Sawtelle
A new restaurant named Jerk Stop is now open at Santa Monica Boulevard and Bundy in West L.A.'s Sawtelle neighborhood. It serves a full menu of Jamaican eats, including curry goat, delicious oxtails, escovitch, ackee, and saltfish, jerk chicken and salmon, roasted and grilled fish, patties, brown stew, and drinks like Irish moss and Ting. Just look for the stack of speakers blasting the Honorable Robert Nesta Marley O.M. out onto the strip mall for all to enjoy.
12113 Santa Monica Blvd. #205 Los Angeles, CA 90025. Closest Metro line and stop: Bus Line 4 - "Santa Monica/Bundy."
Bellflower
Compton's Enchiladas Michoacanas La Ruana is opening a new Bellflower location this Saturday, April 6. Focused on the cooking and unique enchiladas of Michoacána nd the small town within nicknamed "La Ruana," dishes include morisqueta, flautas, enchiladas con pollo, cecina, o bistec, and tacos de carne desebrada.
9260 Alondra Blvd. Bellflower, CA 90706. Closest Metro lines and stop: Bus Lines 127 and 128 - "Alondra/Clark."
Eagle Rock
Local mobile coffee business Saffron Cowboy is holding an Eid Mubarak party this coming Tuesday evening with the community platform MJLs in Eagle Rock. The event promises food, a lineup of all-Muslim vendors, mocktails, coffee, tea, and one DJ Sadonis. The exact location is given with your RSVP and tickets are $20.
Long Beach
Chef Bernard James's Taste of the Caribbean is expanding to Long Beach with a big old grand-opening bashment and ribbon cutting, going down this Saturday, April 6. The $30 ticket includes food and drink. At the same time, the restaurant's menu is stacked with classics like jerk chicken, curry goat, curry pumpkin roti, festival, and rice and peas, plus original dishes like "rasta pasta" with not-quite-ital oxtail and shrimps, sea moss smoothies, and jerk chicken Caesar salad.
3444 N. Los Coyotes Diagonal Long Beach, CA 90808. Closest transit line and stop: Long Beach Transit Line 172 - "Palo Verde/Wardlow."
East L.A.
Congratulations to Cemitas Poblanos Los Chivos, which now has its own food truck in East L.A. Last summer, L.A. TACO's own Janette Villafana wrote, "If the cemitas are the star of the show, the owner Alonso Ulloa is the host, perpetually making every customer feel special while pilling his cemitas with all the avocado, quesillo, and chipotle as your heart desires."
Eastern Ave & Gleason St. East Los Angeles, CA 90063. Closest Metro lines and stop: Bus Line 106 - "1st/Eastern" or Metro E Line - "Maravilla Station."
Downtown
Danny Boy's Famous Original Pizza is crossing streams with Tacos 1986, resulting in a pork adobada-and-salsa macha pizza with the taquería's salsa fresa and salsa macha, plus cilantro, lime, and pecorino and cotija cheeses. Find it being sold at the downtown pizzeria from 4/6-4/12.
330 S. Hope St. Suite 205, Los Angeles, CA 90071. Closest Metro lines and stop: Metro A and E Lines - "Grand Av Arts/Bunker Hill Station" or Bus Lines 37, 53, 55, 60, 62, 70, 76, 78, 487, and J Line (910/950) - "Grand/3rd."
Hollywood
Linden, which opened in Hollywood earlier this year, has just started weekend brunch, putting a mid-morning spin on chef Jonathan Harris' unique dishes that pay tribute to his Caribbean, Jewish, and NYC roots. The menu includes a bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich-inspired bucatini pasta tossed in an egg-and-bacon carbonara sauce and topped with cured egg yolks. There's also tres leches brioche French toast, Baltimore Benny crab cakes, and breakfast cocktails.
5936 W. Sunset Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90028. Closest Metro lines and stop: Bus Line 2 - "Sunset/Bronson" or Bus Lines 180 and 217 - "Hollywood/Bronson."
Pasadena
Pez Cantina owners Bret and Lucy Thompson are hosting Masters of Taste at the Rose Bowl this Sunday, bringing back a massive food and drink festival where you'll be served dishes from Yuca's, Ayara Thai, the Peppered Goat, Aarth Bar, Santa Clarita's Cerda Vega Tacos, Taishi Hainan Chicken, Santa Monica Seafood, Harold & Belle's, Champion's Curry, and many, many more. Tickets here, with 100% of the proceeds going directly to benefit Union Station Homeless Services.
Orange County
Ukrainian Smokehouse is operated by a family of war refugees who arrived in 2022 and prepares traditional and creative smoked meats in O.C. Foods you can have shipped or delivered to you include smoked pig ears with unagi sauce, smoked, sliced, and spreadable salo, pork, beef, and chicken sausages, smoked fish, ribs, and pork tenderloin, smoked whole hens, chicken legs, and beef tongue. The family also sells wildflower and buckwheat honey and beet horseradish sauce.
