This cavernous, two-story space feels like a mega-yacht floating off the coast of Monaco, complete with studio execs ordering vintage wines without opening the menu. But the glitzy scene isn’t the reason to come, it’s the food. Gooey mozzarella and anchovies melted over bay leaves, silky polenta pasta gilded with crab and trout roe, and grilled Iberico pork that practically melts on your fork—all outstanding and welcome change-ups from LA’s chicken parm and bolognese craze.

The bar for impressive tacos in LA is high, but this Mexican-Armenian spot from the Mini Kabob team stands out like Zendaya at a red-carpet premiere. Wedged into a sliver of a space near Sunset Junction, MidEast Tacos folds smoky steak, chicken, and shrimp kabobs into flour tortillas to create clever fusion-y remakes served lunch through dinner. Takeout is big here, but the grilled meats are best eaten ASAP on the handful of streetside tables.

DTLA’s best Thai takeout window has arrived in Atwater Village. At Holy Basil's tiny new sit-down spot, wagyu grapow packs the same heat and crispy pork belly has the same potato-chip skin as at the original, but it's the new seafood options that steal the spotlight. Dishes like spicy-sweet grilled prawns, tart snapper ceviche, and papaya salad sprinkled with fried fish croutons are so flavorful we’d wade across the LA River for them, storm surge or not.

Jilli in Koreatown is a sool jib, which means “drinking spot” in Korean. And if you’ve driven through Ktown, you know there’s no shortage of those places. But that’s not why we’d send you to Jilli. The short menu here involves cheeky takes on Korean bar foods that are delicious whether you need something to soak up booze or not. Friends split bottles of fancy yogurt soju and share plates of mini shrimp toasts, rigatoni alla kimchi vodka with bacon bits, and Chimmelier’s double-fried chicken.

The restaurant’s mini-mall space on the Cerritos-Artesia border operates as Bakers & Baristas coffee shop during the day, then on weekend evenings, it shifts into Luka, a candlelit spot with a solid wine list and Mediterranean-ish food from a chef who cooked at Carbone. The menu doesn’t rewrite the bistro-y wine bar playbook, but it’s far from snoozy. Snap peas with hot mustard, pork collar with harissa, and the cheesy frisbee of fried taters they call the “potato situation,” all blew us away.

This former Thai Town street vendor moved into a strip mall storefront and expanded its menu. Still, you’re coming here for those boat noodles, which are so good they have us questioning our loyalty to the iconic Sapp Coffee Shop (much love). For roughly $9, Mae Malai gives you a small bowl of chewy rice noodles, juicy meatballs, and crackly pork rinds in a sweet-sour-spicy broth so intense, it'll light up taste buds you didn’t know you had.

It’s a known truth that LA has the best sushi in the country, so you can’t fault anyone for feeling skeptical about the arrival of Uchi. This upscale Japanese restaurant in Weho hails from Texas, a state more famous for smokehouses than sashimi. Well, throw out any preconceived notions. Housed in an impressive, wood-paneled space that resembles an airport credit card lounge, Uchi serves hot, cold, and raw dishes that go toe-to-toe with the best in LA.

You've probably heard about Little Fish. This all-day cafe in Echo Park led a previous life as an apartment pop-up run by two chefs with dreams of deep-fried fish. At their new space on Sunset, you’ll find cottage cheese pancakes with cherry jam and nori-dusted crispy potatoes, plus seafood-heavy breakfast dishes like trout tartine and fish congee. And then there’s the famed beer-battered fish sandwich, served only at lunch.

Spanish restaurants have been arriving hot and heavy over the past year, but Xuntos does tapas better than any of them. This downtown Santa Monica spot comes from the Gasolina Cafe people and regularly pops off on weekends with casual dates and glammed-up friends grabbing dinner. Standard tapas like ham croquettes are very good, but we were more excited by less commonly seen finds like grilled baby squid stuffed with shallots, scallops in saffron butter, and fatty sea bass collars.

A fortune cookie once told us, “Good things come in small packages.” We didn’t know what to make of that until we met Fabby’s Sandwicherie. This tiny Downtown sandwich counter is easy to miss from the street, but hides luxurious tortas inside. Jalisco-style birotes are toasted on a hot press, then filled with tasty things plucked from a French bistro: wine-braised short rib, pomme puree, and mushroom coq au vin.