stephanie breijo

🎶 DID YOU KNOW THAT THERE’S A LANA DEL REY MILKSHAKE ON LINCOLN BOULEVARD Team @latimes just put together a sprawling ode to Route 66 for the Mother Road’s centennial, and @bill_addison and I both contributed stories repping @latimesfood . In mine, I got to spend some time at (and catch up with the family behind) the Santa Monica @melsdrivein , the official end of Route 66. But it wasn’t always a Mel’s. For decades of the Googie-style diner’s existence — and for the first four or five years of my childhood — it was the Penguin Coffee Shop, which I had the pleasure of visiting every couple months with my dad as it was close to his office. So for this story I interviewed my father too (hi, dad!). It turns out we weren’t the only fans. Legendary songstress @honeymoon loves diners and Americana, too, and she especially loves Mel’s; so much that she’s now got her own milkshake on the menu, which tickled me. (Fittingly a kind of Elvis variant, but with Nutella instead of peanut butter. And zero bacon.) You can read all about the diner at the end of the Mother Road, generations of fans and travelers, the recent listing of the iconic building and more on @latimesfood now 🍔

Buy your poke in a parking lot! No news column this week because instead you’re getting a new edition of What We’re Into: our team-wide column on the dishes, spots, ingredients and anything else we’ve been digging lately. My latest is a spotlight on @doversolemarket , the new Instagram DM seafood purveyor from a local authority who’s been selling fish to some of the city’s best restaurants for years. She’s still wholesaling, but in February @kelseysachi launched a weekend poke drop that brings a taste of her Oahu upbringing to individual customers. Wait for the drop, place an order, receive the address, then get some great poke in either Koreatown or Sherman Oaks. Full story on @latimesfood now 🐟✌️

Whenever people ask me what I’ve been loving lately, I’ve been telling everyone @roshonabilashla , and now I’m telling you on here!!!! If you follow our @latimesfood openings coverage (which you all do, right??) then you already know about this quick-and-casual Bengali spot, which I put into the news column back in March. But ICYMI, this is a high-value, extremely flavorful family run restaurant from one of the first restaurateurs in L.A.’s Little Bangladesh. He opened Deshi with some friends back in the ’90s, and eventually left the industry for roughly two decades. Now he’s back with a tandoor, roti rolled fresh to order, phenomenal nihari (at only $10!!!! my favorite thing here and a must-order), succulent lamb shank, pilaf, Malai chai and beyond. Portions are generous, just about everything is under $20 and most importantly of all, it’s delicious. See ya there?

Going from day to night at Bar @betsynotbetsys !!! When @tylerjwells relaunched Bernee as Betsy post Eaton fire last summer, the community rallied around the hearth-fired restaurant. It’s been so popular, in fact, that Wells and co. had to flip the adjacent space to Bar Betsy earlier than planned: They just turned a former florist into a cafe by day, wine bar by night, with the same focus on seasonality that you’ll find next door but without the full usage of the hearth, and here, @avanthidev is handling the day-to-day cooking. I caught up with the team for last week’s @latimesfood news column, and you can read all about Bar Betsy’s opening, the new garden (table) and more there! Ok bye and go order those cinnamon buns and grits if it’s the last thing you do ✨

I’d eaten at the adjacent bar in the time since, but it’d been a good two years since I’d visited @dunsmoor.la ’s dining room for the full (non-event*) experience. Stopped in last week for the blink-and-you’ll-miss-em ramps dishes from Certified Ramps Freak @hatchetchief (oysters under floating drops of ramp vinegar! whole grilled trout with ramp salsa and a charred-ramp aioli! meaty porcini with singed ramps and bacon vinaigrette and fried egg and more!), as well as some of the forever favorites. Felt good to be reunited with my favorite side of caraway-flecked, luxuriously buttered cabbage as well as that silky smooth pork and green chili stew. But I think my favorite moment was, having left the pairings to @smgrvs , when he arrived and said the ultimate pairing for that famous stew is actually just a high life. God bless.

