I miss their shrimp burrito so much. So tasty. I used to go to one in the valley on the way home from work.

L.A. Magazine ranked Brent's #1, followed by Langer's #2 and Nat 'n Al #3.

I went here with my girlfriend while in town for the LAPC:

http://www.sonarestaurant.com/

I can't really compare to what else is there because I've only spent about a week in the city but this place would be first rate in any city. Check it out.

if anyone is looking for good BBQ and doesnt mind driving up to the armpit of LA aka the valley, there is a GREAT BBQ joint called the bear pit.
its right at the 118 and sepulveda.
that place is texas BBQ so be warned, if you like south carolina style BBQ check out oinksters in eagle rock (on colorado just west of eagle rock blvd).
they have a great pulled pork sandwich, but their much tauted homemade orange lemonade is meh.

also, does anyone who lives here know of any good mellow hiking trails where you can take dogs off leash?
i'm not looking for any strenous hikes, just something nice and mellow where my dog can run around and explore.

Commerce

I went to a place called the "Bear Pit", one time. But it was a bar full of big hairy dudes. I think they were lumberjacks or something. Nice guys though, bought me a lot of drinks. Then I don't remember much.

I'll be here all week. Try the veal.

I will have to try that place. As a KC native I'm required by law to be a big BBQ fan. I like good Texas-style BBQ as well.

As far as hiking with your dog, I see people take dogs w/o leashes on the trails up by the Hollywood sign all the time. I saw Susan Dey with her dog running around up there once. Just make sure they don't harass the horses.

Haven't read the rest of the thread but S&W Country Dinette on Washington in Culver City makes one of the best breakfasts I've ever had. Definitely get the hash browns. Oh and it is very greasy.

Make an instructional video. Put it on youtube. Some of us need help.

I prefer to go to chowhounds message board for good restaurant ideas. I went to the map posted above, and apparently there are only two good restaurants south of the 10 freeway. That is some narrow minded thinking.

http://www.chowhound.com/boards/2

Man I meant to do this thread so long ago. Glad to see someone finally came around and asked. I will make my contribution later but I have a request: can someone post any shortcuts to any place? It will be of great help. A friend told me how he can get to Pasadena through the Bel-Air mountain from Westwood. Personal request: Can someone tell me any shortcut going to downtown (4th street).

Besides eat food, what is there to do in LA

I lived in that area for decades but moved away a couple or years ago.

You are in one of the best locations in all the LA area. Really.

Avoid the valley. With only very few exceptions, nothing there is worth the drive. The west side has it all. (Note: For me, those exceptions were two great jazz clubs in the valley, The Baked Potato and La Va Lee)

Good call for Bay Cities deli on Lincoln. Great place.

Best Mexican fast food is King Taco. There are several.

Very, very good music scene on the west side. All kinds of acts. Get the LA Weekly and see as much as you can.

Fastest way to get to West Hollywood is to go east on Olympic then turn north on Doheny.

For food, I see a lot of places mentioned on the Westside of L.A. I'll mention one more place.

Uncle Darrow's Cajun Eatery. If memory serves me right it's on Lincoln and Washington in Marina Del Rey. The absolute best Shrimp Po Boys I've ever had(in L.A.). They also serve breakfast and their other food is good too. They even have Beignets.

South of the 10 seems to be a neglected area. Of course there's Roscoe's, but it's also in Hollywood. It's sorta touristy but the food is better than a Denny's or whatever. Down the street from the one on Pico is a place called CJ's that serves good food. Also on Western(north of the 10, south of Wilshire) is El Cholo. They have really good Mexican food and good Margaritas. I like the Sonora Style Enchilada, but most of their items are tasty.

Tito's Tacos on Washington Place and Sepulveda has good tacos too, but there's always a line so I don't go there as much. Across the street(sorta), is Markie D's A Taste of Philly which has a bunch of Philly style food, including some really good Cheesesteak Sandwiches.

For those that don't feel like waiting in line at Pink's, there's a place called Skooby's that sells good hot dogs. It's on Hollywood Blvd.

This has really become a food thread. For activities, I would also suggest checking out The Bridge Cinema De Lux for the movie buffs. It's over on Centinela and Sepulveda in the Howard Hughes Center. I used to work there, and surprisingly still go now. On weekend nights there are sometimes lots of high school kids though, but weeknights are pretty chill. The Director's Hall seats are really comfy, but unfortunately they don't lean back. They're huge seats though and leather.

Citywalk is always fun. 3rd St. Promenade has already been mentioned. Just walking down Melrose and window shopping on a Saturday afternoon can be pretty fun. There's the obvious amusement parks. Sadly I don't go to the museums as often as I should so I can't really give advice there.

I may come back with more info, but I wanna avoid making 5 posts in a row like Zee Justin lol.

