All year long, LAist food editor Gab Chabran travels across SoCal looking for tasty food to share with readers. Here are his favorites for 2024.
Where did he go? It was more like, where didn’t he go? From smash burgers in Newport Beach to a Thai-influenced izakaya dinner in Virgil Village and the backyard paella in Long Beach that took him back to his youth, he never went hungry.
Any only-in-L.A. moments? Yup. How about Michelin-starred sandwiches that can be ordered from DoorDash, a burger that comes with a packet of Taco Bell hot sauce, and a historic lunch-in-a-cone at Disneyland?
What a year for food and drink in SoCal! I encountered so much excellence that narrowing it all down into one list was tough.
I ranged widely across the region, from Newport Beach to Bell Gardens, and Virgil Village to Chinatown. I had upmarket dishes, old school treats, European classics, and Asian comfort food. It was all tasty and all part of the L.A. mosaic.
In the end, I was able to distill it all into one list of my favorite eats, broken down by month. It may inspire you to make your own.
January: Paella at The Paella Concept
A plate from The Paella Concept, served backyard style.
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Gab Chabrán
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Mother-and-daughter team Natalie and Maria Curie of The Paella Concept
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I have been privileged to eat paella since I was a child. My parents often prepared it for dinner parties, and when we moved to Madrid in 1999, we ordered it regularly from local restaurants. It meant I developed a special relationship with the dish that I still carry today.
In January, I got to sample The Paella Concept, a pop-up/catering operation from El Coraloense in Bell Gardens. The mouthwatering mix of the seafood, chicken and chorizo, cooked into sticky mounds of yellow, saffron-flavored rice, took me right back to those days in Madrid. It was a perfection concoction, and satisfied the cravings that often creep up on me.
February: Handwich at Disneyland
The chili cone queso features beef chili, cheddar cheese, and corn chips
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I first heard of the handwich and its cult following after watching a YouTube documentary. The Cliff Notes version of the story is that in the late 80s, a concession stand food was introduced at Disney theme parks called the Handwich, a cone-shaped sandwich with a filling. It was seen as the future of theme park food. Enjoy a variety of fillings and still walk around the park!
It lasted until the mid-90s, when it was discontinued for being a commercial failure. In 2012, a revised version was introduced, renamed “Conewich” at California Adventure Park Cars Land's Cozy Cone Motel food stand.
So, on my family’s trip to Disney in February, I made it a point to stop by the Cozy Cone and pay my respects to the temple of the handwich…I mean conewich….whatever.
My family and I shared the chili cone queso, which includes beef chili, cheddar cheese, and corn chips served in a cone bun. Let me tell you: a cone-shaped bun turns out to be a perfect delivery system for getting food into your mouth. It isn’t messy at all and is pretty fun to eat.
As to why it initially failed to capture the hearts and minds of theme park goers, I suspect it was just a little too ahead of its time. I highly recommend it.
March: Smashburger at Mario’s Butcher Shop
The smashburger with added bacon at Mario's Butcher Shop in Newport Beach
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For a while now, my friends living in Orange County have told me about an amazing, no-nonsense smash burger in Newport Beach. So, in March, I finally ventured out to try it.
The perfectly smashed patty maintained its shape, meaning it is not entirely flat, which was a nice touch. The burger’s juiciness paired well with melted American cheese, mustard, ketchup, pickles, and diced onions on a soft bun.
I decided to add bacon to my burger, as I have a general rule of thumb: always add bacon whenever it's an option. I'm rarely disappointed by this decision; that day was no exception. The melted cheese enhanced the dialed-in flavors of the patty's seasoning, and the smokiness of the bacon worked exceptionally well. I would easily go out of my way to try this again any day of the week.
April: BBQ Pork Arancini from Shins Pizza
BBQ Pork Arancini from Shins Pizza
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In April, I had the pleasure of attending the second annual L.A. Pizza City Fest, which took place in the parking lot of L.A. Live in downtown L.A.. It was packed with virtually every pizza maker in the city under one tent for two days.
While I had a lot of great pie that day, my favorite thing I ate wasn’t pizza (apologies to all the stand-out pizza makers). Instead, it was the BBQ Pork Arancini from Chef Melissa Lopéz, who cooks at Shins Pizza, and Barra Santos, located next door to each other in Cypress Park.
