Los Angeles's Most Iconic Restaurants

Chef Suzanne Goin is one of the most important figures in the Los Angeles food scene, and her restaurant AOC helped define the laid-back, stylish, ingredients-focused cooking that defines the city today. Get the meats and cheeses, the farmer’s plate, the arroz negro, and the roasted chicken, and you’re in for a memorable evening.

Chef Nancy Silverton certainly knows her way around a pizza—and her expertise is always on show at Pizzeria Mozza, where she churns out consistently delicious pizzas and Italian food that never ceases to delight. Our favorite dish, though, is Nancy’s Chopped Salad: a towering tangle of lettuces, tomatoes, cheese, and salami that’s worth the visit alone.

Chef Nancy Silverton has created a Los Angeles restaurant empire, and Osteria Mozza is the crown jewel. Get anything from the in-house mozzarella bar, and you can’t go wrong with any of the pastas—just make sure to save room for dessert.

There is nobody in the world quite like Wolfgang Puck, the international celebrity chef with restaurants all over the globe—and there’s no restaurant quite like Spago, the place where everything started. Spago was where the concept of Los Angeles fine-dining was born, and to this day, it continues to serve some of the best food in the city. And yes, the smoked-salmon pizza is just as good as ever.

Craft Los Angeles, a restaurant in Culver City from renowned chef and Top Chef judge Tom Colicchio, is extremely good at what it does—which is elegant, seasonal American food, simply and thoughtfully prepared, served by a gracious, professional staff. This is the perfect spot for a business dinner; you and your guests will be taken care of, and there’s something on the menu for everyone.

Jar is a Los Angeles classic, a chophouse serving simply prepared meats and fish accompanied by a wide range of sauces (think bearnaise, creamy horseradish, green peppercorn, etc.). They’re most famous for their pot roast: a rich mess of beef cooked down with carrots and onions, the kind of dish that you wish you grew up on.

There are few restaurants in Los Angeles as lauded as Michael Chimarusti’s Providence, and it’s not hard to see why. In a city where true fine-dining restaurants are rare, Providence is a shining example, and chef Chimarusti does things with seafood that will leave you thinking about your dinner long after you return home.

AKASHA could easily be a caricature of a Los Angeles restaurant: everything down to the takeout containers is sustainable. But chef Akasha Richmond keeps it real with her menu, which feels at once wholesome, elegant, and special—and the space, which mixes wood, steel, brick, and concrete, feels both urban and inviting.

There are few places as Los Angeles as The Tower Bar, found in the Sunset Tower Hotel. The menu, which feels distinctly Californian, takes cues from France and Italy—but you’re here for the star-studded clientele, the old-world glamour, the sense of privacy and luxury and grandeur. Order a cocktail and be whisked away.