Welcome to Email News: Five L.A. dining icons to rediscover

November 8, 2026 | View in browser

Chile en nogada at La Casita Mexicana Resrautant. (Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)

By Bill Addison

Restaurant Critic

I like to think of the Hall of Fame roster — the slow-growing corollary of the annual 101 Best Restaurants in Los Angeles guide, released this year on Oct. 23 — as a respite to our smartphone-fueled dopamine cravings.

Rather than the relentless new-new-new of the algorithms, this is a roll call of the magnificently not-new: The places that have shaped L.A.’s dining culture, and where meals still feel dynamic. Presenting their names is meant to be a friendly nudge. Remember their greatness. Show up for lunch. Book a dinner reservation.

This year Jenn Harris and I added two honorees to the list: Dulan’s on Crenshaw, keeper of multigenerational Black traditions and wellspring of oxtails, fried chicken, sugared yams and collard greens speckled with smoked turkey; and Carlitos Gardel, the gracious, family-run Argentine steakhouse that is my favorite splurge for lamb chops and vintage Malbec in the city.

I’ve also been taking my own advice over the last couple of weeks by scanning the total list of 41 Hall of Fame restaurants for dining inspiration. Here are reports from recent meals at five icons, each essential in their own L.A.-specific ways.

Meals by Genet

Genet Agonafer opens her 26-year-old restaurant for dinner these days on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, the dining room full of art and cloth-covered tables as elegant as ever. Agonafer is where the conversation around L.A.’s Ethiopian dining culture begins; I was annoyed with myself for not having tasted her definitive, densely spiced doro wat in over two years. It was, as ever, the literal centerpiece on a platter encircled with the lentils, greens, turmeric-brightened split peas and other dishes that comprise her vegetarian combination. Something I’d never ordered before: coarsely mashed ful (fava beans), often eaten for breakfast in Ethiopia. Agonafer transforms her version into an appetizer dip, arrayed with diced tomatoes, onions and jalapenos, dolloped with sour cream and served with pita cut into triangles. Knowing all the food ahead, I ate it without the bread, disciplined myself to relish a few textured, soothing spoonfuls. Then I took it home and polished off the rest with coffee the next morning.

1053 S. Fairfax Ave., Los Angeles, (303) 938-9304, mealsbygenetla.com

Vegetarian combo with doro wot at Meals by Genet (Mariah Tauger / Los Angeles Times)

A.O.C.

A hard-to-please friend who lives in San Francisco was passing through town, and I learned that he’d never been to A.O.C., where chef Suzanne Goin (with co-owner Caroline Styne) perfected the idea of California-Mediterranean small plates. We met at the restaurant on a mellow Monday night and went to town, beginning with two salads: fall butter lettuces and artichoke hearts dressed in vinaigrette spiky with olives, capers and anchovies, and pears over endive and arugula with grapes and pomegranate seeds. Hello, farmers market haul. Next came shrimp baked in the oven with fluffy corn pudding and smoked tomato butter, and quinoa dumplings (a clever riff on falafel) with yogurt lemony from sumac. The famous, fine-crumbed Spanish fried chicken? Yes, and also branzino over fideos simmered in saffron-imbued seafood stock. And a side of broccolini sharp with shallots and garlic. And another of half-smashed Weiser Farm potatoes pummeled with crème fraîche and chives. My friend looked at me across the expanse of emptied, sauce-smeared plates and said, “Great meal.” He didn’t need to utter another word.

P.S. Goin and Styne will forever refer to A.O.C., a roomy space that includes one of the city’s lovely patios, as a “wine bar” — a reference to the original tiny location. It’s also a reminder that Styne maintains a kinetic by-the-glass list, ideal for an after-work stop with a plate of bacon-wrapped dates as a snack.

8700 W. 3rd St., Los Angeles, aocwinebar.com

Mexican shrimp with corn pudding and smoked tomato butter at A.O.C. on 3rd Street in Los Angeles.