Visit my sister-in-law’s bookstore, Village Books, in the Palisades.

This thread is too Westside heavy. IMO if you ignore the eastside and downtown you're missing out on much of what keeps LA from being completely unlivable.

Yuca's - On Hillhurst in Los Feliz. Tiny authentic Mexican stand that won a James Beard award last year. Cochinita Pibil (Yucatan style pork) is their specialty, but everything is good. I get a chile verde burrito with no beans.

Sushi Go 55 - Sushi bar on the top level of an enclosed mall in Little Tokyo downtown. My favorite sushi place in LA (thanks 2+2!). Very straightforward, large, fresh, cuts of fish. Go early and wander around the mall, there's a crazy Japanese arcade and some other cool stores.

The Edison Bar - HUGE bar in the basement of a loft building downtown where a power plant was once located. Extremely dramatic space, would be a good place for a date.

Nick & Stef's - High-end steak place in the Wells Fargo Center downtown. My favorite steak in LA, you order your meat a la carte and add on a bunch of sides. Not cheap, ldo.

Disney Hall - Gehry-designed concert hall that's home to the LA Philharmonic but also has concerts from visiting musicians. Truly special place. Patina Restaurant is on-site and amazing imo. Definitely worth visiting.

Some restaurants I love that aren't eastside: Grace Restaurant on Beverly near La Brea, Melisse in Santa Monica, Pastis on Beverly near Crescent Heights (just had an incredible meal there), Jar on Beverly near the Beverly Center.

Nice thread. I moved back to LA in February and absolutely love it. I live on the westside so I'm really only familiar with that area, but here are some of my fav's.

Food


Matsuhisa on La Cienega-Hands down THE best sushi in town (best I've ever had and I eat sushi A LOT)

Sushi Roku on 3rd-Only been to the BH one a couple of times and prefer the Vegas one in Caesars, but still quality fish.

Katusya in Brentwood-Really nice, trendy place. Good food too. (A little far for me)

Izakaya on 3rd-Very affordable, unlike the others, and you don't have to sacrafice quality very much. Highly recommend the Yellowtail collar and the Plum tempura ice cream.

Osteria Mozza on Highland-My favorite restaurant in LA. AMAZING FOOD. Grilled octopus is a must have, as well as some of the Burrata dishes. Oh yeah, the olive oil gelato too.

Pizzeria Mozza on Highland-Next door to Osteria. Mario Battali and Nancy Silverton do an amazing job on these two places. Fantastic food. Best Pizza in town. Must make reservations.

Il Sole on Beverly-Great Itallian food, highly recommended.

Inn of the Seventh Ray in Topanga-Really beautiful, great date place. Food is meh, but the atmosphere compensates for it well.


Healthy Options

Real Food Daily (RFD) on La Cienega-Really good, affordable vegan food.

M Cafe on Melrose-Really fantastic quick, trendy, affordable healthy option.

Urth Caffe one on Beverly and one on Melrose-Another really great tredy quick healthy spot.

Newsroom on Robertson-Delicious healthy food. Also walk to a lot of great shopping nearby after your meal.


Late Night

I am still trying to discover new places, but, when I need a quick late night fix Dammiano's on Fairfax delivers really tasty pizza until 4am.

Also, Canters on Fairfax is open 24 hours.

The Elixir Tea Garden on Melrose has an amazing atmosphere and great tea's.

As far as movie theatres go, there are many cool independant theatres that show movies that aren't shown in places live Vegas that I enjoy. The nicest theatre is definitely Arclight on Sunset.

The Hollywood Bowl has some cool concerts that you can bring food to and kind of have a picnic while you watch. If you sit in the pool circle you can order food/wine as well.

There are tons of cool exhibits and shows etc here as well. Check out www.experiencela.com for some.

I'll add some later as I think of more, I am sure there's a lot I am leaving out.

Gavin Smith once asked me "Besides the ocean, what does LA have that Vegas doesn't have?" LOL

I just went to Grace and have been meaning to write up a review, but I don't think that will ever actually happen, so here goes the abridged version:

Very cool ambiance, they play cool music and the place seems "noisy," but you can easily hear someone at your table speaking at a reasonable volume... It really is a perfect balance that I wish more restaurants had.

Had a drink called the Luca Brasi which I ordered solely on the basis of the name and was composed of blood orange vodka, punt e mes, and club soda... It was incredibly strong, but I feel like that might just be because I'm a terrible drinker.

Had marlin for an appetizer, it was good but I wasn't blown away. Had wild boar for the entree, which was delicious, and so was the pasta-like stuff it was served upon.

Doughnuts for desert, which were super-awesome.

Enzo's Pizza in Westwood is pretty damn good.

What are your interests? What "scene" are you into, if any? Los Angeles has a little bit of everything, but it's kind of hard to make recommendations without a little more background; the culture can vary dramatically from neighborhood to neighborhood.

