Watchlist

Opened in August on Sunset with a menu built around pad thai: twelve numbered styles, plus Bangkok-style skewers and a quiet back patio.

LA’s only bar built for soccer: eight screens of matches from every league, beer and wine, and an all-day menu from a full English breakfast to smoked pork chops.

From the De La Nonna team, inside Hotel Lucile, a restored 1931 church. Southern French meets the American South: a raw bar, bouillabaisse for two and a marble bar where the pipe organs used to be.

A backyard café behind a home on Lake Shore Ave, pouring single-origin coffee from the Mexican highlands in handmade mustard mugs. Order a cortado or the lemon cold brew tonic and take a stone bench among the planters.

A casual sushi bar just down the hill from Dodger Stadium, in wood-lined rooms that feel like a vintage Tokyo cottage. Rolls come in four-piece halves, so you can try more; the sashimi and the Baja roll are the ones to get, plus ramen and takoyaki. Free parking.

Back on Echo Park Ave in the old Lonely Oyster space, now a clubhouse-style sports bar a short walk from the stadium, with smart bar food from chef Andrew Rodriguez. Get the fish and chips, fries dusted in Cool Ranch seasoning and a blue-curaçao “Dodger blood” margarita.

The Hillhurst dining room is back as a wood-fired Baja coastal kitchen: fresh ceviches, charred asada and seafood off the fire, with Valle de Guadalupe wines and a $10 margarita. Weekend brunch brings a tableside Bloody Mary cart.

British comfort cooking through a California lens from two childhood friends on Hillhurst, and one of the hardest tables in town since it opened. Get the fish and chips, a thick rockfish fillet with mint sauce, then meat pie and sticky toffee pudding with a glass of natural wine.

An Italian wine bar on 3rd with a mid-century Mediterranean room and patio, from a former Quince sommelier. Order the Roman-style pinsa on 72-hour dough, a flight from the natural wine list and a spritz or negroni sbagliato.

A tiny, plant-filled Sichuan room on York from two Han Dynasty alums, with a short menu that lands fast. Get the pork dumplings in chili oil, the dan dan noodles tossed tableside and the cumin mushroom fries. Walk-in only, so expect a wait.