It’s a fried rice ball stuffed with slow-cooked barbecue pork and seasoned with furikake, a Japanese seasoning. While it's a small bite, the flavors meld beautifully together, making it something memorable. Next time you stop by for a slice at Shins, where it’s on the regular menu, add one to your order. You won’t be sorry.
May: Dinner at Saffy’s
Roasted celery root made with burnt apple harissa, sauerkraut, allium cream, rose petals, curry leaves and cilantro
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Ori Menashe and Genevieve Gergis's restaurants have followed me through adulthood. Initially, Bestia was an all-out party that served as a last hurrah to my twenties. Then came Bavel, which felt like the next stage, a little more grown up and mature. It was my wife and I's last meal together before we discovered we would have our daughter and decided to move to Long Beach.
Earlier this year, it came full circle when we visited Saffy’s in East Hollywood with our now 6-year-old daughter and another couple with their son, who’s around the same age.
Since Saffy’s is named after Menashe and Gergis's daughter, it felt like the perfect opportunity to bring a few little kids. While they mostly consumed rice and bread, we adults dined on the roasted celery root dish made with a burnt apple harrisa, sauerkraut, topped with rose petals, curry leaves, and cilantro.
The dish was a merry wallop of fresh flavors. containing sweet, tart, and floral notes, highlighted by an earthy creaminess.
We also had the wood-fired shawarma plate, made with lamb and wagyu beef served with tomatoes and cooked onions seasoned with sumac and drizzled with tahini. The harmonious dish danced across your palette with each bite. It was all truly delicious, marking yet another phase in my life.
June: Sandwiches at The Pie Room
Confit duck leg ragu sandwich from The Pie Room in Beverly Hills
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There’s something to be said about a great sandwich, and the offerings at The Pie Room in Beverly Hills are just that. They're typical deli sandwiches, but small and thin, with great care having been taken over their assembly and contents.
You can choose from confit duck ragu pancetta with fennel pollen, arugula, tarragon and parmesan gremolata, or braised beef and mushroom, or slow-cooked chicken.
My favorite was the confit duck, containing decadent and savory flavors with a hint of sweetness. The fresh herbs cut through some of the richness of sandwich, making it extremely well-balanced.
My favorite part about these sandwiches, however, is that you can order them online for delivery. We’d be hard-pressed to think of anywhere else in L.A. where you can get a sandwich from a Michelin-starred restaurant delivered to your door. What are you waiting for?
July: Seiro Soba at Otafuku
Seiro soba and udon noodles with a side of grated Japanese mountain potato and fried shrimp egg rolls
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I received an invite from my friend Luca Servodio, who hosts the LA Food Podcast and the social media account, the LA Countdown, where he documents his food adventures with Herculean challenges, such as eating one hundred noodle dishes, as he did this year.
We met for lunch in Gardena for his number 56 entry on his noodle crawl, where we visited Otafuku, a family-owned Japanese noodle shop known for its fresh homestyle soba and udon. We had their signature Seiro soba, a traditional cold buckwheat noodle dish cooked to a perfect level of al-dente with just the right amount of chew, something I’m always searching for when it comes to noodles.
You also get a side if you order the combo, so we opted for grated Japanese mountain potatoes, known as tororo in Japan, a type of yam. It makes for a starch-on-starch affair as you dip your soba noodles into the grated potato seasoned with soy sauce and shredded seaweed.
The flavor was exceptionally subtle, with the slightest hints of earthiness and umami. However, this was one of the few times on my list where the flavor took a backseat. Instead it became all about the texture: a lush creaminess paired with the slight pliability of the noodles. It was fascinating, and I haven’t stopped thinking about it all this year.
August: Taco Hell Burger at Terrible Burger
The Taco Hell burger from Terrible Burger, a Long Beach pop-up.
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Oh, the friends you make along the way. During LAist's Tournament of Cheeseburgers this year, I learned about the Long Beach pop-up operation Terrible Burger, run by husband-and-wife team Ryan and Nicole Ramirez.
The pair started their burger pop-up during the Hollywood strikes in 2023, which left them both out of work (Nicole works as a caterer on film sets, Ryan is a teamster). Their burgers feature fun, pop culture-inspired takes, like recreating the Big Kahuna burger from Pulp Fiction, not to mention their ongoing series “Will It Burger?” where Ryan takes various odd-ball ingredients such as Slim Jims and Popeye’s Fried Chicken to both horrifying and hilarious results.
