Despite what you may have heard, the LA restaurant scene shows no signs of slowing down. You only need to look at the new spots slated to arrive this fall for proof. We’re talking experimental tasting menu spots, Korean-inspired bakeries, and dry-aged steaks and smashburgers at The Grove. Read about all that, plus a casual Chinese combo plate spot from the Cassia chef and Calabama’s new home, below. And keep an eye on our openings guide, updated weekly, for the latest news.
What our ratings mean
NONE
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No rating: This is a restaurant we want to re-visit before rating, or it’s a coffee shop, bar, or dessert shop. We only rate spots where you can eat a full meal.
THE SPOTS
Opening: October
We’ve long said the best seats at Cento Pasta Bar are, in fact, at the bar, so it makes sense that owner Avner Levi would spin his bar insight off into a new seafood-focused restaurant right next door. Aptly named Centro Raw Bar, the restaurant will have a white-washed wall aesthetic that looks straight out of Santorini and a menu of crudos, shellfish towers, and cocktails with a blend of Persian and Mediterranean flavors.
Opening: October
Pop-up bakery talent Jiyoon Jang, formerly of spots like Clark Street Bread and the now-closed Mil Bakery (and the owner of a pristinely curated Instagram) is opening her first solo project in Highland Park. Modu Cafe looks to be beige and minimalist design-wise, but the shop’s Korean-influenced pastries sound vibrant in flavor: sweet potato chestnut tarts, black sesame cookies, cream puffs and kabocha cakes with dehydrated persimmon. Expect creative tea and coffee drinks as well.
Jade Rabbit
Opening: October
Santa Monica is in dire need of more Chinese food options, and Jade Rabbit looks to be a promising addition. This fast-casual concept from the couple behind Cassia is a riff on Chinese-American combo plate spots, which nods to chef Bryant Ng’s family history operating Chinese restaurants in Los Angeles. We’re already salivating at the thought of loading up a plate with cheffed-up dishes like chow mein, orange mango chicken, lomo saltado-esque beef and broccoli, and a scallion cheese toast that’s a spin on the Sizzler’s classic.
Opening: October
It’s been nearly two years since this high-end omakase spot with locations in New York and D.C. announced it was coming to town, but Sushi Nakazawa’s arrival in Beverly Hills is finally upon us. Overseen by chef Daisuke Nakazawa (also known as Jiro Ono’s apprentice in Jiro Dreams of Sushi), the 55-seat restaurant includes a sushi counter and dining room with indoor and outdoor tables. The menu consists of two 20-course omakase options—one all sushi, another with cooked dishes—plus an optional sake pairing. We don’t have pricing details yet, but if it’s like the NYC location, expect to shell out $190 per person.
Backbone
Opening: October
This upscale neighborhood spot up on the hilltop border of Montrose and North Glendale comes from Nathan McCall and Karen Yoo, two former chefs who left the fine-dining world to open McCall’s Meat & Fish in Los Feliz. Now, after selling their butcher shop in 2020, the couple is back in the restaurant business with a 30-seat dinner spot serving New American cuisine with a few European and Asian touches, plus beer, wine, and a dessert menu designed by Yoo, a veteran pastry chef.
photo credit: Emily Schindler
Sandwiches
East Hollywood
$$$$
Perfect For:
Breakfast
Opening: November
During the pandemic, Calabama owner Cara Haltiwange became famous for delivering her Alabama-inspired breakfast sandwiches and hot sauces via rope and bucket from the fourth-floor fire escape of her East Hollywood apartment. We were big fans. Now, after all the ups and downs (get it?), Calabama is opening a full brick-and-mortar space in West Hollywood. The menu will revolve around her signature breakfast grilled cheese sandwich stuffed with things like egg, bacon, and avocado, plus a few new Southern sides.
Opening: Late Fall
This Malaysian spot in Historic Filipinotown comes from the restaurant group behind Found Oyster and Barra Santos, who tapped the former Pearl River Deli chef to run the kitchen. We’re fans of all those places, and thus excited to see them get smushed together like peanut butter and jelly.The menu at Rasarumah—“flavor house” in Malay—pulls from across Southeast Asia with dishes like satay skewers, Malaysian-style fried chicken, and stir-fried noodles. Housed in a former bra factory, the shophouse-inspired space will have 38 seats and a stainless steel bar pouring sake, soju, beers, and natural wines.
Opening: Late Fall
Christmas gifts, Zara sales items, and parking anxiety are our usual finds during a visit to The Grove, but soon, you can add a nicely seared steak to that list, too. Venice’s American Beauty is opening a second location in the former Wood Ranch space where you expect to find mainstays like dry-aged ribeyes, stuffed hashbrowns, and coal-roasted zucchini, plus lunch and weekend brunch service. They’ll also be launching a new location of their casual takeout concept The Win-Dow, which will serve smashburgers and fries from an attached window.
Seline
Opening: Early December
A fancy-tasting menu restaurant serving beautiful California produce? Stop us if you’ve heard that one before. But in the case of Seline, an intimate 18-seat space with an open kitchen and private garden on Main Street in Santa Monica, our interest is piqued. That’s because it’s from the same chef as Pasjoli (one of our 25 Best Restaurants) and the late-great Dialogue, a creative fine dining spot whose only misfortune was opening in a hidden broom closet on Third Street Promenade. Seline will be an evolution of what chef Dave Beran was doing at Dialogue, offering a $300 tasting menu with 12 to 14 courses, with an option to extend dinner to up to 24 courses if you want to keep eating.
Opening: Early December
Don’t call it a comeback—after parting ways with the SLS Beverly Hills hotel and building out a new location in West Hollywood, chef Aitor Zabala is relaunching his experimental, Spanish-leaning tasting menu spot near the end of the year. At $495 per person, Somni will tie Vespertine for most expensive restaurant meal in LA, though for that price you’ll enjoy 20-plus dishes like smoked eel with bone marrow and green apple, spot prawn gazpacho, and poached lobster with a potato croissant. Limited reservations are rolling out between now and December, though with only 14 seats per night, don’t expect many open slots.
