Weekend Events: January 4-6, 2019

It’s a new year, it’s a new you. Whether or not you followed through on your resolutions so far in 2019, you deserve to treat yourself to a weekend of fun in LA. In the city of stars there is no shortage of thrills. We rounded-up the best “Angeleno” approved events to spruce up your first weekend of the year!

Read below for events happening in and round LA January 4-6.

Discover your inner Angeleno!

Friday, January 4th

First-Time Fridays at LACMA

You haven’t been to LACMA you say? Well luckily for you, LA’s Contemporary Museum of Modern Art accepts this and offers First Time Fridays. This monthly event invites guest to explore the museum from 3:00pm-8:00pm for LA residents. If you let the ticket office know it is your first visit to LACMA, you will receive a free poster and discounts at the LACMA store, LACMA Cafe and C+M.

Click here for more details.

Abbot Kinney First Fridays

AK’s neighborhood block party returns this Friday on the “coolest block in America”. Whatever your craving, you’ll be sure to find something with new and old food trucks joining the event and merchant discounts plus late hours.

Click here for more details.

LA Lakers vs. New York Knicks

NBA tickets to see the Los Angeles Lakers play the New York Knicks are sure to be selling quickly! Fans from both sides of the nation won’t want to miss this exciting regular season game! If you want to be there to catch all of the action you’d better act now. Secure your seats so you can cheer on your favorite team!

Click here for more details

Saturday, January 5th

Watson Adventures’ Thrilla at the Getty Villa

Roam for Romans on a unique scavenger hunt that transports you to ancient Greece and Rome via the Getty Villa. You’ll follow a trail of clues and answer fun, tricky questions. Discover facts you never knew about the odd aspects of gods, goddesses, and the inventors of the toga party.

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Golden Globes Foreign Language Nominee Symposium

Discover the best foreign language films of 2018. This year’s five nominees include Capernaum from Lebanon, Girl from Belgium, Never Look Away from Germany, Roma from Mexico, and Shoplifters from Japan. The symposium will also include a free roundtable with the Directors for each of the nominated films. The panel will be moderated by Mike Goodridge, former HFPA member and VP turned festival director and programmer. Advance sale tickers are available until 5:00pm January 4 but will still be available for standby the day of.

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Bricks LA 2019

Come share your love of Lego and discover hundreds of fan created models at the Pasadena Convention Center ! Enjoy their vendor area with new, used, and unique brick accessories as well as building techniques and panel discussions. It will be a weekend of fun for all ages.

Click here for more details

Sunday, January 6

Annual Carroll Shelby Cruise-In

Come see some of the fastest, rarest and most beloved Shelby’s of all time. The Petersen will celebrate Carroll Shelby’s birthday by having a cruise-in on the third floor parking structure of the museum. All car enthusiasts are invited to participate in the car show and contest. Coffee and snacks will be provided.

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A Faery Hunt Magical Adventure

Named by Nickelodeon the “Best Children’s Theater” in Los Angeles, A Faery Hunt delights as a magical adventure. Auntie Angelica leads the audience on a gentle journey to help the Faery royalty! With the help of the audience and the Faeries, it’s a musical filled afternoon with fun, laughs and surprises.

Click here for more details

LA Kings Holiday ICE at L.A. Live Final Day

Just because the holidays are over, doesn’t mean the fun has to be. Don’t miss out on the last day of the LA Kings Holiday Ice at L.A. Live. Skate your way through the weekend as a family fun activity or date night.

Click here fore more details

October 13, 2018October 23, 2018

This Week at Rodeo Realty: Westside Newsletter Oct. 8th-14th

Click the image below to view our Westside Rodeo Realty weekly

newsletter Oct. 8th-14th, 2018!!

October 5, 2018October 5, 2018

Out and About: Santa Monica Edition

By: Samira Murphy

Every so often, at some point in your busy week, it happens–you get to play tourist for the day. Whether its hopping in the car for a scenic drive down the coast or popping into Fred Segal’s for an afternoon nosh, “me time” is so crucial.

Once a week, we will cut the clutter and provide you with hidden gems in the city of stars and beyond. From Beverly Hills to the San Fernando Valley, take time to explore your neck of the woods!

There is nothing more quintessential california than a day spent seaside in Santa Monica. From the famous Pier to splurge Santa Monica Place, SaMo is more than a beachfront city. It’s a way of life. Aside from sounding like an Equinox ad, we wanted to send you off into the weekend with ways to spend your day between rush hour and happy hour.

