Jon Yao’s Michelin-starred tasting menu restaurant gleans flavors and ingredients from across Asia, especially Japan and Taiwan, making it a hidden strip mall gem. The tasting menu isn’t cheap, but the quality comes through on the plate. Kato continues to prepare some of LA’s most innovative food despite not offering any alcoholic beverages.

Longstanding Persian spot Javan’s had quite a ride over the last three years. In 2018, the space turned into Safir for a year, but Javan returned in 2019 to resume the same quality Persian they’ve been doing for years. The portion sizes are huge and the quality is great, especially when eating the $18 combination platter with chicken koobideh and beef koobideh with cucumber salad and rice. They’ve even incorporated Beyond Meat koobideh and into the menu, or ash joe, the more traditional garbanzo bean stew.

Alhambra’s Sichuan Impression cooks up a wide menu of classics at its West LA outpost, from the saucy spaghetti-like special noodles to the heavily spiced mapo tofu to cold steamed chicken swimming in a chili sauce. Bullfrog, toothpick cumin mutton, and rabbit show up on the menu too.

Yes, there are plenty of rolls popular with the celebrity set, but the real star at this West LA gem is the omakase by chef Yoya Takahashi. Making the experience even better is the $80 price tag, which is very competitive for the quality delivered in this part of town.

Big Boi comes fromB Sweet Dessert BarfounderBarb Batiste, whose best known for her Filipino-inspired desserts. With Big Boi, Batiste is trading in ube cakes and halo halo for a range of Filipino comfort fare, like excellent sisig, fanfastic lumpia, and more.

Westwood’s sandwich game is strong thanks to Persian staple Attari, where the tongue sandwich reigns supreme, and pleasant afternoons can be spent on the sunny patio while taking comfort in homey bowls of osh.

What’s not to love about Shamshiri Grill? Founder and chef Hamid Shamshiri opened the original restaurant in 1981, where stews like ghormeh sabzi or fesenjan are prepared vegan, unless adding baked chicken, lamb shank, or lamb neck. If sitting indoors, food preparation takes place right in front of Shamshiri’s massive grill. It’s impressive to watch.

It’s a refreshing sight to see Tacos Tu Madre colorful Westwood Boulevard spot. Joshua Pourgol and Oliver Mateen’s first opened their Westwood storefront in 2015, with additional locations in West Hollywood, Larchmont, and Los Feliz. The approach is hardly traditional Mexican, with vegan Korean barbecue tacos or barbacoa tacos. They’re open early and stay that way until midnight.

This LA icon has been serving classic diner fare since 1947. Little has changed, save for adding credit card payments andto-goitems during the pandemic. That means there’s a standout patty melt and old-fashioned slices of pie, but the thing on everyone’s mind is the Hickory Burger dressed in the enduring restaurant’s proprietary barbecue sauce.

John O’Groats is one of those longstanding LA stories to love. Robert and Angelica Jacoby opened John O’Groats in 1982. But only during daytime hours so the Jacobys could care for their sons. Robert passed away in 2018, but they’re still making those beloved biscuits, pancakes, eggs, and sandwiches that keep people coming in.