With that said, here are some of my favorites:

Shopping: Check out Melrose, roughly between Fairfax and La Brea. There are a lot of interesting boutiques in various price ranges, and the people-watching can't be beat.

Food: There are twelve million outstanding restaurants in Los Angeles, but I find the area bounded by La Cienega on the west, Melrose on the north, La Brea on the east, and Third Street on the south to be LA's true dining epicenter. Some standouts are AOC and Jar on the upscale side, and Swingers for fun diner food. The Farmer's Market is also a great place to hang out for a couple of hours and shop; the adjacent Grove is one of the city's hottest attractions, but it always feels touristy to me. YMMV.

Music: For rock music, I'd avoid Hollywood as much as possible and head east to the Silverlake/Echo Park area. The clubs there (Spaceland and The Echo being the most prominent) consistently feature the best up-and-coming bands, at very reasonable prices, usually $10-15. Be prepared to deal with hipsters, but if you come on the right night you can see some outstanding acts. For blues, a no-longer-so-secret LA institution is Babe and Ricky's, which features an amazing Southern dinner on Monday nights, included in the $8 cover. The hipsters have found this spot, too, so show up early to get a table. A-list jazz acts frequently come through the Jazz Bakery, a friendly, intimate venue in the Helms district of Culver City. Much recommended as well.

Miscellaneous: The Getty Center may be the most beautiful destination in Los Angeles. It's free - go often, especially on beautiful weekend mornings. Great brunch in the restaurant as well. The Griffith Observatory re-opened recently, and while I haven't been, I've heard a lot of good things. The ArcLight is your best bet for watching a movie; it's pretty ridiculous at $13, but probably worth the extra couple bucks for reserved seating, full bar access, etc.

That's all I can think of right now. Let's try and keep this great thread going - I know we've got a ton of LA kids here. Los Angeles suffers from its obscene size and sprawl, but that makes for a lot of little-known destinations. Spill the beans!

ill be in the LA area next week for the GFs bday and wondering if there are any nice/romantic places to take her ($ not a concern)? Ive only been to LA a couple of times, so really don't have any ideas of where to go. Also, no japanese places, if possible, as we will be getting japanese down in SD the day before. Thanks!

I like a place called Mirabella on the west end of Sunset Strip. Good food, very romantic atmosphere.

Loc: Los Angeles

Kinda funny, but still a good question. Like, what do single people do in LA? My gf and I don't need much more besides dinner and a movie, but I'm curious what else goes on out there.

Like suzzer said, Mirabelle is good (and walking distance from my apt., so I should go there more often), but I like

Cafe Marly
on Melrose. Very romantic back patio with ivy and everything, great food, etc. Never been to the BH location (they're remodeling) but the Melrose one is very quaint.

I know you said $ is no concern, but the place is very inexpensive. For expensive joints, you can throw a rock on Beverly bvd. or 3rd street in Beverly Hills and hit a good overpriced restaurant.

I would consider: The Ivy on Robertson, Grace on Beverly, Providence on Melrose, Melisse in Santa Monica, Diaghilev up near the Strip.

A lot of food, which is funny because of LA's reputation for bad food. Here are the food places that I like:

Sandwiches:
- Monsieur Marcel's in the farmer's market at the Grove. They have great European style sandwiches (think cured meats, good cheeses on a decent baguette). Plus their seating is in a somewhat quiet corner, which is much needed at the Grove.
- The Cafe at Surfas in Culver City. The same style sandwiches as MM. Really really good.

Sushi:
I really like the warm-rice school of sushi places in LA. Echigo on Santa Monica Blvd west of Sawtelle is my favorite. The fish quality is among the best I've had (right up there with Sasabune and SushiGo55), but it's cheaper. My wife and I always order a lot and a nice carafe of sake, but the bill is always around $100 for the both of us.

Other foodie places:
- The Lobster on SM Pier. I always take relatives here to show off the view. The food is shockingly good for such a touristy location. Also, the pier itself is fun to do at night on a date...completely dorky things like cotton candy and skeeball.

- Izakayas: A year ago these got a lot of press as the new fad in LA. They're Japanese pubs that serve small plates of a wide variety of food, usually with most of the menu changing by the day. Lots of beer, lots of great food, and a fun atmosphere. Musha on Wilshire @ 4th in Santa Monica is a great example. There are several others in Little Tokyo, Sawtelle area, and even Koreatown. These are perfect places for a date.

- Farmer's market in Santa Monica on Saturday. This is the best produce I've found in LA

- Pizza at Mozza. Can't wait to try Joe's.

LFS hit a lot of the good things to do on the Eastside. I'd like to second the Edison and SushiGo55 downtown. Also, Chinatown on Sunday mornings for dim sum is always fun.