For stunning Ocean views and classic imagery of LA’s coastline, Palisades Park is the perfect way to start your day with a brisk walk through the bluffs. Start at the Pacific Palisades Adjacent end, keeping between the stately concert sculpture at Wilshire and the colorful totem pole at San Vicente. No this isn’t a scavenger hunt, just your quick route to take in the scenes and skip the tourist march.

If your spending the day with your family or just feel like kicking back like your childhood days, the Santa Monica Pier is always a great choice! Filled with the classic fairground games of yesteryears along a few adrenaline inducing rides, whats not to love? The centre and focal point of Santa Monica Beach, is also home to a range of outdoor events. If you just so happen to feel intrigued, check out our events of the week for Oct.5-7th, featuring not one but two Santa Monica thrills taking place over the weekend.

Before departing away from the sand, make sure to step inside the iconic Camera Obscura! The perfect spot for peace, quite, and a uniquely peculiar view of the oceanfront. The historic optical contraption is the offbeat place to catch your breath and Instagram shot. Hidden inside an oceanfront senior recreation center, Camera Obscura is a great way to fill your time between sites.

Alright, so you’ve had your thrills and your fun. Your probably looking for the perfect afternoon pick me up before making your way to the shops. We’ve got that covered too! For the perfect seaside brunch, head towards the coastline for your pick of perfect california cuisine. Between Ivy by the Shore, Del Frisco’s, and Elephante–-you’ll be strategizing how you can tackle all three. No stress! From the cuisine to the ambience you can’t go wrong between the lot, they’re a food-lovers paradise along the sea.

Now that you’ve fueled up, theres no better way to end the day then with a little retail therapy. Depending on your style or actual shopping needs, SaMo is full of some of the Westside’s most charming boutiques and storefronts. Peruse along the Third Street Promenade for a mix of notable and trendy retailers. If your a weekday browser, Wednesdays feature the city’s famed Farmer’s Market! The four block pedestrianized stretch of cobblestone will gove you all the Small Town-Main Street feels.

Needing something more on the High-End? Santa Monica Place is located at the southern end of the Promenade. The outdoor retail space features a revamped shopping center packed with upscale department stores and designer boutiques. From Barnerys of New York to Louis Vuitton, take in the open air and throw away your receipt.

So you’ve seen, you’ve sipped, you’ve shopped. The sun is setting and your wondering where you parked your car. Stay to catch the views of day slipping into night and skip the rush hour beat. Stop by 1 Pico for evening fare set in a cape cod style decor. The cuisine is as remarkable as the views at this oceanside spot in SaMo’s Shutters on the Beach.

Whether you tackled all our recommendations at once or spread it out through the week, there is no better way to experience L.A. then to venture out and try something new. Get outside your zip code, turn on the “Eagles” and call it a day well spent!

June 22, 2018

Great Places To Eat At In Anaheim

Outside of Orange County, Anaheim is mostly known for its largest tourist destination: Disneyland. But locals know that the city extends far beyond The Happiest Place on Earth, with plenty of non-Disney things worth doing — and the food scene doesn’t end at the resort zone, either. Dig deeper into the strip malls, modern food courts, and transit terminals in Anaheim’s surrounding grid, and you’ll uncover restaurants serving food from around the world that are cool enough for LA, but could only exist in the OC.

From speakeasy fine dining to all-Halal feasts (and every down-home American breakfast in between), here are the restaurants you should be eating at in Anaheim right now.

The Blind Rabbit

Hidden spot for fine cocktails and decadent food
Orange County’s first speakeasy is thankfully still one of its best. Some of the most creative mixologists in the region continue to pass through The Blind Rabbit’s hidden front doors, where they craft seasonal menus of stalwart classics and custom cocktails that range from off-the-wall to tiki-inspired. A food menu of equal decadence (bone marrow, duck confit mac & cheese, lamb chops) awaits — if you can find the place.

Olive Tree

Middle Eastern food at Little Arabia’s preeminent restaurant
Orange County’s unofficial “Little Arabia” is a conglomeration of restaurants and businesses around the intersection of Brookhurst and Ball in West Anaheim; Olive Tree is its most notable food ambassador. The eatery (which recently expanded across the strip mall) serves familiar Middle Eastern food like falafel and beef shawarma alongside hard-to-find regional specialties from Palestine, Libya, Syria, and Saudi Arabia.

MFK by Aysee

Filipino bowls and a dinner you eat with your hands
In the Philippines, chef Henry Pineda’s aunt and grandmother own a small chain of restaurants specializing in sisig, or crispy chopped pig-head parts that come sizzling on a cast-iron plate. In Anaheim, Pineda serves the same dish but is more well known for his quick-service rice bowls topped with everything from spiced chicken adobo to crispy pork belly lechon. Order in advance for a full kamayan dinner, where you’ll eat a traditional Filipino meal of various fried and stewed meats off banana leaves with no utensils.

Club 33 and Napa Rose at Disneyland

The two best restaurants at the Happiest Place on Earth
Amusement parks are known for hocking lots of junk food, but Disneyland’s most exclusive dining experiences instead offer up-close views to upscale, cheffy freedom. At Napa Rose inside the Grand Californian Hotel & Spa, the Chef’s Table offers custom, multi-course meals from chef Andrew Sutton, who puts SoCal twists on NorCal-inspired California cuisine. Club 33, meanwhile, is Sutton’s more historic affair. The exclusive, membership-only restaurant hidden somewhere in New Orleans Square is where, for $10,000 a year (plus a $25,000 initiation fee), you get five annual passes, private tours, access to VIP treatment and the privilege of reserving a time to try Sutton’s take on classic American fine dining.

THE RANCH

Farm-to-table steakhouse and dance hall
THE RANCH (yes, all caps) can best be described as a new-school steakhouse — enough nostalgia to represent the genre, but with a contemporary upgrade to keep the food snobs happy. Executive chef Michael Rossi and master sommelier Michael Jordan (both formerly of Disneyland’s Napa Rose) represent Western farm-to-table with seasonal takes on classic meat dishes, like a 36-ounce bone-in rib-eye and Beeler’s Family Farm pork chop. Bring lots of friends, and stick around for the live music afterward!

The Oyster Bar SKC

Southern selections inside a transit hub
The Oyster Bar SKC is the only sit-down restaurant operating inside ARTIC: Anaheim’s new train and bus terminal that looks like a fluorescent rainbow airplane hangar just off the 57 Freeway. With a New Orleans theme, The Oyster Bar focuses on seafood-drenched pan roasts — made through steam kettle cooking, thus the “SKC” — and its raw bar, which stocks shells of all kinds from every coast.

El Gaucho

Argentine market and deli that’s perfect for lunch
From the outside, El Gaucho looks like it could be just another suburban carniceria, but this Argentine market and deli counter offers so much more. Shelves of South American goods and a well-stocked butcher counter await for the grab-and-go set, while the attached deli oozes Italian influence with Argentine pizzas, charcuterie sandwiches, and empanadas stuffed with Mediterranean spiced meats like beef and tuna.

Ma’s Islamic Chinese

Pork-free dishes from Western China
If you ever needed a reminder of how diverse Chinese food can be, spend a Sunday grubbing with a posse at Ma’s Islamic Chinese, a restaurant that from the outside looks like a mosque but might as well be Muslim Chinese food heaven. No pork, but lots of beef, lamb, and noodles dot a menu of massively portioned dishes, each originating from the Hui people of Western China. Food here is hearty, heaving with spice and designed to be wiped up with a fresh sesame-seed flatbread that tastes like the bridge between the Arab and Chinese worlds — just like the Hui themselves.

Healthy Junk

Vegan fast food and other comforts
When a former manager of beloved Costa Mesa vegan restaurant Native Foods strikes out on her own, you get Healthy Junk: a haven of animal-free comfort food on a redeveloped promenade in Anaheim. Almost In-N-Out burgers, mock-meat Tex-Mex, and not-lame salads made this one of the OC’s early vegan spots that helped spawned the current wave of cruelty-free dining.

Don Churros Gomez

Churro truck straight outta Jalisco
Forget the Instagram-famous wannabes at The Loop and Churroholic: Don Churros Gomez is the real deal. Pulling from a family recipe brought here from the highlands of Jalisco, this Anaheim food truck makes not long and lean churros of the carnival variety, but puffy, fat and stout ones oozing caramel and topped with ice cream. It’s what churros have always wanted to taste like — worth the wait!

The Original Pancake House

Old-school breakfast in a classic setting
The Original Pancake House might have started in the Pacific Northwest, but its Anaheim location has become a breakfast institution for its decades of dedication to the international art of flapjacks. Specializing in sugary and fruit-filled pancake recipes from around the world, TOPH is where you’ll find Danish, Dutch, and Tahitian specialties plus crepes, bacon waffles and enough maple syrup to put you in a sugar coma before lunchtime.

The Scratch Room

New, creative modern brunch
Traditional breakfast mashes up with contemporary SoCal culture at The Scratch Room, where brunchy burgers come on French toast-dipped brioche buns, and the Benedicts are topped with corned beef hash, salmon cakes, carnitas, and more. The family-owned restaurant is everything a modern diner in Anaheim should be — machaca breakfast burrito and all.

Story by Thrillist.

February 14, 2018

The Best Restaurants in Santa Monica

Santa Monica used to be the redheaded stepchild of the Los Angeles culinary scene — sure, there were some good eats in the neighborhood, but restaurateurs focused their efforts on Downtown, Hollywood, and elsewhere, probably figuring our proximity to the beach was a decent enough deal. But no longer! Now we get fancy tasting menus, imported Bolognese pastas, and a sweet ocean breeze: these 30 restaurants — some old, some brand-new, all very delicious — are proof that Santa Monica has something for everyone.

Belcampo Meat Co.

Organic, grass-fed meats for the conscious carnivore
West Hollywood has Animal, but the Westside has Belcampo, where you go to binge on meat-centric dishes like grilled beef heart, goat tartare, and tallow chips. It’s an ethical carnivore’s dream, too, since Belcampo prides itself on humane practices and high-quality, 100% organic cuts.

Estate Restaurant + Bar

Craft cocktails and farm-to-table food in an elegant setting
Estate’s good-looking downstairs bar and lounge has SaMo’s best non-basic happy hour, which takes place seven days a week from 5-7pm. While other places are content to ply us with greasy sliders, fried mozzarella sticks, and spinach artichoke dips, Estate supplies an eclectic selection of crisp, panko-breaded shrimp, filet mignon skewers, and grilled salmon salad. And then there are the well-priced (and stiff) drinks — like $5 draft beer, $7 glasses of wine, and $8 mixologist-approved cocktails.

Bay Cities

Gourmet Italian deli beloved for its substantial sandwiches
It’s easy to forget that this OG Italian deli makes over 20 different kinds of sandwiches, because most people only talk about its famed Godmother — and we can’t blame ‘em. That salty, satisfying stack of Genoa salami, mortadella, capicola, ham, and prosciutto tucked into a chewy Italian sub is hard to beat, and well worth the trek west.

Mélisse

Michelin-starred restaurant serving fancy French food
This contemporary French spot does things the old-school way; after all, it boasts two Michelin stars, 10-course tasting menus, and the kind of service that includes folding your napkin every time you leave the table. Bring mom and dad here for the egg caviar and foie gras.

Swingers

Late-night diner with a ‘60s vibe and massive menu
Many an inebriated Westsider has stumbled through the doors of Swingers, which stays open until 3am Thursday through Saturday. This ‘60s-style diner serves alcohol, too, but it’s better-known for classic late-night fare to help sop up all those tequila shots.

Milo & Olive

Warm, welcoming pizzeria/bakery with wood-burning ovens
Milo & Olive serves as the bread-making epicenter for Josh Loeb and Zoe Nathan’s Rustic Canyon group of standout SM restaurants — which include Rustic Canyon, Huckleberry Cafe, Cassia, Esters, and more. The bread baked in its wood-burning ovens may sneak onto other menus, but the crust is the focal point here at this perpetually busy pizzeria. And if you judge your pizza by its crust (who doesn’t?), you’ll appreciate M&O’s crisp, thin-crust artisanal pies made from Nathan’s 48-hour, whole-wheat dough and topped with seasonal Californian ingredients.

Tacos Por Favor

Tasty, quick, street-style tacos for cheap
If you’re looking for an authentic taqueria on the Westside, this cheap, no-frills joint is it. Go for the street-style tacos — made with corn tortillas, fresh toppings, and salsa that’s legitimately spicy — and massive burritos.

Herringbone

Seafood-focused menu in a stunning atmosphere
To be fair, there aren’t enough oyster happy hours anywhere (a discussion for another day) — but Herringbone’s, which runs daily from 4-7pm, is still exceptional. For just a buck each, load up on as many juicy, fresh-shucked West Coast oysters as you can handle, in addition to $6 wines, $5 beers, and more substantial fare like shrimp louie toast and three-cheese arancini balls.

Pono Burger

Charming Hawaiian-inspired burger joint with craft beers and wines
Pono has perfected the art of the creative burger. After locking down the base — patties made from organic, grass-fed, locally sourced beef and cooked over an oak-fire grill — chef Makani focused on dressing each one up with Hawaiian-fusion-inspired extras. The popular Kuawa Crunch oozes spicy guava rum sauce, the Paniolo (which is also stacked with onion rings and smoked cheddar) is decked out with Kona coffee bourbon BBQ sauce, and the Sassy Wahine includes wasabi mayo and sesame ponzu dressing.

Cassia

Reservations-needed Asian fusion spot with al fresco seating
This Southeast Asian fusion spot — which has been lauded a dozen times over by critics from all over the country — has much more to offer than seafood, but Angelenos know that Cassia boasts the city’s most stunning seafood tower. The other chilled seafood options are equally delectable, like Vietnamese prawns, raw scallops in chili oil, and snow crab claws accompanied by grilled country bread. As for the mains, you can’t go wrong with either a delicate black cod bathed in clear, light broth or the perfectly seasoned whole grilled sea bass. Pro tip: If the weather’s nice, dine alfresco; with exposed lights strung up overhead and plenty of heat lamps, the patio’s a looker.

The OP Café

Family-owned restaurant with consistently good eats
From its owner (a third-generation SM resident) to the surf-inspired décor and hearty breakfast dishes featuring fresh farmers market ingredients, this Ocean Park café is a neighborhood institution. Even better, the prices are budget-friendly with all entrees under $15.

Inotheke

Contemporary Greek eatery for modern palates
The name’s a mouthful, which is fitting since the modern Hellenic food here is meant to be ordered en masse. There’s no Greek mother to ensure you leave with a full stomach, but between the scallops saganaki, moussaka, and spanakopita, you’ll do a fine job by yourself.

Air Food

Experimental, beautifully plated French-inspired fare
This four-month-old gem is the brainchild of two Parisians with a love of good food and sweet sneakers. The latter might seem irrelevant, but this duo’s passion for design is all over the food, from edible egg-white filigrees decorating your mashed potatoes to artfully arranged rows of pickled veggies. There’s an unmistakable French stamp on everything, but the menu culls influences from Japan (tempura escargot), the US (fatty foie gras-topped burger), and other countries. Every ingredient — even dressings and mayo — are made in-house, but the 55 various still and sparkling waters are imported from all over the world. And while the fancy H2O offerings are actually shockingly good, we’re guessing this spot will get more popular when its liquor license is approved.

Tar & Roses

Perpetually buzzy, New American date night favorite
When Tar & Roses took an extended hiatus in 2015 due to a kitchen fire, the neighborhood was — quite literally — starved for its phenomenal food (which, because of its kinda-New American, sorta-Asian-slash-Mediterranean-leaning feel, is sometimes hard to categorize). Luckily, the restaurant made a wildly successful comeback last year and returned to becoming a date night favorite thanks to shareable small plates (including bacon-and-brown-sugar popped corn, melt-in-your-mouth oxtail dumplings, and Sriracha-and-honey-glazed pig tails) and close-quarters candlelit dining. If you want something heavier, the star entree — a crunchy whole snapper fried to a delicate, golden crisp — serves two… and then some.

Ingo’s Tasty Diner

Elevated diner food with an emphasis on local produce
Ingo’s does food that others have done before, but with more farm-to-table finesse (a lot of its produce is sourced from the Santa Monica Farmers Market). Brussels sprouts get an upgrade with tangy goat cheese sauce; juicy Jidori chicken is marinated in lemon, herbs, and roasted garlic; and the prime rib French dip boasts fatty, marbled beef just begging for a dunk in the flavorful au jus. Plus, there’s always a platter of complimentary French sea salt chocolate chip cookies by the door. And if you’re a fan of Misfit, you’ll love the similar vibe and solid eats at Ingo’s — which is owned by the same people but doesn’t quite attract the same decibel level.

HiHo Cheeseburger

Ojai transplant specializing in quality wagyu burgers
High-quality, 100% grass-fed wagyu beef makes all the difference at HiHo, a burger joint that uprooted its Ojai operation and relocated to Santa Monica earlier this year. The lean menu has only three burger options, but take our word for it and order the HiHo — two tender, beefy patties nestled inside a squishy bun with sweet onion jam and melty cheese. It’s an uncomplicated but irresistibly tasty combination that goes well with crispy, hand-cut, perfectly salted fries and, if you still have room, a slice of made-from-scratch banana cream pie.