All party tricks aside, Terrible Burger makes a great burger. I tried their Taco Hell burger with a packet of Taco Bell hot sauce. It’s made with double patties seasoned with taco seasoning, shredded cheese, lettuce, sliced tomato, and Mexican crema. The spicy, creamy burger delivered just the right amount of Taco Bell aura while still maintaining a well-made burger's character. The quality of the burgers at Terrible Burger superseded my expectations, making them worth the drive the next time they pop up in Long Beach.
September: Dinner at Olive & Rose
Aged rib cap with frites & au poivre from Olive & Rose in Long Beach
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I wrote about Heritage, located in Long Beach, earlier this year. The small restaurant won big at the Michelin Awards for California in 2023, earning both a star for its excellent food and a green star for its sustainable business practices and zero-waste cooking style.
Still, the pre-fixe of $150 without the wine pairing can feel a bit steep. So in September, Chef Phil Pretty and his sister and business partner Lauren opened Olive & Rose inside City Center Motel in downtown Long Beach. It has an a la carte menu perfect for when you don’t want to drop big bucks on a meal.
I enjoyed the Iberico pork presa plate, a beautiful mosaic of thin slices of cured Spanish ham, and the aged ribeye cap with fries served in an au poivre sauce . That, with their burnt marshmallow ice cream served with honeycomb, would make for a damn near perfect meal next time I'm there.
October: Lil Tony sandwich at LaSorted’s
The Lil Tony only available at the LaSorted's in Chinatown is city of L.A. in sandwich form.
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Somehow, owner Tommy Brockert timed the opening of his second location of Dodger-themed pizzeria LaSorted’s in Chinatown perfectly as the boys in blue were crushing their way through the post-season.
I was lucky enough to snag a table the night we beat the New York Mets 10-5. That night, there was magic in the air across Los Angeles, as well as inside the restaurant, where every table was packed and every inch of the wall covered in the team’s memorabilia.
While the pizza at LaSorted’s always hits, one new item stole my heart that night: the Lil Tony sandwich. Currently only available in Chinatown, the sandwich features a sesame seed bun piled high with fried mortadella, drizzled with hot mustard from Philippe’s, located just down the street.
The name itself is a double entendre worthy of a Kendrick Lamar lyric. The name Lil Tony references Anthony Bourdain's favorite sandwich, as noted in his 2016 cookbook, Appetites. But it’s also an homage to Little Joe’s, the Italian American restaurant built in 1897 in Chinatown that was a hangout for Hollywood stars and Dodgers fans before a baseball game. This is L.A. food history at its finest.
November: Korean Army Stew at Yuk Dae Jang
LAist Food editor Gab Chabrán enjoys his bounty at Yuk Dae Jang in Koreatown
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When that slight chill hit the air in L.A. last month, it could only mean one thing: soup season. That’s why I decided to visit Yuk Dae Jang's Koreatown location for some Korean Army Stew, in my view one of the best in the game.
First, there was the large helping of soup, and yes, it could feed an army, a spicy broth packed with Spam, tofu, instant noodles, rice cake, and their signature sausage, served with various banchan dishes. Then there was the bossam, a thinly sliced pork shoulder dish, which you're encouraged to pile high with tofu topped with sesame seeds, purple rice, a variety of kimchis and other assorted accoutrements. It all made for a wonderful mouthful of greatness.
December: Dinner at Budonoki
Naem, made with thai pork sausage, crispy rice, and herby slaw
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I can’t say exactly what my expectations were when I visited this Virgil Village neighborhood restaurant. I try to enter a new place without knowing too much about it, for the same reason I don’t like watching film previews — sometimes it can give too much away.
Pretty much all I knew was that it was an izakaya restaurant, a Japanese word meaning “stay-drink-place.” Izakayas usually serve bar snacks that can be enjoyed with beer and cocktails.
That’s precisely what Budonoki does, through a lens that leans more Thai. It's a nod to chef Dan Rabilwongse's upbringing, who grew up in nearby Echo Park in a Thai immigrant household.
Snacks included the DIY spicy tuna rolls over crispy rice with freshly toasted nori to wrap it up in, richly textured agedashi tofu and naem, a Thai pork sausage, served with crispy rice balls, and herby slaw.
The food was excellent, thoughtfully creative, fun, and interactive — I love using my hands in a dining experience. But beyond that, it’s a great hang, with good service and a well-curated playlist. Everything was on point. I hope to be back soon.
