Sisters Amanda Kuntee Maneesilasan and Katy Noochlaor grew up watching their parents build Los Angeles’ oldest Thai restaurant. Since Chao Krung Thai first opened on Fairfax Ave in 1976 it's been a pillar of L.A.’s Thai community and also a site of cultural negotiation, adapting Thai-style flavors to American palates. Fifty years later, the sisters have bought the building and doubled down on their family legacy. Today they’re serving authentic family recipes with an upscale feel in addition to running several other food projects and restaurants that draw on their rich culture and experiences growing up in Southern California.
@chaokrungthai@eattuktuk@katy_nooch@chef_amanda0413@quincybowiejr
It’s all too easy to overlook the grilled cheese sandwich when ordering at a restaurant. It can feel like something that is best reserved for picky eaters and the kids menu. But a great version is so much more than bread sealed together with a generous layer of cheese — everything must work harmoniously together. When something is this simple in construction, each ingredient really matters, from the type of bread to the selection of cheese to any additional toppings.
Luckily, restaurants around Los Angeles are taking the grilled cheese seriously, whether leaning into nostalgic versions with American cheese and sourdough bread or experimenting with unexpected ingredients like spicy labneh and caramelized onions. The results are delicious and comforting.
Get the full guide from Food contributor Khushbu Shah (@khushandoj ) at the link in bio.
📸: @rad_pix_ , Joy Limanon, Mike Cotrone, @khushandoj
"Lucia (@lucialosangeles ) sits on a stretch of Fairfax Avenue historically known as a Jewish cultural hub. In the 2000s, the street transformed into a nexus of youth culture, with streetwear shops and restaurants like Animal. This is the Fairfax Avenue that Lucia owner Sam Jordan fell in love with when he moved to Los Angeles a decade ago. Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit, and he watched as storefronts shuttered.
With his first solo venture, Jordan hopes Lucia is at the center of what he calls the “big Fairfax Avenue comeback.” The front door opens to one of the most breathtaking rooms in the city. Glowing, 18-foot palm sculptures tower over the bar. Multiple seating areas boast plush seating in warm jewel tones of emerald and chartreuse. The most prized seats are the elevated, semicircular booths tucked into clam-shell shaped alcoves that overlook the main dining room. ...
Chef Cleophus "Ophus" Hethington cooked at restaurants all over the U.S., in Italy and Brazil. In Atlanta, he started a pop-up series called Ebi, meaning family and hunger in Yoruba, drawing from his travels through Africa and the Americas. In 2020, he started his own spice company called Triangular Trade, named for the brutal trade system that brought European goods and guns to Africa in exchange for enslaved Africans, who were forcibly transported to the Americas, and the enslaved labor that produced the sugar, cotton and tobacco shipped to Europe for sale. For Hethington, Black foodways have always been central to the stories he tells on the plate."
Read this week's review by restaurant critic Jenn Harris (@jenn_harris_ ) at the link in bio.
📷: @rad_pix_
The Smoke Queen Winnie Yee is serving up something unforgettable — a bone-buttered tomahawk steak crafted with authentic Lee Kum Kee sauces!
As a second-generation Malaysian-Chinese chef, she’s celebrating her heritage and AAPI Month in a powerful way: with the release of her new book and a genuine recipe that highlights the rich flavors of Lee Kum Kee.
This is more than a dish — it’s a tribute to culture, tradition, and bold, unforgettable taste.
@leekumkeeusa@leekumkeetraditions@smokequeenbbq
#FlavorsofAAPI #LeeKumKee #WinnieYee #sponsored
Dine Latino Restaurant Week (@dinelatino ) kicked off yesterday with more than 200 local restaurants representing the culinary traditions of 20 Latin American countries, and offering prix-fixe menus and special dishes through Sunday, May 24.
Get the full story from reporter Angela Osorio (@aosoriomedia ) at the link in bio.
🎥: @brendabroadcast
Some of L.A.’s most famous restaurants, clubs and markets were temporarily closed in the last month because of citations of vermin infestation.
A review of L.A. County records by The Times tallied more than 120 vermin citations issued to food facilities in the region in 2026 until today, with 67 — the majority — of these occurring in April alone.
Read the full report at the link in bio.
