Twice a year, LA Tourism produces Dine LA Restaurant Week, where diners can choose items from prix-fixe menus for lunch and dinner ranging from $15-$65 and above. The Winter Edition runs for 15 days from Friday, Jan. 23, through Friday, Feb. 6, and showcases more than 480 restaurants across 88 neighborhoods and 41 global cuisines in LA County.

Here, four DTLA chefs highlight one dish they will be serving up and why they picked it.

Chef-Owner Steve Samson/Rossoblu

Dine LA Dish: Lobster and mascarpone pasta

“We’re serving a lobster and mascarpone pasta, which is special to me because I spent a few summers working in Maine on a small island. I generally kind of despise any seafood stuffed pasta because having worked in restaurants, it’s like anything that’s about to go bad goes into a stuffed pasta. Obviously, not good restaurants do that, but I have, unfortunately, worked at places like that.

I would never order a lobster ravioli at a restaurant, but I want to make it a super good lobster ravioli with mascarpone and fresh lobster meat and then make a traditional Sauce Américaine, which is like one of the first sauces you learn how to make in cooking school, where you roast the lobster shells, and it’s basically a reduced lobster stock with cream and cognac.

I thought that would be a fun dish to honor Little Cranberry Island, this little island where I worked, which is still one of my favorite places in the world, and to go back to my roots, where I started to cook and make that Sauce Américaine, and also to convince myself that stuffed seafood pasta could be good.”

The three-course prix-fixe dinner is $55 per person, tax and gratuity not included.

Pitmaster Rudy Suazo/Maple Block Meat Co.

Dine LA Dish: Smoked birria tacos or a Santa Fe wrap

“For me, Dine LA is about giving people a clear picture of what we do every day at Maple Block — real barbecue, cooked the right way, with no shortcuts. I’ve been doing this long enough to know you can’t rush barbecue.

At Grand Central Market, the smoked birria tacos [$15] are part of our CaliMex menu, where we take those same smoked meats and use them in a different way. Our brisket spends about 16 hours in the smoker before it’s braised in toasted chili consommé. From there, it goes onto the griddle with cheese, tortillas, fresh onion and cilantro and housemade chile arbol salsa. Same brisket, same process—just a different expression.

Dine LA lets people experience Maple Block at a great value, but the food is exactly what we serve every day. Nothing is changed or dressed up. It all comes back to quality meat, real smoke and patience.”

Chef Michele Galifi/Bianca Sicilian Trattoria

Dine LA Dish: Pizza Choice of Margherita, Diavola or Funghi

“Opening Bianca Sicilian Trattoria in Los Angeles has been incredibly meaningful for me, and Dine LA is a special opportunity to introduce myself, my food and my story to new diners. I grew up in Sicily, where cooking is about simplicity, tradition and respect for ingredients. That philosophy guides everything we do at Bianca.

For our Dine LA menus, I wanted to showcase dishes that truly represent how people eat in Sicily — not complicated, not overworked but honest and full of flavor. The pizzas, pastas and secondi on this menu are rooted in recipes I grew up with, using classic techniques and ingredients like San Marzano tomatoes, olive oil, anchovies, garlic and fresh herbs. These are dishes that feel familiar to me and that I cook with pride every day.

What excites me most is introducing Bianca to Los Angeles diners who may be experiencing Sicilian cooking for the first time in this way. Dine LA allows guests to explore different parts of the menu and understand what Bianca is about — from a simple insalata and pizza at lunch to a full Sicilian-style dinner.

This restaurant is my home and my heritage, and I’m grateful to share that with LA through Dine LA.”

The three-course prix-fixe dinner is $65 per person, and lunch is $25 per person.

Chef Ryan Legaux/Harold & Belle’s

Dine LA Dish: Charbroiled oysters & homestyle catfish with jambalaya and red beans

“I grew up at Harold & Belle’s. Some of my earliest memories are of sitting in a booth after school, watching the dining room fill up, listening to the sounds from the kitchen and learning what hospitality really meant from my parents. This restaurant has always been more than a business to our family — it’s been our home, our classroom and our connection to the community.

Being part of Dine LA now feels especially meaningful because it allows us to share that legacy with a new generation of diners. The dishes we’ve chosen for Dine LA are the same foods I grew up eating — Creole classics that reflect our roots, our culture and the way my family has cooked for decades. Nothing about them is trendy or forced. They’re honest, soulful and made the same way they always have been.

As a Black-owned, family-run restaurant that’s been part of Los Angeles for over 50 years, it’s exciting to see Harold & Belle’s included in a citywide celebration like Dine LA. It gives people who may not have grown up with this food a chance to experience it and understand why it matters.

For me, Dine LA is about honoring where we came from while continuing to move forward — and I couldn’t be prouder to be part of it.”

The dinner tasting menu is $45 per person, and lunch is $35 per person.

For more information, visit discoverlosangeles.com/dinela.