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4 Restaurants to Try This Weekend in Los Angeles: June 27
Skip to main content Current eater city: Los Angeles
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.
Los Angeles seems to be teasing us with waves of summer, stretches of long days where the sun beats down and doesn't disappear until 8 p.m. But those who have lived in LA for some time know that the best part of the day is the hours when the sun is waning and it's still warm. It's in those evening hours that bingsoo (Korean shaved ice) jumps to the top of my agenda. At Sul & Beans, tucked into the second floor of MaDang Courtyard, snow-like ice is layered with flavors like taro, green tea, and injeolmi. It's sweet enough to satisfy a dessert craving, but not so sweet that it becomes overwhelming before you reach the bottom of the bowl. Keep an eye out for special seasonal flavors, like corn bingsoo. 621 S. Western Avenue #208-A, Los Angeles, CA 90005. — Rebecca Roland, editor, Eater Southern California/Southwest
Jamaican chef Donovan Gray has been running a streetside stand for traditional, drum-smoked jerk chicken in Westchester for two years, where he has gained a loyal following for his reasonably priced, generously piled plates of jerk chicken (sold by the half-chicken with diner's choice of white, dark, or mixed meat), slightly sweet fried festival, stewed cabbage, and allspice-flecked rice and peas. The stand beckons with the smoky, almost nutty scent of the chicken's barky exterior; the only other things sold beyond the jerk plates are a handful of drinks. Don't miss him from Thursday through Saturday: Thursday is a pared-down offering with just jerk chicken and festival, while Friday and Saturday offer the whole shebang. 6921 South La Tijera Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA, 90045. —Nicole Adlman, Eater cities manager
As summer kicked off on June 21, it's an ideal time to sip an inventive cocktail or nosh on food from a popular pop-up in the newly converted parking lot patio at Good Neighbor Bar. This Altadena spot exudes pure neighborhood vibes, perfect for friends, families, or any gathering when you're hanging outside. The 21 and up crowd can remain happily sequestered indoors at the bar, which is attached to owners April Langford and Randy Clement's Silverlake Wine shop. It's always fun to explore the menu, which is expertly organized into sections like refreshing highballs (try the summery mezcal Paloma), booze-forward drinks (a hearty mezcal Negroni), sweet tiki-oriented cocktails (rum-blended Puka Puka Punch), and more. They typically schedule food pop-ups (Shucks Oyster Company will appear Friday and For the Win on Saturday evening), so there's not much else to say or recommend, except to start texting, rally a group of friends, and figure out a time to meet. While there, check out Good Neighbor Bar's mural. It's a stunning visual of Altadena's wildfire damage. Langford and Clement are Altadena residents who care very much for their neighborhood, and this depiction is a stunning reminder of what happened, and to keep it in our memory. 2311 Lincoln Avenue, Altadena, CA, 91001. — Mona Holmes, editor, Eater Southern California/Southwest
For years, I'd passed by Azuma in Gardena, wondering what the deal was. Walk inside and see a loud, tightly-packed front dining room with a fully open kitchen that gives way into an even louder back area where families and groups can pile into tables. Open the menu and it'll make the Cheesecake Factory blush, with something like a 100 menu items that seem to go over the entire canon of casual Japanese food. Portions here are as big as the Cheesecake Factory, too, with combination or dinner sets large enough for two people to share. The crispy pork tonkatsu curry probably comes with four pounds of food, a pool of thick, meat-studded curry (they throw in bits and pieces of chicken and pork) alongside a small hill of steamed white rice. On top, sliced pork cutlet pieces are ideal for dipping into the curry or the tonkatsu sauce held in standard Bull Dog-brand bottles. Beef teriyaki makes a fine companion, an entire 3/4-inch cut rib-eye steak seared on the grill and dressed with sweet teriyaki sauce. Tempura is fantastic too, crispy and still juicy inside, loaded onto a plate and big enough for the table to share. Azuma is nothing if not fun, a relaxed hangout for Gardena locals who aren't taking the food too seriously, a solid complement to the slightly more precious Otafuku a few blocks away. 16123 S. Western Avenue, Gardena, CA 90247. — Matthew Kang, lead editor, Eater Southern California/Southwest See More:
