OZU /UNITED STATES /LOS ANGELES /GUIDE
Eating in Los Angeles
3 h route5 stopsBest: Tacos at night from a truck. Korean barbecue, lateUpdated July 2026
Los Angeles is probably the best eating city in the United States and almost nobody comes for that. The reason is the same as New York’s taken further: there’s no local cuisine here, there are the cuisines of the communities who arrived, and in Los Angeles those communities are enormous. The largest Mexican population outside Mexico. The country’s biggest Koreatown. Whole Armenian, Thai, Salvadoran and Japanese neighbourhoods.
The general rule, truer here than anywhere: the best is in places that don’t look like restaurants, in neighbourhoods that aren’t in the guides. The parked truck beats the tablecloth almost every time.
The route, stop by stop
5 STOPS- 01
The tacos
Los Angeles has the best Mexican food in the United States and it isn’t seriously arguable. There have been Mexican communities here since before this was the United States, the city was founded by Spaniards and Mexicans and was called El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles, so it isn’t imported cooking, it’s home cooking. How to choose: look for the truck, not the restaurant. Good signals: a queue of people coming off shift, corn tortillas pressed on the spot, four or five fillings maximum on the board, and salsas on a little table alongside. Al pastor, carnitas, suadero, lengua. It’s on the east side (Boyle Heights, East LA) and at night. A taco costs what a coffee costs on the west side.
- 02
Koreatown
The largest Korean neighbourhood in the United States, one of the densest in Los Angeles, and where the city stays awake latest. Korean barbecue is the plan: raw meat brought to your table and cooked by you on a grill set into it, with twenty banchan dishes around it, refilled at no charge.
The all-you-can-eat places are the rookie trap: ordering two or three good cuts à la carte works out better.
And afterwards comes noraebang, Korean karaoke: not a stage in front of strangers but a private room you rent by the hour with your friends, which is an infinitely better idea. It’s open very late and it’s the best night in Los Angeles.
- 03
The French dip war
A roast beef sandwich on a roll dipped in the roasting juices. It sounds simple and it has produced one of the longest food disputes in the United States, because two Los Angeles restaurants, both opened in 1908 and both still standing, claim to have invented it.
Philippe the Original says that in 1918 the owner dropped a roll in the juice tray, the policeman waiting said he’d eat it anyway and came back the next day with friends. Cole’s says they did it earlier, for a customer with bad gums. There’s no way to settle it and both are still open, ten minutes’ walk apart, serving it.
Go to both on the same day and decide for yourself: it’s the only honest way to close the matter.
- 04
The Grand Central Market
It opened in 1917 and has survived every cycle the city has had, including the years Downtown was empty. It’s a covered market with food stalls of every kind along one corridor: tacos, Salvadoran pupusas, ramen, sandwiches, an egg counter that’s been there for decades. It’s the easiest way to eat well in Downtown and to see the city’s mix in twenty metres. It’s directly opposite the Bradbury Building, so they pair in one stop. It’s packed at lunchtime. Go early or late.
- 05
In-N-Out, and the secret menu
The California burger chain, founded in 1948, with a tiny menu: burger, cheeseburger, double, fries and shakes. That’s it. They’ve never frozen the beef and there are no microwaves in the kitchens, which explains why the rest of the country misses them.
And they have a secret menu that’s an open secret: ask for it “animal style” and you get mustard griddled into the patty, caramelised onion, pickle and extra sauce. Animal style fries come with melted cheese and the same treatment.
It’s on the chain’s own website, so it’s barely secret, but ordering it right the first time still feels good.
Frequently asked
Where are the best tacos in Los Angeles?
On the east side (Boyle Heights, East LA) and from trucks, not restaurants. The signals: a queue of people coming off shift, corn tortillas pressed on the spot and four or five fillings at most. Los Angeles has the largest Mexican population outside Mexico.
Who invented the French dip?
Nobody knows, and that’s the joke: Philippe the Original and Cole’s, both opened in Los Angeles in 1908 and both still running ten minutes apart, each claim to have invented it. They’ve been at it for a century and there’s no way to settle it.
What is the In-N-Out secret menu?
Combinations not on the board but published on the chain’s own website: the best known is “animal style”, with mustard griddled into the patty, caramelised onion, pickle and extra sauce. You can order the fries that way too.