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Los Angeles: Best of the City

A January 2008 trip to Los Angeles by Michael Green

Los Angeles is a collection of neighborhoods with various ethnic and economic backgrounds and the foods that represent them.

  • 7 reviews

Los Angeles: Best of the CityBest of IgoUgo

Overview

Despite all the glitz, glamour, and wealth, Los Angeles is really just a collection of neighborhoods with various ethnic and economic backgrounds and the foods that represent them. The City of Angels is home to sidewalk taco trucks, upscale bakeries, and celebrity hot-spot restaurants where the scene often outweighs the eats. And while a New Yorker like me will always lament the lack of decent pizza and bagels, I’ve never had a hard time finding something delicious to eat, no matter where in L.A. I might find myself. Here are a few of my favorites:

Quick Tips:

Best Way To Get Around:

AOCBest of IgoUgo

Restaurant

This tight, bustling wine bar and tapas restaurant offers a vast array of fresh, flavorful, simple plates. Well-sourced Italian and Spanish ingredients, a wood-burning oven, and a carefully selected cured meat and cheese selection provide the perfect accompaniments to their 50-plus wines by the glass. An L.A. legend, expect a wait or make reservations, but “worth it” is a definite understatement when it comes to AOC.
www.aocwinebar.com
  • Member Rating 4 out of 5 by Michael Green on January 8, 2008

AOC
8022 W. 3rd St. Los Angeles, California 90048
(323) 653-6359

CUTBest of IgoUgo

Restaurant

Best Steak
This Beverly Hills institution from Los Angeles food royalty Wolfgang Puck looks like the corner office and tastes like a five-picture deal. Floor-to-ceiling windows, wooden tables and floors, and comfortable leather seats allow business to go down as easily as the martinis, and the à la carte-style menu allows you to choose meat, preparation, sauce, and accoutrement as you like, ensuring a blockbuster meal. Even fish- and vegetarians will have no trouble finding a meal while dealing.
www.wolfgangpuck.com
  • Member Rating 4 out of 5 by Michael Green on January 8, 2008

CUT
9500 Wilshire Blvd. Beverly Hills, California 90212
(310) 275-5200

Pink's Hot DogsBest of IgoUgo

Restaurant

Best Hot Dog
Celebrating its 67th year in Hollywood, Pinks has gone from a tiny hot-dog cart to a citywide treasure, expanding in space and menu, but never relocating. The corner of Melrose and La Brea is the place for 10-inch New York-style chili dogs, nacho cheese fries, and other fried depression-era delicacies. Over the years, Pinks has expanded into burgers, burritos (filled with hot dogs, of course), and catering, but the style remains the same: great dogs, low prices, and no ego. A true Hollywood icon.
www.pinkshollywood.com
  • Member Rating 4 out of 5 by Michael Green on January 8, 2008

Pink's Hot Dogs
709 North La Brea Ave. Los Angeles, California 90036
(323) 931-4223

MatadorBest of IgoUgo

Restaurant | "El Matador"

Best Taco Truck
One of the most distinctive of all Los Angeles food categories is the taco truck. All across east L.A., Hollywood, and the Valley, small carts and trucks—decoratively named and garnished—dish out some of the freshest, most authentic Mexican food around. El Matador, in east Hollywood, has some of the most amazing al pastor (country-style spit-grilled pork; literally “as a shepherd”) tacos, as well as lingua, and tortas (grilled Mexican sandwiches). It’s worth the drive, worth the wait, and probably worth the grease you get on your shirt greedily inhaling the food on the sidewalk.
  • Member Rating 4 out of 5 by Michael Green on January 8, 2008

Matador
3503 Venice Blvd. Los Angeles, California 90019
(323) 730-0511

SprinklesBest of IgoUgo

Restaurant

Best Cupcake
In the oversaturated cupcake market, Sprinkles’ cupcakes are extraordinary: the perfect cake-to-frosting ratio, over 20 different rotating flavors of delicate cake and rich frosting, and all beautifully packaged individually in recycled cardboard boxes. Try the chai latte (chai-tea cake with chai-vanilla frosting) for an adventure, but for me the classic chocolate paired with a glass of milk is absolutely heavenly. Don’t worry if you miss them this time around, Sprinkles will soon be selling their perfect cupcakes cross-country.
www.sprinklescupcakes.com
  • Member Rating 4 out of 5 by Michael Green on January 8, 2008

Sprinkles
9635 S. Sta. Monica Blvd. Beverly Hills, California 90291
(310) 274-8765

Casa Del MarBest of IgoUgo

Attraction | "The Veranda Bar at Casa del Mar Hotel"

With classic style, carefully mixed drinks, and a great view of the ocean, this place is perfect for a lazy afternoon or a night out. A power-elite hot spot since 1926, the Casa Del Mar is straight out of a 1940s film noir movie, but the beautiful people there on a Friday night are as modern as they come. And even though L.A. is hardly a walking town, the Santa Monica Pier, just down the block, features street performers, fun shops, and a popular beach.
www.hotelcasadelmar.com
(310) 551-5533
  • Member Rating 4 out of 5 by Michael Green on January 8, 2008

Casa Del Mar
1910 OCEAN WAY Santa Monica, California 90405
310-581-5533

About the Writer

Michael Green
Michael Green
New York, New York
  • "As Gourmet magazine's Wine and Spirits Consultant, I travel the world for Gourmet's Promotion Depart..."
  • 8 journals
  • 0 photos
  • 57 reviews

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