The editors at Eater Los Angeles dine out several times a week, if not per day, which means we’re always encountering standout dishes that deserve time in the limelight. Here’s the very best of everything the team has eaten this week.
Hiramasa aguachile with pluot and fermented chiles from Little Mountain in Montecito
The most beautiful
new restaurant in California is tucked into a shopping center in Montecito’s tony upper village: Little Mountain, which opened in November 2025 under chef Diego Moya, gives more to the scene than just a locavore menu that leans into live-fire cooking. It may be hard to decide which room to sit in (should you land a reservation in time): the comfortable dining room with gold-veil natural lighting and plush caramel booths and banquettes; the larger-party table that foregrounds an open kitchen and its centerpiece hearth; the dim, dark bar that may be the sexiest room on the Central Coast; the covered patio that leads into a monarchial private dining area; or the outdoor patio that gives the feeling of dining in a home garden. Wherever you land, know the menu will live up to expectation. Order everything vegetable you can (a shaved turnip salad looped with herby salsa verde and shaved Parmesan tendrils was a revelation), a live-fire-infused main (we had the half chicken with preserved chicories and coconut), and something seafood, given you are only 10 minutes away from California’s most storied coastline. That seafood beat for us was hiramasa in a deftly fiery pluot aguachile. Brightened with citrus and fermented chiles, this dish almost demanded a reorder, or at least will if it’s on the menu the next time I go. 516 San Ysidro Road, Montecito, CA 93108. — Nicole Fellah, Eater editorial manager
Heirloom tomato and local uni in lemon-verbena broth at El Encanto in Santa Barbara
Over the weekend, I had the pleasure to attend a special culinary series dinner at El Encanto in Santa Barbara, a more than century-old hotel that feels intrinsically part of the local fabric. Chef Coco Montes from Michelin-starred Pabú in Madrid used the wealth of the Saturday Santa Barbara farmers market to design a 6-course tasting menu that featured dishes such as smoked potatoes in a horseradish and almond soup and wagyu rib-eye served with corn and a heavy punch of anchovy umami. The stunner for me had to be Montes’ pile of heirloom tomatoes and uni steeped in a cooling lemon-verbena consomé. Once you used your spoon to mulch the tomatoes and uni into the broth, you tasted something akin to the richest and most summery gazpacho on Earth; peak season tomatoes and local uni made the flavors even more powerful. The next culinary series dinner at the hotel will be hosted on September 17; look out for tickets and who the surprise guest chef will be in the coming weeks. 800 Alvarado Place, Santa Barbara, California 93103. — Nicole Fellah, Eater editorial manager
An unfathomably beautiful lemon cheesecake at Bad Roman in Beverly Hills
When I started hearing about the new Beverly Hills location of New York’s psychedelically designed Italian restaurant Bad Roman, one word kept coming up as a descriptor: “fun.” And something about me? I love fun. My sister joined me there for a very belated birthday dinner, and while we loved everything — from the garlic babka to the mini-scorpion-bowl-esque dessert cocktail she ordered — by far the most memorable moment of the night was the arrival, and first-bite christening, of the lemon cheesecake. It arrives disguised as two startlingly photorealistic lemons with thin chocolate shells hiding a sweet, creamy, intensely citrusy filling. Breaking through its delicate exterior with a spoon produces the most deeply satisfying multi-sensory ASMR. Tasting it is even better. 267 North Canon Drive, Beverly Hills, CA 90210. — Hilary Pollack, Eater deputy editor
New England clam chowder from Saltie Girl in West Hollywood
I didn’t set out to order a bowl of soup on a muggy summer Saturday, but the craving hit while seated at Saltie Girl, less than a block away from where the 36-inch water pipe burst in West Hollywood last week. Thankfully, my eastward route avoided the Sunset Strip closure and I easily slipped into Saltie Girl for brunch. This Boston-born seafood restaurant has been open since 2022 and its brunch remains where to take a friend group for a daytime meal that might include New England clam chowder, crispy lobster over waffles, buttermilk corn pancakes, and caviar-crowned bagels. The soup called to me through the humidity with its small marble potatoes, celery, and bacon cured in the kitchen; its fried-clam topper made the bowl more interesting (and fast to finish — our portion disappeared in minutes). That crispy contrast over a creamy base keeps Saltie Girl a contender for the best seafood restaurant in Los Angeles. Get a table on the charming curved patio; order a Cachaça with Chartreuse Green Liqueur, lime, and basil; eat; and people-watch until your heart’s content. 8615 Sunset Boulevard, West Hollywood, CA 90069. — Mona Holmes, editor, Eater Southern California/Southwest
