4 Restaurants to Try This Weekend in Los Angeles: July 18

Eater

4 days ago

The views from Kassi will be worth the price of admission this summer. Wish You Were Here Group
Every Friday, our editors compile a trusty list of recommendations to answer the most pressing of questions: 'Where should I eat?' Here now are four places to check out this weekend in Los Angeles. And if you need some ideas on where to drink, here's our list of the hottest places to get cocktails in town.
For Guatemalan flavors plus a solid music playlist: Ulew Coffee & Juice in Boyle Heights
When venturing out for morning or afternoon coffee, go beyond the expected spots, especially ones with long lines and (oftentimes) much hype. Colorful and delicious alternatives await at Ulew Coffee & Juice, a Guatemalan cafe located blocks away from the popular Boyle Heights strip where seafood taco specialists Mariscos Jalisco and Mariscos 4 Vientos are situated. This is an ideal LA corridor for an afternoon hangout where inventive drinks hail from the owner's Guatemalan and LA roots, like the barrio latte with condensed milk, Mayan mocha, and an elegant latte balanced with the perfect amount of espresso and cardamom. If at Ulew for bites, opt for the flavorful tuna melt, breakfast sandwich with pesto, avocado, eggs, cheese, turkey, chili oil, and pickled jalapeños. Preparing fresh juice is how the family-operated cafe got its start before opening its brick-and-mortar in early 2024. Try a 12-ounce cup of fresh carrot juice, or the Sientete Bien made with pineapple, turmeric, orange, ginger, and lemon. The seating area is colorful and pleasant, with plenty of cozy nooks to sit and escape into. 1300 S. Soto Street, Unit 9, Los Angeles, CA 90023. — Mona Holmes, editor, Eater Southern California/Southwest
For road trip pizza: Woodstock's in San Luis Obispo
Woodstock's Pizza & Backyard. Rebecca Roland
There are plenty of excellent stops on the road between Los Angeles and San Francisco, whether it be a breakfast burrito in Santa Barbara or a roadside snack in Paso Robles. But as someone who has done the drive up the 101 plenty of times, my go-to midpoint stop is in San Luis Obispo. On a recent trip up, I popped into Woodstock's, a local pizza parlor that's open fairly late. The room was abuzz even past 10 p.m., with groups sipping on IPAs and digging into slices. The pizza here is fluffier than the average New York-style slice, with a zesty red sauce folded into the crust. Classics like pepperoni, sausage, and vegetables are available, but Woodstock's also tops its pies with less traditional ingredients like carnitas and butter chicken. After a slice from here, the rest of the drive is a breeze. 1000 Higuera Street, San Luis Obispo, CA 93401 — Rebecca Roland, editor, Eater Southern California/Southwest
For a Venice rooftop view with Greek meze: Kassi Club in Venice
Kassi Venice Beach. Wish You Were Here Group
Venice's longtime rooftop destination at the Hotel Erwin just got flipped into Kassi Club, a Greekish restaurant with a creamy beige color palette that's sure to please the Instagram crowd. Here, find amorphous Mediterranean restaurant standards like hand-pulled flatbreads and meze; lamb meatballs swiped with something sweet, like pomegranate molasses; and, of course, Greek salad — but also less expected fare like spanakopita quesadillas crowned with green-chile yogurt, crispy saganaki, and zhoug orzo flanked by whipped feta. The food and drink are virtually just the price of admission for one of the most sweeping views of the Pacific Ocean and humming Venice Beach Boardwalk you can find in this part of town. Grab a woven blanket from the friendly service staff as the sun begins to set. Once it dips behind the mountains, the lingering summer warmth quickly turns cold. 1697 Pacific Avenue, Venice, CA 90291. — Nicole Adlman, Eater cities manager
For a ''tasting menu'' that's not a tasting menu with inventive flavors: Baby Bistro in Echo Park/Victor Heights
Raspberries, turnips, and tofu from Baby Bistro in Victor Heights. Matthew Kang
Miles Thompson has come full service with his tasting menu in Victor Heights, essentially on the border of Echo Park, landing here 11 years after he closed Allumette on the other side of the neighborhood. Back then, Jonathan Gold called his food Etsy-style haute cuisine, and it seems the chef, who has since worked at Michael's in Santa Monica, has mostly retained this inventive streak of upscale dining at a reasonable price point. Baby Bistro isn't a technically tasting menu, it's fully a la carte with just a handful of options that change regularly (the onion bread has remained since its days as a pop-up in Koreatown's Hotel Normandie). A few apps have become mainstays as well, like the raspberry-tinted Meiji tofu with turnips or pickled cucumbers with squid, both of which can have a bracing tanginess before settling into their intended melange of sweet, crunchy, and creamy (the bigreef squid pieces kind of resemble a creamy richness after a few bites, while the artisanal tofu is as luxurious as mozzarella). The vinegary theme continues with a summer corn salad, pops of sweetness from grape slivers, and the sensation of green beans actually coming from cactus slices. Prawns in a puttanesca are satisfying and fun, deeply umami with rounded allium acid, while the chicken sausage atop a bed of crunchy Job's tears grains is a hefty way to finish the savory portion. I left the meal as intrigued as I would be at a wine bar in Paris or East Village, maybe wondering if I should have had more than two glasses of wine to really let the flavors soak in. The dishes are basically a shared exploration of Thompson's understated vision of modern LA/California cuisine, and worth trying at least once, especially to explore 2019 Eater Young Gun Kae Whalen's thrilling wine list (a lush orange wine from Les Bories Jeffries paired great with the first few courses). I'm curious how Thompson will take this venue, a beautiful cottage with charm for days, through the seasons. Will the menu expand or remain focused on a handful of courses? Will it eschew big entrees for wine-centric share plates? I guess Baby Bistro will have to stay true to its name — diminutive, impressionable, endearing, and adorable, or else it will wander into the restlessness of a toddler. And no one wants that. 1027 Alpine Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012. — Matthew Kang, lead editor, Eater Southern California/Southwest
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