Los Angeles has had an exciting year in dining, with the ever-expanding culinary scene adding new destinations for daytime pastries, inventive cocktails, seasonal prix fixe dinners from celebrated chefs, and South American cooking. That excitement is
reflected in LA’s 2026 Eater Awards, presented by Capital One, celebrating the best the city has to offer in bakeries, dishes, and more. Several ladder up to Eater’s national awards for 2026. Here’s where to find the local picks around town.
Eater is partnering with select Eater Award winners to offer special dining perks now through January 31, 2027. To access these exclusive perks, create an Eater account or download and create an account on the Eater app for iOS. (Terms apply)
Alto
12969 Ventura Blvd, Studio City, CA, 91604, US
747-202-1661
Given the dominance of Mexican and Central American cuisines in greater Los Angeles, it’s noteworthy when South American flavors make a mark in the city. Eater LA’s Rising Star this year is Alto, an Argentinian-Uruguayan restaurant from chef Esteban Klenzi and Juana Castellanos Lagemann. Inside the rustic dining room with mottled blue hues, the roar of the fires and gentle music render a magical, escapist quality, like you’re pulled into a hidden restaurant inside a five-star hotel in Buenos Aires. Once seated, you’ll likely start with one of four breads, like tapioca cheese bread or torta frita dressed with rosemary honey. From there, choose a meat-filled adventure that runs from charred beef empanadas and sweetbreads to a kombu-steeped pork txuleta and Argentine-style asado. Alto is currently offering a complimentary appetizer with the purchase of two main dishes.
Perk: Eater members get a free torta frita or marselles with the purchase of any Mains combo (protein + veggie) through January 31, 2027. Terms apply.
Vandell
1966 Hillhurst Ave, Los Angeles, CA, 90027, US
(323) 922-1002
Named one of Punch’s Best New Bars of 2026, Vandell, takes over the former Los Feliz Nossa space with inventive cocktails from industry veterans Shawn Lickliter and Vay Su. Vandell’s menu currently features 27 cocktails — 13 original and 14 variations on classics. The menu includes a handful of martini takes, including the Vandell Martini with gin and tarragon vinegar, as well as the Olive Martini with vodka, shio koji, and smoked olive brine. Or, go for one of the market-fresh cocktails named after their main ingredient, like the Smoked Tomato with mezcal or Cucumber with gin. The food menu includes bar bites and larger mains such as an Australian wagyu burger, grilled broccolini, and a cruciferous Caesar crowned with cheesy croutons.
Chainsaw Cafe
5022 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA, 90038, US
Eater LA’s Best Bakery of 2026 — also a national award winner — is Karla Subero Pittol’s popular former dinner party pop-up, Chainsaw, which found a permanent home in Melrose Hill as a pint-sized Venezuelan cafe slinging arepas, pie, and coffee during the daytime. Grab a chair at the interior counter or along the seating splayed out on the sidewalk, and tuck into cafe quesillo, a Venezuelan flan latte, or a Karlita with grapefruit, honey, and tonic. The menu changes often, but constants include arepas stuffed with carne mechada or black beans and white cheese, as well as the famous passionfruit-lime icebox pie with a bracingly tart filling. But the joy of Chainsaw is trying whatever Subero Pittol’s latest creation is, whether that be a hot dog topped with potato sticks on a potato roll or pescadito frito with a whole fried snapper.
Henrietta
343 Glendale Blvd, Los Angeles, CA, 90026, US
(323) 272-6646
Henrietta is a charming all-day deli, market, and restaurant on the edge of Echo Park and Westlake in the same complex as Clark Street Bakery. During the daytime, Henrietta pairs sandwiches like a broccolini panini and turkey porchetta with deli dishes such as lima bean salad made with Rancho Gordo beans. Evening brings ricotta dumplings, rigatoni topped with short rib, and a half chicken that nods to San Francisco’s Zuni Cafe and takes three days to make. The chicken comes with a chicory Caesar panzanella dotted with jagged, hand-torn croutons that could be a meal in itself, and it happens to be an Eater 2026 Dish of the Year. Katie Vonderheide, formerly of Silverlake Wine, guides the independent, producer-focused wine menu, which spans bottles including an Old World Chianti, a French chilled red, and Spanish cava.
Perk: Eater members get a free dessert with the purchase of two main dishes through January 31, 2027. Terms apply.
Lielle
9575 West Pico Boulevard, Los Angeles, California 90035, United States
(213) 376-6574
Eater LA’s Best Chef this year, Marcus Jernmark, debuted his California-centric restaurant in the former Pico-Robertson Bicyclette space in early spring. The42-seat Lielle, tucked under the chef’s upstairs bistro Marée, offers a sophisticated four-course menu that shifts with the seasons for $150 per person. A 36-hour proofed bread course made with Rouge de Bordeaux wheat, a heritage grain originating in France, is a constant; other dishes, such as matsutake custard with Manila clams, barbecued abalone with seaweed rice, and salted milk ice cream, evolve with Jernmark’s creative approach to local ingredients.
Maydan Market
4301 W Jefferson Blvd, Los Angeles, CA, 90016, US
D.C. restaurateur Rose Previte spent more than six years developing Maydan Market, a West Adams culinary compound and now an Eater national and local Best New Restaurant of 2026. The hangar-like building houses an outpost of Previte’s now-closed D.C. restaurant Compass Rose and Maydan, along with stalls from five other Los Angeles-based restaurants, including Golden Mountain Chicken from the team behind Holy Basil, Lugya’h by Poncho’s Tlayudas, and Malena by Tamales Elena. Maydan Market opens for breakfast with Compass Rose, while the stalls open for lunch; Maydan, the full-service restaurant, only serves dinner.
Perk: Eater members get a free spread for the table with the purchase of any food item through January 31, 2027. Terms apply.
