredients. The taco stand is approximately 90 minutes outside of L.A. and regularly sells out by mid-morning.
Read about the cabrito and machitos specialist in Muscoy.
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Culver City Mediterranean $$
Celebrity chef and humanitarian José Andrés has brought a new location of his long-running Washington, D.C., restaurant to the Shay Hotel in Culver City. Lobby-level Zaytinya serves an array of mezze and large-format plates that draw inspiration from Lebanese, Greek and Turkish cuisines, including spice-rubbed lamb leg kebabs and bone marrow kibbeh, with a full bar available, including Mediterranean wines. On the rooftop and adjacent to the pool, you'll find Butterfly, modeled after Andrés' D.C. restaurant Oyamel with an L.A.-inspired menu featuring queso fundido, tacos, ceviche and salads, plus house cocktails such as the signature Salt Air Margarita.
Read about José Andrés' new Culver City restaurant and rooftop bar.
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