Casa Madera and four other New Los Angeles restaurants to try right now

Los Angeles’ food scene is as diverse as the neighborhoods and people who live there. And with each new restaurant opening, the scene broadens with unique dishes, elevated cocktails and smart atmospheric design that adds color and texture to the city. In a place where there’s no shortage of sunlight – and where bars and lounges don’t close long after midnight – a relaxed, thoughtful meal is often the main event of the afternoon or evening. With this in mind, The Hollywood Reporter has put together a list of places in LA (which is ongoing) that have opened in recent months and are making dining out an event again.

Casa Madeira

Tucked into the Sunset Strip’s Mondrian hotel, Casa Madera, an 8,000-square-foot Mexican restaurant on the coast, is Noble 33 hospitality group’s newest dining destination, and the second Casa Madera location (after Toronto’s) for the restaurant ( it is also Toca Madera’s sister restaurant). The immersive environment – with a central bar, al fresco tables, booths and a private dining room – exists both inside and outside on the Mondrian’s covered terrace. The menu features seafood flanked by quality meats and fresh ingredients: scallop and striped sea bass aguachile with bergamot and ginger, grilled octopus with sweet corn puree, seared wagyu with whiskey barrel aged soy air and jalapeno, and cucumber salad with coriander and pink peppercorn . The brown butter tarta, a dessert with blueberry jelly and brown butter ice cream, is a particular highlight. 8440 Sunset Boulevard, West Hollywood

Mirate

Chef Joshua Gil and his partner Matthew Egan, who opened Cal-Mex specialist Mirame in Beverly Hills together early in the pandemic, have unveiled a second act in this more casual and vibrant sibling in Los Feliz at the Rockwell’s former address. At Mirate, they explore other Alta California flavors — including their take on a scallop tlayuda with uni sofrito and peanut salsa, as well as a wood-fired oven-roasted lobster with corn esquites — in a space whose new design hails from Oaxaca as well as the local Frank Lloyd Wright’s Ennis House, itself inspired by the Mayans. 1712 North Vermont Ave. — Gary Baum

Salty girl

Boston’s Saltie Girl, a seafood destination that combines East Coast sensibilities with ingredients inspired by Spanish cuisine, has now landed in West Hollywood on Sunset Boulevard. The extensive raw bar, made possible through relationships with fishmongers and suppliers, is a big draw, along with the restaurant’s canned fish collection – one of the largest in the country. The menu includes seafood towers, daily oyster selections, a lobster roll, and seasonal crudos. There is also a separate menu devoted entirely to more than 130 different types of caviar, and a separate pastry program with offerings such as a yuzu persimmon tart. The 90-seat restaurant and bar has indoor and outdoor seating. 8615 Sunset Boulevard, West Hollywood

Great White Melrose

Great White, the Australian all-day cafe, has already made waves in Venice Beach and Larchmont Village, but recently expanded to its third location in West Hollywood on Melrose Avenue. The menu, led by Chilean chef Juan Ferreiro (formerly of Per Se), features local, hyper-seasonal coastal dishes, including items such as ricotta hotcakes, mushroom fries with lemon zest and Thai basil, and a salmon-coconut curry bowl with black rice, bok choy, and sweet potatoes. Natural wines and coffee options are plentiful to round out the menu from morning to evening. 8917 Melrose Avenue, West Hollywood

Cork & Batter

Cork & Batter, a new three-story, rooftop dining destination, is located in the heart of Inglewood’s growing sports and entertainment district: across from The Hollywood Park and Casino, walking distance from SoFi Stadium and directly in front of the Intuit Dome. Connected to the newly built Sonder Lum Hotel, the restaurant offers elevated bar fare and an array of entrees, including buffalo chicken sliders, a chimichurri skirt steak, truffle mushroom pizza, and spicy crispy tuna rice with serrano chili and ponzu. 3900 W Century Blvd, Inglewood

See our previous suggestions below:

Per L’Ora

Located in the downtown Hotel Per La and designed by Jaqui Seerman, Per L’Ora is an ornately decorated restaurant that stays true to its roots (it’s housed in the former Bank of Italy building) by bringing Italian flavors from the coast to the kitchen of Los Angeles. The menu was developed in collaboration with the hotel’s daytime Café Ora and rooftop Bar Clara. The menu offers starters such as Spanish mackerel with spicy tomato on toast and tuna carpaccio, main courses of veal milanese with fermented chilli vinaigrette and a range of fruity desserts. The bar’s popular mezcal verde, apertivo, Genepy liqueur and lime cocktail round out the experimental drinks menu. 649S Olive ST.

Mister T

mr. T, the contemporary French concept that first opened in Paris in 2017, has landed in Los Angeles under the leadership of chef Tsuyoshi Miyazaki and restaurateur Guillaume Guedj (Gyoza Bar, Ramen Bar, Passage 53). Inspired by the exciting allure of late-night street food around the world, the menu is expressed through classic French technique, as evidenced by fan favorites such as roast lamb kebabs and comte mac and cheese with mimolette flambé and cauliflower tiki masala. As for drinks, the bordeaux and bordeaux offers are composed of Guedj’s personal collection. The restaurant, which has an open-air terrace, is centered around a dining room characterized by quartz, concrete and Tzalam wood, sourced just outside Mexico City. 953 N Sycamore Ave.

Caviar Caspia

The iconic French caviar brand, which was born in Paris in 1927 and has long been a destination for top artists in music and fashion, has now landed in Los Angeles at Melrose Place. The hybrid restaurant, lounge and boutique is operated by Kith co-founder Sam Ben-Avraham and former Iro executive Rahav Zuta, and the open-air garden can seat about 50 guests. The menu features sumptuous dishes such as squid ink spaghetti with uni butter, salmon roe, pecorino and dill; tarragon-infused grilled cheese; and Dungeness crab crostini with chili-lime dressing. And the caviar service offers seven different varieties ranging from $110 to $1,990. 8475 Melrose pl.

Lemon bunch

Located on the rooftop of The Aster, a new Hollywood private club, Lemon Grove is open to the public, with a view of the Hollywood sign by day and the nearby Capitol Records building glowing by night. Chef Marcel Vigneron’s menu is true to the market-to-table approach to California cuisine: hamachi pizza with avocado, pickled Asian pear, Thai chili, and furikake; mixed mushroom flatbread; lemon paste; and a duroc five-spice pork chop with peach habanero compote, melted leeks, and wilted kale.

“The interesting thing about Hollywood is that before all the buildings were here, there were real lemon groves here, so the history was something we tried to pick up there,” Salt Hotels co-founder Kevin O’Shea told me. THR. “And I think the roof kind of has an agricultural feel to it, where it’s this oasis from the craziness of downtown Hollywood. You already have this very urban landscape, so above that we tried to create a rural, California look. 1717 Vine St Floor 6

Crossroads Kitchen at The Commons in Calabasas

Along with popular now-chains such as Butcher’s Daughter and Great White, both of which have recently opened new locations on Melrose Avenue in West Hollywood, Crossroads Kitchen has expanded to Calabasas, tucked inside the oft-celebrity shopping and entertainment complex The Commons. This is the second Los Angeles location for chef Tal Ronnen’s plant-based restaurant (there’s also one in Las Vegas), a testament to the appeal of flexitarian food options for Angelenos. The vegan Mediterranean menu features items such as chilled leek and celeriac soup, squash tortelli, and pizza with black mission figs, along with a robust cocktail menu that includes drinks like the “Hollywood Babylon” made with chopin, limoncello, simple lavender syrup, and lemongrass. 4776 Commons Way Suite A, Calabasas