Mexican shrimp with corn pudding and smoked tomato butter at A.O.C. (Bill Addison / Los Angeles Times)

La Casita Mexicana

To my fellow food-loving L.A. transplants: Do you remember the meals that made you love the city, and understand it too? La Casita Mexicana is one of mine. I love the backstory: Jaime Martin del Campo and Ramiro Arvizu, who were both born in Jalisco, met in the 1990s in Los Angeles when they were executives at competing airlines. I had my first lunch there in 2014, after their Bell restaurant was already 15 years old, and particularly remember the delicate chile en nogada, their signature dish, and the nearly aerated texture of a pale green, savory-sweet pistachio mole. (Mole specialist Rocio Camacho once worked in their kitchens, and you can still find her version at Rocio’s Mexican Kitchen in Bell Gardens.) A recent meal reminded me that La Casita Mexicana’s breakfast is fantastic: Try the chilaquiles divorciados with red and green salsas, and an omelet nicknamed “La Jalisciense” filled with farmers cheese and chorizo.

4030 E. Gage Ave., Bell, (323) 773-1898, casitamex.com

Enchiladas tres moles at La Casita Mexicana in Bell. (Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)

Keep up with California

Your support helps us deliver the news that matters most. Subscribe to the Los Angeles Times.

Subscribe Now

Sapp Coffee Shop

Jitlada joined our Hall of Fame in 2023, and Sarintip “Jazz” Singsanong is the undisputed queen of Thai Town. Jenn Harris reminds me that she particularly loves a meal at Jitlada on Fridays and Saturdays, when Jazz is always on hand to lead the kitchen. Sapp Coffee Shop is arguably less famous than Jitlada, though cherished by generations of Angelenos for a late-morning breakfast of boat noodles, frankly pungent and biting back with meaty, crunchy textures. I favor the jade noodles, springy strands dyed with spinach juice. They’re buried under crunchy bits of roast pork, frilly crab, sliced duck and condiments that include a mound of chile flakes, though once you’ve tangled all the elements together, the heat hums rather than scalds. What I’m loving lately: the subtler, richer pleasures of san chan pad boo, noodles stained electric-orange from chile oil, riddled with crab meat and covered in an unapologetically browned omelet. Despite the restaurant’s name, I skip the Thai iced coffee and ask instead for refreshing, earthy-sweet pandan juice.

5183 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles, (323) 922-1081, sappcoffeeshop.com

Boat noodles, top center, is the most famed specialty at Sapp Noodle House. (Christina House / Los Angeles Times)

Taste of Tehran

Part of the consideration behind a Hall of Fame ascendant? Consistency. I return to Saghar Fanisalek’s tiny corner Persian restaurant, nestled among Westwood’s larger kebab houses, and I receive exactly what I expect: marinated meats, and a saffron-tinted filet of trout, singed with precision over flames; yogurt and eggplant dips as tart as they are rich; and tahdig (the bottom-of-the-pot rice) cooked to glass, intended to soften by herbed stew ladled over top. A bonus suggestion: If Sherman Oaks is closer for you than Westwood, Fanisalek opened a restaurant on Ventura Boulevard called Didar Kitchen with the same menu and exacting finesse to the cooking.

1915 Westwood Blvd., Los Angeles, (310) 470-0022, tasteoftehran.com

An employee grills kabobs for the Tehran plate special at Taste of Tehran (Shelby Moore / For The Times)

Regional Bangladeshi cooking in Melrose Hill

Among the restaurant boom in Melrose Hill — home to Kuya Lord, Little Fish, Bar Etoile and Cafe Telegrama, for starters — a newcomer run by a family of four opened in February, serving regionally specific dishes from southern Bangladesh. Roshona Bilash is the subject of this week’s review.

It took me a couple of visits, honestly, to lock into the dishes that distinguish the cooking, and also to seek out the guidance of Sheikh Jibra, son of the owners, on the combinations and condiments that light up the experience. I hope the review helps fast-track your best meals there. It’s exciting, given how little we have of the cuisines from any part of the Indian subcontinent, that Roshona Bilash is finding its place in the neighborhood.

A spread of dishes at Roshona Bilash in Melrose Hill (Amanda Villarosa / For The Times)

Also ...

Jenn Harris writes about a 77-year-old chef who has come out of retirement to open a Monterey Park restaurant that specializes in Chongqing noodles.
Danielle Dorsey and Stephanie Breijo detail 23 new and notable places to eat and drink in L.A. this month.
Betty Hallock has a definitive new guide to Little Tokyo. Of course she has all the great restaurant suggestions, but also recs for listening parties, table tennis, late-night drinking and more.
Stephanie also has the story on the return of the Original Pantry Cafe to downtown. It was founded in 1924 and closed in March 2025. New ownership is scheduled to reopen the restaurant’s doors on Nov. 19.
Carolynn Carreño has a cooking hot take I totally agree with: Canned pumpkin is the way to go when baking.