LA recs for someone who lived there and hasn’t been back since 2020? Nothing fancy pls (requires a reso).

Question

Adam · Answer

Cafe Triste: Used to live behind it. Solid place.

ColdTea · Answer

Coral Cafe - Burbank CA: I have been going to Coral as often as possible for almost 15 years, after a fateful recommendation from a coworker for “places that serve breakfast all day.” It’s the most Midwest an LA restaurant can be. It’s open 24 hours. It’s haunted. The servers are charming, the service is speedy, the vast menu is all good. If you want my go-to, as pictured in this helpful collage my phone made, it’s the chicken club with no mayonnaise, with curly fries and their house-made ranch dressing in a cup to dip. That specific ranch dressing is the thing I miss the most from my long stints living in LA (don’t tell my long-distance best friend).

LP · Answer

Fat & Flour Culver City: Life-changing pies and cookies! Such a great tight lunch menu too. The loveliest staff, good amount of seating, overall such a pleasant vibe.

sunset strip mall · Answer

The Watts Towers: this is such a special, special thing in LA: monumental sculptures in LA's Watts neighborhood made by a single man (Simon Rodia, an Italian immigrant) using concrete and found objects (seashells, glass, porcelain, tiles)

sunset strip mall · Answer

Lisa Says Gah!: this store has the cutest clothes ever. they've got an onsite site as well, but i like to stop by their brick-and-mortar location whenever i'm in town

sunset strip mall · Answer

Jitlada: a classic, "discovered" by legendary la food critic jonathan gold! be ready to wait for a while — they don't take reservations so you gotta just hang in the parking lot – but the food is unbelievable.