Downtown LA Dining Guide

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Hello Bucket List Nation! I’m Cara, a law student in Los Angeles, CA. I can usually be found blogging over at Search for J Street, but today I have the chance to share with you a restaurant guide for my adopted neighborhood: downtown LA. The DTLA neighborhood is going through quite a renaissance and now boasts restaurants suitable for any occasion. If you find yourself in any of the following situations while in DTLA, here are my recommendations:

1. If you need to impress someone, head to Bottega Louie. Bottega Louie has great street cred. It is definitely the most buzzed about restaurant in DTLA. Once inside, you and your dinner companions will feel transported to a chic, European cafe and market. There is a full bar, or you can bring your own wine (no corkage fee for the first bottle). As far as food, you can’t go wrong, but the portobello fries are one of the best dishes. By the end of the night, you will be full after a delicious and fresh meal, but be sure to pick up some of their locally famous macarons on your way out. My favorites from their original flavors are raspberry and earl grey, and from their seasonal flavors, I love pumpkin.

2. If you are the type of person who is always looking for something new and different, head to any of the following: Wurstkuche, Wood Spoon, or The Gorbals. At Wurstkuche once you make it through the line to get in, you’ll have 3 choices to make: what kind of sausage you want, what sauce for your fries, and what beer to wash it all down with. Don’t be misled, though; with 20+ kinds of sausage, 10 types of sauces, and dozens of beers, you will have a lot of tough decisions to make.

Wood Spoon is Brazilian comfort food, a rare genre to find in LA. Don’t expect anything remotely like Fogo De Chao here. Wood Spoon is a pint-sized restaurant with fresh flowers, blonde wood benches, and pillows strewn about. Everything is great, but the chicken pot pie is its signature dish. The sangria is also not to be missed. I still think it’s the best sangria I’ve ever had.

The Gorbals is a Scottish-Jewish restaurant tucked away in the ground floor of an old hotel on hipster Spring St. corridor. It is helmed by one of those semi-celebrity chefs who was on a cooking competition once. A warning though: with unique dishes like bacon wrapped matzoh balls and popcorn chicken gizzard, this restaurant tends to polarize patrons. You’ll either love it or hate it.

3. If you want to look like a local, head to Colori Kitchen. This authentic Italian restaurant is a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it type of place. The entrance is squeezed next to the Hotel Bristol and looks kind of dingy. But if you’re brave enough to walk in, you’ll find simple yet flavorful pasta dishes (I think the pumpkin ravioli is the best), exposed brick walls, and an incredibly light cheesecake (I think they use ricotta instead of cream cheese). Colori Kitchen also has no corkage fee for the first bottle of wine per couple. So if there are 4 of you, you can bring 2 bottle and so on. Be sure to come early if you don’t make a reservation because this restaurant is smaller and usually has a line after 7:30.

4. If you are looking for a late night snack that’s a step above In’n'Out, head to any of the following: Chaya, Drago Centro, or The Palm. Chaya and Drago Centro (conveniently located right next to each other) like to say that they have happy hour all night every night. What this really means is that they both have nice bar/lounge menus with their own selection of food and cocktails that you won’t find on the dinner menu. So you can munch on kobe sliders, mini flat bread pizzas, and sushi without having to commit to a full entree.

The Palm has a reverse food happy hour Monday through Friday, which means that starting at 9 p.m. their bar menu becomes half price. This is a great deal because you will not be satisfied with just one order of those mini crab cakes, so now you can go ahead order a few more!

5. If you want a great view with your dinner, head to either WP24, Takami, or Perch. All 3 restaurants offer something different. WP24 will deliver a high-class, luxurious meal. Takami will give you average to above average sushi, but it overcomes any mediocrity with tasty cocktails and a voyeuristic view of the waterbed pods on the roof of the Standard. Perch, my favorite of the three, is a lighthearted take on a French lounge. The drinks menu is heavy on champagne cocktails, and the food menu has both classics (bone marrow) and updated items (cordon bleu-style chicken nuggets).