The Most Anticipated Los Angeles Restaurant Openings, Summer 2025
The first half of 2025 has been a challenging time for Los Angeles, its rich dining scene battered by wildfires in January and continued strain from the impact of the 2023 writers' and actors' strikes. In recent weeks, the city has also contended with ICE raids, protests, and curfews, primarily concentrated Downtown. However, Los Angeles remains one of the country's most exciting restaurant cities, with new openings taking place weekly from several big names: Daisy Margarita Bar opened to crowds in Sherman Oaks, Firstborn has become a critical darling in Chinatown, Lucia brightened Fairfax with one of the most stunning interiors in recent memory, and Cannonball arrived in South Pasadena with approachable comfort fare. The summer promises plenty of other exciting openings — here are the ones to look forward to most.
Projected Opening: Mid-summer
Major Players: Bryant Ng, Kim Luu-Ng
Chef Bryant Ng (Cassia) and his wife Kim Luu-Ng are gearing up to open a fast-casual Chinese American restaurant called Jade Rabbit in Santa Monica this summer. The restaurant will draw on Bryant's family history of cooking Chinese American food and take inspiration from the Hong Kong-style cafes and Cantonese barbecue restaurants that opened in the 1980s and 1990s. Meals will be formatted as combination plates with two side dishes, two vegetables, and a main like beef and broccoli, honey walnut shrimp, and an orange mango chicken that nods to sweet-and-tangy Korean fried chicken. — Rebecca Roland, Eater Southern California/Southwest Editor
Projected Opening: Summer 2025
Major Players: Phil Rosenthal, Nancy Silverton
Television writer and host Phil Rosenthal ( Somebody Feed Phil, Everybody Loves Raymond) is teaming up with chef Nancy Silverton to open Max & Helen's, a classic diner, in the former Le Petit Greek Larchmont space. The restaurant is inspired by the Palace Diner in Biddeford, Maine, which was featured in the Maine episode of Somebody Feed Phil . Expect approachable classics like Silverton and Rosenthal's take on a diner breakfast with eggs, bacon, toast, potatoes, and a cup of coffee. Rosenthal tells Eater that he wants Max & Helen's to look like he just happened to find a 100-year-old diner, complete with antique fixtures. — Rebecca Roland, Eater Southern California/Southwest Editor
Projected opening: Early to mid-July
Major Players: Rose Previte, Alfonso 'Poncho' Martinez, Deau Arpapornnopparat, Tongkamal 'Joy' Yuon, Maria Elena Lorenzo
Maydan Market was first announced in late 2023 as an East Coast expansion from D.C. restaurateur Rose Previte, who earned a Michelin star for Lebanese-inflected restaurant Maydan. The market will host a branch of Maydan, Previte's travel-influenced restaurant Compass Rose (which recently closed in D.C.), LA Oaxacan specialist Poncho's Tlayudas, and a grill-oriented eatery by Holy Basil Thai called Yhing Yhang. The market also recently announced a stall called Club 104 that will host a rotating mix of vendors and operators for a month or two at a time. When it opens, Maléna by Tamales Elena will serve pozoles, banana leaf tamales, and antojitos from the family behind the famed Watts food trailer. Then the stall will host chef Melissa Cottingham and Meymuna Hussein-Cattan of Flavors From Afar, followed by Eater YouTube host and chef Nyesha Arrington in early 2026. — Matthew Kang, lead editor, Eater Southern California/Southwest
Projected opening: July 2025
Veteran fine dining chef Brian Baik is almost ready to unveil his first-ever permanent restaurant after roving around Los Angeles for the last couple of years. Baik, whose family owns Koreatown's respected Kobawoo restaurant, trained at Eleven Madison Park, Chef's Table at Brooklyn Fare, and Sushi Noz before coming to Los Angeles during the COVID-19 pandemic. He opened Corridor 109 as an ode to the former Paris two-Michelin-star restaurant Passage 53 (109 is the suite number for Kobawoo) inside his parents' Koreatown restaurant serving Japanese and Korean seafood in elegant, no-fuss presentations. He moved to a space in Chinatown with just four tables, developing a following.
