Eater Readers Share LA's Best Restaurant Secrets, Part 1

Last week Eater offered up a pair of VIP tickets to Saturday's Plate by Plate. To win, we asked readers to share their best kept restaurant secrets, and rather than keep these gems to ourselves, we've decided to spread the love to you, dear readers. This time around, we received so many great tips that we're breaking them up into a series of posts. Below, some of the city's best restaurant secrets, as determined by readers. Got another undisclosed tip? Feel free to add in the comments.

1) "Everyone loves Boiling Crab, but the wait at the Koreatown location, especially for a group, can be interminable. A secret: get your order to go. It comes in the same plastic bag as they serve in the restaurant. Then, go next door to Cafe Home, where, with the purchase of drinks, the staff will gladly spread out paper table runners for you to feast on your to-go order. There is usually little to no wait at Cafe Home. You'll see other in-the-know patrons chowing down on Boiling Crab inside. Cafe Home shares the same entrance hallway as Boiling Crab."

2) "Black Hogg – Sous Vide Egg on Brioche Toast."

[Photo: ry.ann/Flickr]

3) "My favorite sushi restaurant in LA has to be Shibuya in Calabasas. Probably vastly overlooked because it's a bit out of the way in the valley, but totally worth it! It is in a small shopping center, sandwiched between a post office and what used to be the Kardashian's flagship clothing store. The whole place can seat less than 30 people but is some of the freshest fish I've tasted (and I've been to Japan). A good secret to know, is they hang up their sign up list out front before they even open, so it is a must to swing by early and put down your name if you don't want to get stuck waiting 30+ minutes."

4) "Surprisingly, no one knows about Daichan restaurant in Studio City. When you walk into the restaurant, you feel like you are at your Japanese grandmother's house who couldn't throw away any special and quirky mementos she received throughout her life. Her house and Japanese home cooking style food warms your soul. Please check it out."

5) "Best Restaurant Secret Off-Menu: At Petty Cash Taqueria, Walter Manzke gives away free Chilaquiles (secret ingredients and all!) to anyone buying a drink at the bar after 11pm weekdays/Midnight weekends."

6) "My secret bit of advice is how to score a reservation for a good table at High Lounge at the Hotel Erwin in Venice. As you know, the rooftop lounge there is awesome, and on most nights it's impossible to get up there because they are at capacity or only allowing hotel guests though the velvet red rope. Well, a little known trick is that you can reserve a lounge area table with an awesome ocean view ON-LINE through Urbanspoon. You can pick your requested time at their site and make a free reservation. And, I have had really great luck requesting the exact location of the booth (I recommend facing North so you can watch the sunset) by simply adding it in the notes section of the on-line form. It's worked great for me a bunch of times?even for New Year's Eve!!"

7) "My favorite 'secret' restaurant tip is that one of the best taco crawls you can do is along york blvd in highland park. Each place from 'pharmacy tacos' to 'taxes tacos' are named for where they set up their guerilla stands and each one has it's own draw."

8) "My best kept secrets are the new AltaEats in Altadena for a relaxed yet consistently solid neighborhood gem, Mariscos El Jato in Boyle Heights for fresh/large/cheap tostados mixtos and acceptable brown-bagging, and Raffaello Ristorante in San Pedro for what all family Italian sit-downs should be. Also, the fruit cart at the corner of Bellevue & Benton on weekends... Chopped to order, the best limes and selection, and sold out of the good stuff by 11am. This guy could be in Grand Central Market."
·Eater Readers Share LA's Best Kept Restaurant Secrets [~ELA~]