Los Angeles’ Top 10 New Restaurants of 2015

Fiona Chandra

Los Angeles saw a lot of great restaurant openings in the past year, to the delight of food-loving Angelenos. Our city has even more amazing barbecue, seafood, Asian and fine dining eateries than ever. While it was difficult to choose the best of these, we compiled a list of our top 10 newly opened spots in L.A.

10. SMYC
Santa Monica Yacht Club is Chef Andrew Kirschner’s new seafood-focused restaurant that continues the success of Tar & Roses in Santa Monica. This space is naturally inspired by a yacht club while the internationally influenced menu is very much Californian. There are crab cakes served in Singaporean chili sauce and sea urchin sitting delicately on chicharron. Instead of New England lobster roll, Chef Kirschner puts out lobster toast with garlic aioli.

9. Simbal
Simbal is a hidden gem in Little Tokyo that serves small plates packed with flavors. Chef Shawn Pham has worked in kitchens like Sona, The Bazaar, and Craft before packing up his bags to reconnect with his heritage and moving to Vietnam to live for four years. Now he’s combined his training with the bold flavors of Southeast Asian cuisine, winning many accolades along the way. Here, a spicy fish sauce glazes crispy sweetbreads, and the typical broiled black cod is accented with turmeric.

8. Trois Familia
The third and latest collaboration between chefs Ludo Lefebvre, Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo is a French-Mexican café that quickly became a lunch and brunch favorite among Angelenos. A flaky croissant is served with black bean salsa for a breakfast Croissan’wich while pain perdu crosses over with churros. Unlike the tasting menu at Trois Mec, Trois Familia is designed to be a neighborhood café (in the hipster neighborhood of Silverlake), a casual spot where families with kids can come and enjoy a hearty brunch.

7. Viviane Restaurant 
Chef Michael Hung left Faith & Flower to open Viviane with Stephane Bombet, taking over the space surrounding the pool at the Avalon Hotel in Beverly Hills. Chef Hung’s interpretation of continental cuisine is served amidst the mid-century modern space designed by Kelly Wearstler, accompanied by cocktails from Bar Director Ryan Wainwright and wines curated by Francois Renaud. Start lunch with pastrami-cured wild salmon, or go for a night out with the Piedmontese ribeye steak or lobster boudin blanc.

6. Aburiya Raku
This highly popular izakaya from Las Vegas quietly opened its Los Angeles outpost this summer in West Hollywood. Angelenos can now partake in the izakaya’s signature dishes that has consistently put Aburiya Raku on Vegas’ “best of lists” without making the trek to another state. Start with their housemade tofu followed by the uni, mountain yam, and soft egg. The restaurant is open late and their robata and foie gras egg custard make for the perfect end to your late night.

5. Hanjip
There are a lot of great Korean BBQ restaurants in Los Angeles, but Stephane Bombet and Chef Chris Oh’s new Culver City restaurant aims to combine great food with design and service, a rare combination in Koreatown. The barbecue uses prime beef and Kurobuta pork, the dipping salt is mixed with truffles and Chef Oh uses bone marrow broth as the stock for all stews on the menu. Even the side dishes are elevated – steamed egg is topped with sea urchin and a roasted bone marrow garnishes the bowl of cheese corn.

4. Otium
The first solo venture of Timothy Hollingsworth, former chef de cuisine at French Laundry, Otium is one of the hottest openings of the year. Set in a beautiful space atop the bridge on Hope St., the restaurant boasts views of Bunker Hill. Chef Hollingsworth combines his years of French fine dining with L.A.’s casual dining scene – influences of barbecue, Korean and Japanese cuisine can be found throughout the menu. There may be donabe-smoked Hamachi collar on the special while at brunch guests can indulge on funnel cake topped with foie gras.

3. Cassia
When Chef Bryant Ng shut Spice Table, Los Angeles lost its beloved Singaporean restaurant. Thankfully, Ng returned in a bigger space with Cassia in Santa Monica. The restaurant brought back the old favorites such as kaya toast and laksa while melding his training in Western-style kitchens with Southeast Asian flavors. His charcuterie platter is like nothing you’ve seen before, featuring Sichuan lamb ham, Singaporean candied pork and more, while his chilled seafood bar similarly packs a lot of punch.

2. Broken Spanish
This modern Mexican eatery by Chef Ray Garcia is one of the most ambitious Latin American restaurants, as many other publications, including Esquire, noticed. Their traditional Mexican cooking is elevated by quality ingredients combined with inventive and modern touches throughout the menu. The tortillas are made with heirloom blue corn while tamales are stuffed with lamb neck. The bold flavors inevitably need to be paired with one of barman Michael Lay’s cocktails.

1. Redbird
Los Angeles waited a long while for Chef Neal Fraser to finally open up his new restaurant at the Vibiana. Redbird presents a quintessential dining experience in downtown L.A. with a sleek lounge, an outdoor dining area, great food and an impeccable cocktail program followed by inventive desserts. The Veal Fraser may be one of the most delicious meat dishes in the city, surprisingly found in the same restaurant as a great bowl of pozole. Pastry Chef Jashmine Corpuz’ unusual desserts continue to surprise, as exemplified by the addictive goat cheese ice cream made with Humboldt Fog cheese.