Sweetfin Poke

Build-your-own poke bowls with inventive toppings and fresh fish
Dozens of poke places have sprung up around the Westside to service our seemingly never-ending obsession with raw, cubed fish over rice. But, if you judge your bowls by the freshness of its seafood, no one does it better than Sweetfin. This California chain also one-ups the rest by offering unique toppings, such as wasabi-toasted coconut flakes and blistered shishito peppers, and quality sauces like citrusy yuzu kosho, or a Sriracha ponzu that packs some heat.

1 Pico

Upscale hotel restaurant with seafood-heavy menu and ocean views
Shutters on the Beach — a hotel with a West Coast-meets-Nantucket vibe — is a Santa Monica institution. Out-of-towners book rooms for its proximity to the water, and even locals come here for staycations, or to dine at 1 Pico, a restaurant that’s pretty much right on the beach and offers window tables with million-dollar sunset and ocean views. Naturally, the dinner menu’s heavy on seafood — fresh-tasting kumamoto oysters, delicate fluke crudo dressed in olive oil and lime, beautifully seared scallops, and the like — but there are a few pastas and decent steaks, too. On weekends, there’s also a lobster brunch: a $60-per-person affair that lets you OD on lobster-enhanced Benedicts, bucatinis, or BLTs.

Esters Wine Shop & Bar

Art deco-inspired spot offering tasty small plates and over 200 wines
Esters started off as a great wine bar that offered a few bites like gourmet nuts and charcuterie, but over time, its menu expanded to include killer “real” food. Weekend brunch means cornmeal waffles topped with Bavarian cream, or heirloom tomatoes and burrata, while lunch brings a selection of grab-and-go sandwiches made with fresh bread from Milo & Olive (both belong to the Rustic Canyon restaurant group). Dinner offers heftier fare, like crispy chicken confit or sausage served with truffle aioli and pepper relish: the kind of stick-to-your-bones food that pairs well with a robust red or artisanal beer. On select Tuesdays through January, inventive burgers created by guest chefs (like Felix’s Evan Funke or Huckleberry Bakery & Cafe’s Erin Eastland) are also on the menu.

Dialogue

Intimate tasting menu restaurant in an unexpected location
Helmed by a James Beard Award-winning chef, Dialogue is housed in a former food court on Third Street Promenade — a curious location for an 18-seat fine dining experience in LA. But foodies near and far will brave the tourist hordes for Dave Beran’s 18-to-22-course tasting menu, which changes seasonally and features farmers market produce, petals, leaves, and other natural elements, all arranged in an exquisite feast for the eyes. Dishes even come with names and stories, like “Springtime for Sean” (a composite of caviar, white peanut butter, and charred scallions designed to look like a tree) or a made-ya-look-twice mash-up of pork belly, strawberry sambal, and trout roe.

Flower Child

Fast-casual salads, grain bowls, and kombucha on tap
You can’t walk a few blocks on the Westside without stumbling on a make-your-own-salad bar, but bright, zippy Flower Child is a cut above the rest. It’s a full-service restaurant masquerading as a fast-casual joint, where soups are made in-house and avocado toast, grain bowls, and yes, plenty of wholesome salads, are all on the menu. But hearty portions and the use of interesting spices and sauces, like garam masala or red pepper miso vinaigrette, keep you surprisingly satisfied — not starving — hours later.

Meat On Ocean

Spacious, stylish steakhouse for both locals and tourists
Unless your visitors are vegetarians, this sleek, massive chophouse on Ocean Avenue will properly impress. It’s got ocean views (a prerequisite for tourists), the shiny patina of a still-newish restaurant, striking red leather booths and warm wood decor, and lots and lots of quality meat to live up to its name. The best is an order from the on-site aging room, where steaks are aged for at least 30 days, but sugar-cured pork ribs, racks of lamb, house-made terrines, a smattering of seafood, and typical steakhouse sides round out the rest of the vast menu.

Uovo

Traditional, popular pasta bar perfect for a quick bite
Before Uovo came along, there was nothing quite like it in the area: a decently good, fast-casual pasta bar where you could enjoy a plate of traditional tonnarelli all’Arrabiata by yourself in under 30 minutes. Uovo rightly prides itself on its pasta, which gets made in Bologna using special eggs that aren’t available stateside and shipped overnight to be prepped in Uovo’s kitchen. If you’re dining alone and want something a little fancier (and more Italian) than Chipotle or Lemonade, this easy-in, easy-out spot is your best bet.