Finally snuck into @maxandhelens for breakfast this week knowing full well that @bill_addison ’s review was on the way (the closest I’ll ever get to insider trading)!!! Had to beat the already busy crowd in advance of his very thoughtful words, and you can read them over on @latimesfood now. I am so sorry to the internet haters but this was a terrific meal full of cheffy but still very homestyle-feeling touches, and I’ll absolutely be stopping by for lunch/dinner sometime because of it. A lot’s been written about that waffle but I have to say……. The blueberry and lemon zest pancake???? I might even love it more, but all that said, if they’ve got the waffle with fried chicken on special that’s the move.

@badmaashla is growing up and glowing up!! The Mahendro family just debuted the first new Badmaash in eight years, and while so many (but not all!) of their modern Indian signatures from the last 13 years can be found there, multiple new dishes — and a very chic cocktail program — can too. The Abbot Kinney restaurant is dark and sleek and home to new steak frites with a meat-tinged masala au poivre; otherworldly saffron pistachio tres leches cake; the silkiest lamb neck korma; a painting (and olive oil?) by @bambambaklava and more. But with this opening comes a closure as well: @eatburgers99 will close its storefront at the end of the month, but it won’t be the forever end — which, thank god, because that butter chicken burrito (last slide) goes so unbelievably hard. You can read all about @badmaashla ’s evolution in Venice and the @eatburgers99 closure in this week’s @latimesfood news column, online now 🤙

A brief Montecito dispatch!! Just a few scenes from a quick trip up the coast, where I finally dined at @littlemountainsb and returned, of course, to the always excellent @bettinapizzeria . I’d been eyeing @diegomoya ’s new restaurant for a few months and, finally making it up, wound up having the most gorgeous meal there. He walks the line of bold and delicate: hearth cooking’s chars and smokiness power the menu, but fully allow the seasonality and natural flavors to sing through. Really lovely stuff happening up there (especially that house butter, a 16-to-20-day process), and I’m excited to keep an eye on it from afar and visit again someday! Tucked into some shops, read by the pool, ate some delicious food, and can’t wait to get back up there (some exciting food happening up that way, many more spots I wish I could’ve hit in the too-quick time I was there). An absolute breeze of a trip, highly recommend 🔥

@canters_deli case studies One of my uncles, a native angeleno since moved away, came back to town for a few days this week and we hit some of his favorites (which are just as great and OG as he is). Hadn’t been in a bit but this pastrami and the almond horn especially hit the spot 💯

Hot damn look at the GLINT off that ikura!!! @tennomeshi.la.official is ladling it all over scallop cutlets and pork cutlets, and it’s frying just about everything in fresh panko — including its signature Wagyu cutlets. The Kyoto-based restaurant group just expanded to L.A. with a delicious tonkatsu shop along Sawtelle, and it’s hoping to add a few of its other concepts to the city, too. You can read more about @tennomeshi.la.official and other notable new spots in the latest @latimesfood news column now 🫡

🥑🔴Estranomaxxing on a Monday🔴🥑 Wasn’t planning on leaving the house last night but @palumbros coaxed me out and of course had the best time/felt so alive/ate some great street pasta/saw some familiar faces/saw some leashes n latex/got home feeling like the energy of L.A. was injected right into my veins. Needed it! Great to see these @mr.argoti pop-ups happening more frequently again, and need that ghormeh sabzi papardelle again hot damn dude

You might’ve noticed there’s been (oh my god) a bit of restaurant news out of L.A. this week, but amid all of that I want to shed some light here on a few local establishments prime for your St. Paddy’s Day/weekend enjoyment — and better yet, they’re prime to become your favorite year-round haunts. We just released a guide to some of the region’s absolute best Irish pubs, and I’ve got to admit I fell in love with a few of them in the process of researching it. Whether it’s the perfect Guinness pours and three versions of Irish coffee at @thelibertiesdtla (split the G and get your photo on the wall!); the personal flair and flavor at @aulddubliner (including the owner’s grandfather’s bike on display over the whiskey selection); the banter and bangers and flawless Irish coffee at @obriensla ; the friendly regulars and the Hall of Hops at @ilovemurphys (drink your way through 70 pints and get your name up there!), I found so much to love all over the damn place. Find these spots tagged in their respective photos on this IG post, and find the craic over on @latimesfood now ☘️