10 Exciting New Restaurant Openings in LA to Try This Week
Your new dining plans include tinned fish in West Hollywood, birria in Beverly Grove, pizza in Huntington Beach, and so much more.
You may have heard that February is the worst month, but in LA it may be the very best. Holiday madness is over, romance is in the air, the hillsides are green after all that rain, and now the weather is at its absolute best, warm during the day but cool at night, with clean air and snow-capped mountains visible from across the city.
Restaurant openings are going strong too, with exciting new spots all across town, including brick-and-mortar tacos in Highland Park, the return of a seafood stunner in Beverly Grove, pizza and beer in Huntington Beach, and a whole collection of thrilling spots. Here are ten of the most exciting new restaurants you need to try in LA this holiday season:
Highland Park
No matter the budget or the restaurateur's background, it’s a rare thing for a restaurant to hit its targeted opening date. But nothing is impossible for Victor Villa, whose indomitable attitude has earned Villa’s Tacos an endless fountain of goodwill—and their killer tacos don’t hurt either. Villa and his team make tortillas by hand, grill meats over mesquite, and make outstanding salsas, and all of that has translated from their street stand to their new brick and mortar, now open on Figueroa in Highland Park, just a couple blocks away from their longtime pop-up location on York. If the grand opening last weekend is any indication, lines may be long, but these tacos are worth it.
How to book: Walk-ins only for now.
West Hollywood
The Boston-to-Hollywood talent pipeline has been flowing steadily for decades, but it’s usually about athletes, actors, and college students. That makes the new West Hollywood seafood restaurant Saltie Girl a refreshing change of pace—we need more New England-style fish houses and less Boston sports memorabilia, please. The menu tilts heavily towards the Atlantic ocean, with Clam Chowder, a Lobster Roll, and a whole section dedicated to New York Style Smoked Fish. There are plenty of West Coast touches too, though, like the L.A. Pink salad, and there’s jalapeño, lime, and avocado all over the raw section. They’ve also brought their perfectly on-trend library of tinned fish and caviar.
How to book: Reservations available on Resy.
Beverly Grove
The weekly pop-up market Smorgasburg has served as an incubator and a launch pad for so many food concepts that it’s hardly a surprise to see two of the best and most exciting vendors transitioning into a brick-and-mortar home. The only surprising part, really, is that they’re doing it together. Saucy Chick and The Goat Mafia have recently opened a shared space in Beverly Grove, a cozy and stylish storefront on a hot stretch of 3rd Street, just down the block from Palihouse, Son of a Gun, and Joan’s on Third, among others. This tony part of town may feel like an unlikely place to find traditional Tomazula, Jalisco-style goat birria, much less Indian-Mexican Rotisserie Chaat-chos, but that only makes their opening in the neighborhood that much more important.
How to book: Walk in or order ahead through their website.
Huntington Beach
When co-owners Gabe Gordon, Lena Perelman, and Julian Shrago decide to go for something, they go all the way—with their big and punchy beers, their thoroughly researched sour beer project Beachwood Blendery, and now with the new Beachwood Beer & Pizza in Huntington Beach. So they brought on Chef Waldo Stout, the mad pizza scientist behind the menu who’s worked at Little Coyote and manned the hearth at Bestia, among other stops. Together they’ve gone as deep into the weeds as possible—they mill their own flour, pull yeast from sour beers at Beachwood Blendery to ferment their sourdough crust, make chili oil in house with fiery little chiltepin chiles, age balsamic vinegar in their own port barrels, and incorporate barbecue concepts like smoked mushrooms. The beers are immaculate as ever, and the space is bright and airy—this may be the perfect beach city pizza pub.
How to book: Walk in, or order beer and merch for shipping online.
