In which L.A. TACO's Hadley Tomicki fills you in on the most exciting new restaurants, pop-ups, and food events cracking in and around Los Angeles.
NORTH HOLLYWOOD
Razo's Fish Tacos set ups on the streets of North Hollywood from 6-10 PM every Wednesday through Saturday. The stand makes fresh seafood tacos on the spot, from a simple and short menu offering tacos with battered and fried lobster, Baja-style fish, shrimp, and octopus, as well as a taco mixta with shrimp-and-fish, served on flour tortillas.
11513 Burbank Blvd. San Fernando Valley, CA 91601
BOYLE HEIGHTS
Colombia Parce is now open alongside other Latin American food stands outside of 91-year-old East L.A. Wholesale Beverages in Boyle Heights. Parce, which is sort of the "bro/guey/che" of Colombia, offers a fast food experience from the country.
The stand's menu includes classic Antioquian bandeja paisa plates, ceviche de chorizo, egg-filled arepas, hot dog-esque choriperros, meaty picada and fritanga plates, and the delightful mess of fries, corn, chicken, and sauce known as mazorcada, along with Colombian coffee, soft drinks, cookies, and more.
3666 Whittier Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90023
DUBAI CHOCOLATE BARS
Comely bars of knafeh-filled chocolate are taking over Instagram. Known as "Dubai Chocolate Bars," the confections are typically filled with shredded phyllo dough, pistachio, and other seductive ingredients under a cloak of chocolate.
We currently see two of our favorite Southern California knafeh vendors making their own and selling them.
Korner K'nafeh makes four bars. There's “Pistachio Paradise” in dark, milk, or white chocolate, filled with knafeh pastry, imported pistachio cream, pistachios, organic, and edible rose petals. It also offers a "Lotus Bar" filled with Lotus Biscoff cookie spread and knafeh, then topped with gold dust and crumbled cookie. Other flavors include "Strawberry Bueno," which uses Kinder's white chocolate hazlenut spread and comes topped with freeze-dried strawberries, and "Campfire S'mores," with Nutella and a topping of with marshmallows and graham crackers.
Knafeh Queens calls theirs "Royalty Bars." The mother and daughters behind the business make their own pistachio sauce and mix that with their fresh knafeh in the middle. Flavors are available in dark, white, and milk chocolates and owner Fatmah Muhammad tells us a cookie butter version is also available.
KOREATOWN
Manila Sunset, a 30-year-old Filipino chain with locations in San Diego, Seattle, and L.A. has a new restaurant in Koreatown. The menu focuses on homestyle classics, with praise for its pata (roast pork leg), bibingka, fresh and fried lumpia, and sweet Pinoy spaghetti with sliced hot dogs and ground pork.
The restaurant's signature entrees include goto, lechon kawali, blood pork stew, skewers of charbroiled meats, and pancit malabon. Breakfasts involves plates of tocino and longanisa with eggs, and more.
188 S. Vermont Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90029
WESTWOOD
Daniel Holzman's Danny Boy's Famous Original is now open for pizza slices and pies in Westwood Village, marking the New York City transplant chef's first stand-alone Danny Boy's address.
A fortress of garlic knots, pizzas covered in pepperoni, sausage, and pickled peppers, chicken and meatball parm heroes, hot wings, and Caesar and Greek salads, this Westside location plans to eventually grow the menu beyond the borders of the Downtown original.
Only lunch is offered during weekdays, with dinner and weekend hours coming soon. However, this one has beer and wine unlike the original Famous Original.
10889 Lindbrook Dr. Los Angeles, CA 90024
SAWTELLE
It's tough to find a drink on the Westside without college brats elbowing in on you, and it's even harder to find a meal under $20 these days.
Enter Gelson's West LA Wine Bar, which is open in the supermarket in West L.A.'s Sawtelle neighborhood. It has 68 indoor and outdoor seats, a sushi and sashimi omakase, lobster sliders, crab cakes, burgers, poke towers, and Caesar wedge salads, along with plentiful wine and taps of local beer.
At "Social Hour," there are $11 steak frites from 5:30-7:30 nightly, and $2 off all tap beers and wine by the glass from 5:30 until closing, as well as actual people from in and around the neighborhood.
12121 W. Olympic Blvd. Suite 5 Los Angeles, CA 90064