📷: Gary Coronado
"Famous signs along the nearly 2,500 miles of Route 66 include the 66-foot soda bottle at Pops in Oklahoma, the wagging neon tail of Albuquerque’s Dog House and the hand-painted slogans for Snow Cap Drive-In in Arizona. But in L.A., none is so iconic as the giant looming penguin that signifies milkshakes, burgers, oldies playlists and sheer Americana at the end of the road.
The Mother Road that stretches from Chicago to the West Coast unofficially ends at the Santa Monica Pier, but at its technical terminus, Mel’s Drive-In (@melsdrivein ) declares the “ROUTE ENDS HERE,” inlaid in terrazzo beneath that jumbo tuxedoed penguin. It’s been a beacon for decades, and though the beloved restaurant space recently was listed for sale for $26 million, Mel’s owners hope it remains a diner and destination for generations."
Read the full story from Food reporter Stephanie Breijo (@breij ) at the link in bio.
📷: @davidfoutsphoto
🪡 + 📷: @vichcraft
Housed in a former doughnut shop in Glendale, L.A. has never seen an Armenian restaurant like Yerord Mas (@yerordmasbakerydeli ) before, with a menu that weaves influences from chef-owner Arthur Grigoryan's Armenian heritage, L.A. upbringing and experiences cooking in fine dining kitchens.
Read the full review from restaurant critic Bill Addison (@bill_addison ) at the link in bio.
🎥: @markpottslat
The best things I ate and sipped.
Every course @hayatorestaurant . Dinner here is like nowhere else in the city/state/country/🌎. Seated at that counter, I feel like the luckiest diner in the world. Hairy crab that was “swimming in Tokyo” that morning.
My forever favorite grilled kinki with onions cooked for 90 mins over the embers with dark soy sauce. This time I got an extra onion!
Sakura ebi tempura. Wow.
Grilled mehikari. Superb with a squeeze of lemon.
Peas and sea perch rice.
Harry’s Berries strawberries with kinako whipped cream for dessert.
Beef patties @traceysbelizeanrestaurant . Thank you @reach.guinto !
And the fried snapper with fry jack.
And the dark meat chicken with plantains. Make sure there’s extra hot sauce on the table. So good. We used half the bottle. And that potato salad 😍
Rib eye from our Mother’s Day dinner @casalena.la .
Jasmine oolong pure tea from @torotea_official .
Chickpeas, cucumbers and herbs, a recipe from @anissahelou ’s new fabulous cookbook “Lebanon” served during a dinner in her honor @maydan_la .
#latimesfood #food #lafood
For the last five years @kelseysachi sold seafood to some of the city’s top restaurants. Now she’s opening her orders to the public with weekly Instagram drops — and handing off poke from the back of her car.
@breij has all the details at the link in our bio.
Asian American- and Pacific Islander-owned restaurants serve as vital centers of countless communities, from a pho shop in Westminster to a destination for Uyghur cuisine in the San Gabriel Valley.
Get the full guide from restaurant critics Bill Addison (@bill_addison ) and Jenn Harris (@jenn_harris_ ) at the link in bio.
"Hoist up half of Arthur Grigoryan’s basturma brisket sandwich for a first bite, and stare for a moment into the mouth of the beast.
You’ll need a firm grip to handle the stretched edges of fluffy pita, thick enough to discern a labyrinth of air pockets around the borders. Inside the gaping maw: blocks of tongue-red pastrami, rubbed with chaimen (a fenugreek-forward spice rub, also flecked with cumin, garlic and chiles) used to season jerky-adjacent, air-dried Armenian basturma, cured for two weeks and then smoked for12 hours. The result, beyond beefy intensity, is several textures at once: flaky, taut, buttery.
If the walloping sandwich is the lure that leads you to the tiny Glendale restaurant Grigoryan opened at last with his wife Takouhi Grigoryan in January, it will have done its job.
But order even one other dish from the concise menu — a whirled dip, a crisp salad wafting lemon and mint, a color-wheel spin on vegetarian kufta — and you’ll realize he’s up to far more than cleverly revised deli foods.
L.A. has never seen an Armenian restaurant like Yerord Mas (@yerordmasbakerydeli ) before."
Read this week's review from restaurant critic Bill Addison at the link in bio.
📷: roniibolanos_
