LA’s Best Dining Neighborhood of 2017, According to Local Industry Experts

Caroline Pardilla, Eater LA contributor, Caroline on Crack

Downtown. Again.

Jeff Miller, Founding editor, Thrillist LA

The nebulous area between Hollywood and West LA still has the best diversity of restaurants in the city, which makes it a great place to both live and eat in.

Pat Saperstein, Variety and Eating LA

Gotta go with Silver Lake again — new openings almost every week help keep things fresh.

Zach Brooks, Midtown Lunch LA

Koreatown

Esther Tseng, Estar LA

Downtown L.A. Maybe it's just inherent that our "downtown" would have the highest concentration of good places to eat, but L.A.'s definition of "downtown" has always defied convention to the point of ridicule. No more — and its residents and commuters alike benefit all the more for it.

Garrett Snyder, Food Editor, Los Angeles Magazine

Venice

Hadley Tomicki, UrbanDaddy

Koreatown. But Downtown played a pretty bananas restaurant game, as well.

Katherine Spiers, Host of Smart Mouth podcast

Downtown. I know that's a cheat, but I can't get more specific than that. It's all so good.

Joshua Lurie, FoodGPS, Eater LA contributor

Koreatown continues to be my comfort food touchstone thanks to restaurants like Jun Won, Sun Nong Dan, and Park's BBQ. The neighborhood is also attracting a new wave of non-Korean restaurants and getting even more places to drink specialty coffee and craft beer.

Also, I lived in Silver Lake for years, which was a neighborhood of deep culinary sadness at the time. Now, interesting restaurants are opening so often that I can't keep pace.

Nicole Iizuka, Writer, Brit + Co.; Filmmaker, Tastemade

The OC. I hate to say it but man, they are doing food halls right down there. Anaheim Packing House, 4th Street Market, Union Market, McFadden Public, there's almost too many now to even name, but in the past year they've popped up like wildfire debuting and showcasing some crazy delicious foods, and don't seem like they're going to stop anytime soon.

Andy Wang, Contributor, Food + Wine

Sunset Boulevard in Silver Lake has become maybe L.A.’s best restaurant row, but Mh Zh is barely a restaurant. Glendale’s Brand Boulevard is stacked, too, but it’s funny how many times I end up at The Halal Guys.

Gary Baum, Senior writer, The Hollywood Reporter

Downtown L.A.

Euno Lee, Eater LA contributor

While the cool stuff keeps happening in Venice, Downtown and Highland Park, for my money it's the SGV. Also, laugh while you still can: Pasadena has been making serious moves.

Farley Elliott, Senior Editor, Eater LA

The Valley. Spending a week there covering it almost exclusively, and the push of new restaurants in 2017 and coming this year, make it a clear hit for the city.

Crystal Coser, Eater LA Associate Editor

Arts District

Matthew Kang, Editor, Eater LA

Just because I’m a new South Bay resident, I’m going to say the South Bay. I loved discovering new places like Painter’s Tape and Red Rock while standbys like Torihei, Otafuku, I-naba, Jidaiya, Ichi-miann, Nozomi, Miura, and Shin Sen Gumi Shabu-Shabu make it by far the most compelling place for Japanese food in the LA area. Meanwhile, The Arthur J, M.B. Post, Little Sister, and Love & Salt proved Manhattan Beach is still the strongest overall restaurant hotspot. The South Bay is spread out and a bit far for most Angelenos, but the area pulls its weight in food terms.

• All Year in Eater 2017 Coverage [ELA]