Corridor 109 will now occupy a standalone building in Melrose Hill with a neighborhood-friendly bar and lounge up front, with an intimate tasting counter in the rear. The bar will open a few weeks before the tasting counter with a top-tier cocktail program and small bites. At the full tasting counter, expect Baik's prowess with high-quality seafood to be on full display, and while the place is not overtly Korean influenced, he folds in flavors from his upbringing. — Matthew Kang, lead editor, Eater Southern California/Southwest
Projected opening: July 2025
Major players: Alvin Cailan, Tuệ Nguy?n, Einat Admony, Proposition Chicken
Local Kitchens is making another foray into Southern California when it opens in early July in Studio City. Similar to the recently opened Neighborly in Westlake Village, Local Kitchens partners with established chefs and restaurants to combine various menus and dishes under a single roof. At Local Kitchens, customers can come in and encounter multiple menus, like Sweet Onion Burger by chef Alvin Cailan (who owns Amboy in Chinatown) and Tấm Tấm Rice by chef Tuệ Nguy?n (who helms Đi Đi in West Hollywood and is known by her social media handle TwayDaBae).
Local Kitchens in Studio City will offer a more complete dining experience, featuring 13 tables, communal seating, patio seating, ceramic plateware, and murals painted by Los Angeles artists. In addition, expect more staff to greet customers, take orders, and facilitate service, which will stand in contrast to the 'digital-first' and kiosk-oriented approach of Local Kitchens' Bay Area outlets. Fans won't be disappointed: Tấm Tấm riffs on Vietnamese broken rice dishes, with charbroiled chicken and braised pork belly over rice. Sweet Onion Burger has Cailan's Oklahoma-style shaved onion burgers with quarter-pound patties. Yalla Falafel makes stuffed falafel and amba chicken pita sandwiches, while Proposition Chicken does Southern-style fried chicken tenders and sandwiches. Expect this food hall-in-one to be a strong addition to the Valley dining scene. — Matthew Kang, lead editor, Eater Southern California/Southwest
Projected opening: Late June 2025
Major players: Dani García, Katsuya Uechi, Sam Nazarian
Originally opened inside New York City's Citizens food hall in Midtown West in December 2021, Casa Dani earned a Michelin star but quietly closed earlier this year. Alongside Casa Dani in Century City, Los Angeles's own Katsuya will open a flagship restaurant with a revitalized 20-year-anniversary menu and add to the Westfield mall's ever-improving slate of dining options.
Dani García is one of Spain's most acclaimed fine dining chefs, with two-Michelin-starred Smoked Room in Madrid and its Michelin-starred sibling in Dubai. The chef also held three Michelin stars at his eponymous restaurant in Marbella's luxe Puente Romano hotel, though it closed in 2019. Assuming it reflects its New York menu, Casa Dani in Los Angeles should distill García's modern takes on Spanish fare, like croquetas de jamón ibérico, Andalusian-style tuna preparations, paella, and grilled proteins like whole turbot and ibérico pork loin. Katsuya's Japanese lounge menu of sushi, rolls, and izakaya-inflected dishes will gather some of chef Katsuya Uechi's greatest hits from over the past 20 years. — Matthew Kang, lead editor, Eater Southern California/Southwest
Projected opening: August 2025
Celebrated Southern chef Sean Brock is opening his first West Coast restaurant, called Darling, featuring seasonal ingredients prepared over a live-fire grill in the former Soulmate space on Robertson Boulevard. The Nashville-based chef will also open Bar Darling, an adjoining cocktail bar that will serve cocktails while vinyls play over a hi-fi sound system.
Brock is a high-profile chef whose career has focused on showcasing Southern cuisine. He grew up in Virginia's Appalachian mountains before finishing culinary school and becoming executive chef at Charleston, South Carolina's Husk from 2010 until 2018; he then became a partner at McCrady's Restaurant. Brock won the James Beard Foundation Award for Best Chef: Southeast in 2010, and became a New York Times bestseller with his first cookbook Heritage , which also garnered a James Beard Award. Brock splits time between Nashville and Los Angeles. Darling will open across the street from Lisa Vanderpump's Sur and the trendy sandwich shop from three Vanderpump Rules stars, Something About Her. — Mona Holmes, editor, Eater Southern California/Southwest See More:
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