Beverly Grove
Angler LA may have been the most-lauded mall restaurant of all time, and it just returned to life after a long closure and a distinct re-imagining. At the top level, not so much has changed—it remains seafood-focused, with a sustainable ethos and a wood-burning hearth at the center of things, lifted by a fine dining touch despite the mall setting. But that undersells the work Chef Paul Chung and the Angler team did to refocus the concept. There are new LA touches like Swordfish spiced like Al Pastor, Hot Fried Bass Collar, and a Ssam Platter with duck blood sausage; the cocktail menu features lots of large format options with luxurious presentations; and the space is newly oriented into intimate dining room tables and a more lively bar area.
How to book: Reservations available via OpenTable.
West Hollywood
The new cocktail lounge Or Bar brings two important elements from the 70s—a decadent late-disco vibe, and the physical location’s history as a gay space, which started in 1976 with the queer-friendly restaurant Lillian’s. The name is also a nod to the previous tenant at the same address, long-running gay institution the Gold Coast, which closed during the pandemic. Or Bar’s name may be inspired by the Gold Coast, but the energy is very different—instead of a casual dive, Or Bar is opulent and wild, with shimmering chandeliers, eclectic art, and an intentionally free-flowing and open energy. The idea is to foster warm and welcome interaction between friends and strangers alike, a little like a particularly chic (and rowdy) house party.
How to book: Walk-ins only.
Oceanside
It may technically be in San Diego County, but pitmaster Daniel Castillo’s smoked meats are so good that the shockwaves from this opening reverberate all the way up the coast. Unlike the original Heritage Barbecue location in San Juan Capistrano, though, the new spot isn’t strictly about the meat—there’s a whole menu of creative dishes built from that sturdy and smoky base, including a thunderous Cheeseburger with a patty made from smoked brisket, a Pastrami Torta, and a selection of barbecue tacos served on house-made beef fat flour tortillas. The drinks are just as special, with cocktails that run crisp and bubbly to pair with the barbecue, and they’re also brewing their own excellent beers on site, thanks to Brewmaster Mike Aubuchon, who spent more than a decade as the head brewer at Pizza Port Carlsbad.
How to book: Walk-ins only.
La Verne
The jump from a taco stand into a full-on restaurant location can be a big one, but the team at Tacos Don Cuco is as prepared as you can be to make the transition. They’ve built a sterling reputation based on their masterful Tijuana-style tacos, with fresh tortillas, a mesquite grill, and excellent salsas. The new location expands their repertoire to big plate Mexican and Mexican-American classics like Fajitas, Chilaquiles, and Enchiladas. They’re also serving Tijuana-style Birria de res all day, and they’ve also got margaritas, micheladas, and plenty of cold light beer.
How to book: Walk-ins only for now.
Chinatown
Supposedly you can measure the relative age of your ears by checking the frequency of tones that you can hear—people generally begin to stop hearing a tone of 15,000 Hz around 40 years old. Café Triste presents a similar test, but for your bar-going age; if you’re stoked to join the trendy crowd scattered around the Chinatown sidewalk drinking funky natural wine and smoking cigarettes, congratulations you’re still cool. If that all sounds like a lot of hassle, well, you may have reached bar-going retirement age. Or you might be better off popping inside, where things are dark and mellow, with a tight wine list and a few well-executed and deceptively interesting bar snacks. All of which you might expect from the folks behind the tight, well-executed, and obviously interesting wine shop Psychic Wines.
How to book: Walk-ins only.
West Hollywood
Much has been made of the Tulumification of LA, and for those who rolled their eyes at the thought, see Casa Madera—a new eclectic Mexican-ish restaurant from Noble 33 with design inspired by the Mayan Riviera, with light wood, white walls, dangling rattan light fixtures, and the breezy chic energy that comes with. The menu features a ton of seafood, starting with the raw bar full of luxury takes on classic mariscos like ceviche, aguachile, and a torre de mariscos. There is also a whole section for elevated tacos, and the bar leans all the way in to tropical flavors, with pineapple, passionfruit, and house-made tepache dotted throughout the cocktail menu.
How to book: Reservations available through their website.