6 LA County Restaurants Added To Michelin Guide

LOS ANGELES, CA — Six new Los Angeles County restaurants have been added to the coveted Michelin California Guide, giving foodies across the Southland a new list of must-try eateries.

LA County is home to nearly half of the 13 restaurants added to the guide statewide: Five are in Los Angeles and one is in West Hollywood.

The guide also added five Bay Area restaurants, along with new picks in La Jolla and Santa Barbara.

Here's a look at each restaurant, with excerpts from Michelin's reviews:

Barra Santos
Cypress Park

Snag a seat outside or in at this small, no reservations restaurant in Cypress Park. Inside, the best seats are at the bar with a view into the kitchen. The focused menu is Portuguese and even features some family recipes. Plenty of items are designed for sharing, including their crispy and tender bacalhau fritters with salt cod, potato, and caramelized onion, or charred cabbage over a bed of white beans studded with Iberico pork and garlic butter sauce.

Danbi
Koreatown

Chef Lareine Ko's streamlined menu pops with large, shareable plates. The hit list includes mushroom bibimbap with fresh vegetables, as well as a crispy scallop pancake accompanied by a creamy mentaiko sauce. Wagyu Zabuton, cooked over charcoal and served on a hot cast iron skillet over a bed of grilled onions, is a solid winner.

Grá
Historic Filipinotown

There's a welcoming vibe at this hip spot where the focus is on natural fermentation with sourdough pizza, seasonal pickled vegetables, and fermented drinks such as tepache. Grá has indoor and covered patio seating, but all eyes will be on the cooks preparing pizzas in their wood-fired oven. It's all about the thin and crispy sourdough crust with high quality toppings.

Leopardo
Hancock Park

Chef Joshua Skenes is back on the scene with Leopardo, a likeable spot with a laidback feel where the menu leans on seafood with a few pizzas thrown in for good measure. Come with a group to sample a variety, beginning with crispy red flint waffles with bordier butter and maple syrup, and splurge by adding Ossetra caviar aged for six months with country bacon salt.

Mae Malai Thai House of Noodles
Thai Town

Just a short walk from their original food stall, this restaurant's strip mall digs are simple but it's a comfortable, welcoming spot with a tempting menu to boot. As the name suggests, their specialty is noodles, particularly boat noodles with a thick, intense broth and your choice of pork or beef, noodle type, and spice level.

Stella
West Hollywood

"Italian food with local California products is the promise at Stella, where a two-story dining room has an Art Deco flair, and the chef's counter offers a mesmerizing look at live-fire cooking."

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