The À La Carte Guide to Los Angeles

A list of everything I love in this city

For two entire years I’ve been promising to make a master list of places I love and frequent in Los Angeles, so in celebration of my newsletter’s second anniversary this month, I’m finally following through.

The À La Carte Guide to Los Angeles will be an ever-evolving list—one I vow, hand over heart, to keep up to date. There is nothing worse than planning a trip to a city and getting all excited to visit a bunch of spots listed in a city guide just to find that they’ve since closed. I plan to regularly review this list and remove things that I no longer recommend, add new items to it, and be straight up with you about a place you saw on TikTok that is or isn’t worth standing in line for. Today, February 28th, 2025, I’m sending The À La Carte Guide to Los Angeles as an email, but it will live forever on my Substack, so you can come back and reference it whenever you want. (Also, it’s definitely going to be too long for email, so be sure to click “expand” to read the whole thing.)

Me, your resident LA tour guide, at Bucatini in Echo Park

And in case you need to know my qualifications, here they are:

I grew up and went to college in Orange County and moved up to LA immediately after I graduated (like, within days… I couldn’t wait). That was thirteen years ago, and since then I’ve lived just about as far west as you can go (Ocean and San Vicente in Santa Monica), smack dab in the middle of town (Beverly and La Brea), and now, way east in Pasadena. I love this city and I’ll probably never leave it. (Well, I can see myself moving to Montecito or something when I’m, like, 65, but for the foreseeable future I’m staying put.)

The one caveat to my credentials as they pertain to food: I’m a vegetarian and have been my whole adult life, so I’m not your best bet for oyster or birria recs. I recommend subscribing to

Bite Sized

or

The Angel

for a more comprehensive, well-rounded take on the food landscape of this city. Still, I have good taste and love to eat. Obviously, you can count on me for pasta.

Below are my favorite restaurants, vintage shops, hotels, museums, bars, bookstores, coffee shops, and more, sorted by category and listed from east to west.

(Last updated: May 30, 2025)