Wexler’s Deli

Classic Jewish deli eats including house-smoked fish and bagels
Since opening its beach-adjacent location last year, this Jewish deli quickly became a neighborhood favorite, so co-owners Chef Micah Wexler and Mike Kassar launched an expanded, exclusive-to-SM menu over the summer. In addition to being the only Wexler’s that serves matzo ball soup, this outpost now slings brunch-centric dishes, including kippered salmon on toast, an ultra-rich gooey French toast made with chocolate babka, and Cheddar-cheesy scrambled eggs.

FIG Restaurant

Sophisticated neighborhood favorite with Mediterranean flavors
Santa Monica’s got its fair share of fancy-pants hotels, but classy FIG — tucked inside The Fairmont — is a consistent favorite even among locals. Bungalow-bound day drinkers get solid brunch food, like lemon ricotta pancakes and corned beef hash, while the upbeat lunchtime crowd enjoys elevated burgers, salads, and pizzas. Dinner is a slightly more sophisticated affair, with the kitchen turning out seasonal, Mediterranean-slanting items like harissa-spiced fries, grilled halloumi, a puffed-up bread balloon, and a slow-cooked lamb pasta flavored with fennel, mint, and black garlic yogurt.

Forma Restaurant & Cheese Bar

Lively Italian spot known for its cheese wheel pastas
This always-bustling eatery is famous for serving pastas tossed in giant cheese wheels, like butternut squash risotto in grana padano or a perfectly peppery cacio e pepe in pecorino romano. But you’d be remiss not to explore the rest of the menu from chef Piero Topputo, who grew up in a small town in Puglia and now whips up fried artichokes, branzino, and panzerotto Pugliese — a mozzarella-stuffed fried pastry that’s a specialty from his region — for the Montana Avenue crowd.

Michael’s

Santa Monica classic with an updated creative menu
Michael’s has been a Santa Monica pillar for over 30 years, but last year’s brilliant hire of chef Miles Thompson (who’s worked in the kitchens of Animal and Son of a Gun) has reinvigorated the place. While the sunken, leafy outdoor patio is still there, Thompson’s seasonally changing menu features interesting ingredients and inventive flavor combinations, like potatoes dusted with bonito flakes and furikake aioli, or hamachi collar accompanied by baba ganoush. Plus, it helps that even though Michael’s is situated on the Promenade, it’s a ways away from the tourist scene — which, over the course of the restaurant’s decades-long lifespan has grown more scene-y than ever. Look out for a new lounge menu, featuring bar snacks and wine specials, coming later this year.

STRFSH

Customizable fish sandwiches for the hungry lunch crowd
If you live or work in Santa Monica, this build-your-own-fish-sandwich spot — a recent addition to Third Street Promenade’s The Gallery food hall — is a compelling option. The Maryland-born Voltaggio brothers know a little something about well-made fish sammies — a staple on the East Coast — so they’ve produced a tightly edited menu with room for personalization: Choose between freshly grilled swordfish or salmon, a few house-made seasonings and tasty smears (including yuzu kosho mayo and jerk rub), and a toasted potato roll or tostada.

Terrazza

Italian-leaning restaurant with 180-degree Pacific Ocean views
Santa Monica has tourist traps, venues vying to appear trendy, and divey joints, but there aren’t many places here as quiet, elegant, and refined as Casa del Mar — which, like the aforementioned Shutters, is super nice and super close to the ocean. The hotel’s best-kept secret has to be its European-inspired lounge Terrazza, where there are floor-to-ceiling windows with a view of the Pacific and SM Pier, scheduled live entertainment or cool electro beats on weekends, an ocean breeze, and a menu that includes barrel-aged cocktails and tons of sashimi and shareable plates (the Dungeness crab crostini on country bread and deep-fried artichokes are standouts).

Cava

Build-it-yourself Mediterranean menu with hearty portions
Cava is yet another build-it-yourself concept in SM — but it’s very well-executed… and may very well be one of the first of its kind to offer customized Mediterranean eats. Choose between bowls or pita sandwiches, spicy lamb meatballs or falafel, handcrafted dips and spreads like harissa or roasted red pepper hummus, saffron rice or black lentils… and the list goes on.

Story courtesy of Thrillist.