Where to Eat in Downtown Los Angeles

12/08/2014
Even to locals, the transformation of Downtown Los Angeles is hard to believe. Less than a decade ago, there were really two Downtowns: the high rises and upscale lunch spots of the Financial District and... everything else. Cheap eats ruled the day, taco carts crawled the late night streets, and the occasional ramen joint or yakitori spot could be found among the warehouses and shuttered storefronts. But for the most part Downtown was dead.
These days, revitalization is so rampant that it's hard to recognize the same boulevards that used to be near-empty ten years ago. Young, urban crowds flock to bars, restaurants, art galleries and entertainment venues nightly, and it's no longer a surprise to see someone on the streets at all hours of the night. Of course, with the influx of people and money comes competition, and Downtown is quickly becoming one of the most contested core neighborhoods for food and drink in this otherwise decentralized city.

Thankfully there are still cheap eats to be had, as well as Japanese standouts in Little Tokyo, sausage and beer halls in the Arts District, and fine dining right under peoples' noses. There's no end to the possibilities in DTLA —a far cry from just a few short years ago.
There's almost no other place to start when it comes to talking about dining in Downtown L.A. than Bestia, chef Ori Menashe's Italian-leaning warehouse enclave in the deep reaches of the Arts District. Tucked away near the L.A. River, it's one of the hottest reservations in town, and for good reason. Handmade pastas are pushed from the kitchen with abandon, alongside beautifully spotted margherita pizzas, copious charcuterie, and a beef tartare crostini that is at once vibrant, funky, minty, and clean.
The space is a lesson in calculated effortlessness; there's a long copper bar, hanging Edison bulbs hidden inside thick glass fixtures, lots of brick and exposed ironwork, and enough mid-90s Nas pulsing overheard to keep everyone's conversation elevated. Bestia is a personification of all that Downtown dining has become —delicious, deliberate and very, very cool.
A recent transplant to Downtown, the Ace Hotel on Broadway helped to immediately liven up an area of the urban core that was, in many ways, still lacking. Flanked by long-shuttered movie houses and live music venues that had once held such decadence, the new Ace is a bit of revitalization right where the city needs it most. The attached United Artists Theater has been returned to its shimmering glory, and the looming hotel offers stunning views of the Eastern Columbia building. Inside, with a little slip of patio seating that clings against the building, is L.A. Chapter.
Part breakfast takeaway, part casual lounge and part sit-down meal spot, L.A. Chapter's brassy bistro details and chic look make it one of the area's true anytime destinations. There's a touch of Australian flare; the eatery is a sort of offshoot to Five Leaves in Brooklyn, which took on Aussie Heath Ledger as an early investor.
The most popular time of day might be brunch. That's when fried eggs are elevated to their true glory, avocado can be used to its fullest capabilities, and the Stumptown Coffee is in endless supply. An array of toasts, much more than the usual $4 Pullman loaf slice, come stacked with rich, creamy, often slightly spicy combinations, like the Moroccan Scramble, which marries merguez with fresh chilies, chickpeas, and a healthy tuft of cilantro.
An even more recent newcomer is Faith & Flower, a soaring, bright space that looks to reverse-engineer Downtown's gentrification-at-the-edges theory by sticking a fork right next to L.A. Live, one of the few areas in the neighborhood that has mostly been immune to the rise, fall, and resurgence of Downtown. Staples Center, Starbucks, and the Yard House all catered to Kings fans looking to dine cheaply before the puck dropped at the Staples Center arena, but there was little in the way of true destination dining.
Enter Faith & Flower, with their elaborate touches (both on the menu and on the walls), Prohibition-era cocktail list and boozy, upscale theme. Fully-coiffed owners Robert Weakley and Dave Bernahl of Coastal Luxury Management make the space feel like a Gatsby-level shindig could break out at any moment. The menu is similarly unconfined—appetizers and mains and sides all mix together on the page and come out whenever they feel like it. Each dish, be it savory waffles with funky bone marrow built into the batter or an eggs benedict pizza that's served all day long, offers something unexpected and wild; even on the plate, it's a party.
Perhaps no space has come further in Downtown's revitalization process than the Grand Central Market. Long a home for fruit vendors and taco stands, the market has begun a near-complete overhaul. Many long-empty retail stalls have recently come to life with fried egg sandwiches, European espresso bars, pressed organic juices, and unstoppable sweets. There's even a demystified version of a Jewish deli on premises which offers some of the city's best pastrami and smoked fish.
But thankfully, many of the original vendors still persist. There are cheap takeaway Chinese food options and some honestly stellar carnitas at taco spots like Las Morelianas. Sarita's still pushes out the finest El Salvadorean pupusas for the area, and more recent addition Sticky Rice plates up organic, free-range takes on classics like Hainan chicken and a rotation of daily curries.
Near the longstanding Daikokuya ramen shop on First Street in the Little Tokyo area, there are countless options for eating well. Soups and skewers are readily available, but for noodles most eaters in the area queue up at Marugame Monzo.
An udon house with an Italian backbone, Monzo has been drawing in customers for the better part of a year with the endless thumps coming from the glassed-in kitchen. Those whacks and slaps are the sound of udon being hand-pulled and pounded into submission. The results are a bit al dente, just chewy enough and entirely addictive. Laced with garlic or chile, urchin, or just lots of cream, each bowl is a hand-cut noodle adventure. And then there are the crossovers, like udon carbonara, with all the smokiness and cheese of its Italian ancestry, but meant to be eaten with chopsticks.
At Bäco Mercat, a food's ethnicity is a fluid thing. Middle Eastern influences muddle with Italian ingenuity and American flavors, making Josef Centeno's flagship restaurant a blindfolded trip across the world. The namesake item, the bäco bread, is itself a confluence of cultures: part pizza dough, part flatbread and thickened tortilla, the bäco bread is offered up as a base for pizza-like concoctions and half-wrapped sandwiches as well as in a warm side basket for pulling apart and dipping.
The room is as loud and eclectic as the menu, where lamb meatballs share space with za'atar and Japanese eggplant. Housemade bubble sodas come in an array of intriguing flavors, and rotating brunches might include hamachi crude one afternoon and a bowl of noodle-rich carnitas soup the next. At Bäco Mercat, all voices are equal—and they're all shouting.

By: http://www.seriouseats.com/2014/06/where-to-eat-in-downtown-los-angeles.html

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