Here’s a Look at the Best New Restaurants of 2023 from the #EEEEEATERS at Infatuation LA, plus my Picks!
The Infatuation is a restaurant review platform and app that began in New York City in 2009 and has since taken over the whole globe. It spans from the Amalfi Coast to Yountville and everything in between. Even if you don’t read their reviews, if you’ve ever tagged that foodie photo on Instagram with #eeeeeats, you’re begging for them to look at what you’ve got. As the year comes to a close, it’s time to evaluate the best new restaurants of 2023 in Los Angeles with the experts who have taken the time to eat out ten times a week so you can make that one night out worth it. Along the way, I’ll be including my own spots, too.
Seeing Red Sauce
The 12 Best New Restaurants of 2023 guide includes a lot of Italian-American red sauce spots, according to Brant Cox, the Editorial Lead for Infatuation LA. From the revamped La Dolce Vita in Beverly Hills to hot-spot Donna’s in Echo Park, this was the year of the Eggplant Parm.
In my own life, I had a different love affair with red sauce – seen in the fifty or so pizzas I consumed as a mother of two kids under nine years old. From the Grandma at Tomato Pie Pizza Joint to the Spicy Spring at Prince Street, I definitely have my go-to’s.
If it’s a fancy night in when I remembered to pre-order, it’s Quarter Sheets Pizza Club in Echo Park or Pizzana – which finally made its way to the Eastside this year.
Trends Toward Escapism and Dinner Theater
2023 was a year where people longed to go out and enjoy themselves in a big way, according to Cox, and that’s seen in restaurants like over-the-top La Dolce Vita as well as Le Great Outdoor in Santa Monica, which is reminiscent of “an outdoor block party.”
It doesn’t seem like a coincidence that Bar Chelou, another great new restaurant on the list, is located right next to the Pasadena Playhouse, where you can enjoy the energy of a live performance even if you’re just quietly munching on Clam Toast and nursing a Chelou 75 cocktail.
A Return to the Elements
2023 has been a year of wild innovations in technology with the questionable participation of AI in every facet of humanity. Still, in the kitchens of Los Angeles, it’s a return to the elements of the earth.
Best new restaurants on the Infatuation Los Angeles list, like Loreto in Frogtown, are using 500-year-old methods of grilling fish called zarandeado, and taco spots like Tacos Los Cholos in Huntington Park and Tacos La Rueda in Bellflower welcome customers in with the siren song of meat cleavers and wafts of smoke.
At EatDrinkLA, one of the Best New Restaurants of 2023 was Dunsmoor in Glassell Park, where Chef Brian Dunsmoor specializes in “American heritage cooking” and holds court over a rip-roaring open flame in the heart of the restaurant. The Mushroom Crusted Pork Chop will have you looking at lard in a whole new way.
From Barcelona to Barra Santos
At the beginning of the year, the Spanish tapas trend was still going strong, as seen in splashy openings like Teleferic Barcelona in Brentwood and the revitalization and unfortunate shuttering of Bar Moruno in Silverlake.
At The Infatuation LA, they felt called by the southwesterly breezes of the Iberian peninsula, as seen in their pick of Portuguese restaurant Barra Santos in Cypress Park as one of the best new restaurants of 2023. Whether you call them camarões or gambas, 2023 was overflowing with deliciously garlic prawns.
Oh my Omakase
No list would be complete without a good Omakase recommendation, and Infatuation LA is singing the praises of Sushi Note Omakase in Beverly Hills this year, which offers only one menu priced at $190 a person.
If it’s Izakaya you’re after, then Shirube in Santa Monica is on their list for Corn Ribs and Sashimi.
The Missing Piece
Sapphic wine bar, The Ruby Fruit in Silverlake, and Mexitalian Amiga Amore in Highland Park round off the list of the 12 best new restaurants. Both are a breath of fresh air on the dining scene as they seem to fill a void we didn’t know we had.
The Ruby Fruit is the first lesbian bar to open in Los Angeles since 2017, and Amiga Amore is the first Mexican-Italian fusion spot…since ever.
These last two restaurants are a great example of The Infatuation’s ability to keep its finger on the pulse of the city while still forging new paths. Notable restaurants have to be delicious, not just groundbreaking, though, and this is attested through the multiple visits made by the team. While it’s hard not to notice that said editorial team is primarily male, they deliver reviews with a sidecar of hilarity and confidence that connects well with everyone.
See what I mean right here.
