In 2023, Linden landed on Sunset Boulevard in the middle of Hollywood. The operators were mostly unknowns in the Los Angeles food scene, but they quickly established a bustling restaurant that captures the spirit of Caribbean diasporic communities in New York on Sunset Boulevard and Tamarind Avenue. Linden’s sleekly modern dining room, thoughtful cocktails, and Long Island–born chef Jonathan Harris’s menu work together in distinct harmony. The food gets flavorful influences from Harris’s East Coast upbringing, including from New York’s Caribbean diaspora, Italian joints on Long Island, Jewish culture, and African foodways embedded in the Southern U.S. Tack on an adjacent bar that fills up on weekends (the 75-seat guest list–only Dot Dot), and Linden has become a destination that attracts a stylish and loyal crowd.
Linden has an intimate dining room, barely 50 seats; Black Los Angeles feels at home in the room. Community members show up donning various forms of fashion, whether sporty or in designer gear with pricey red-soled heels.
Linden remains a solid choice before heading to one of the many concert or theater venues in the area, including the Hollywood Palladium. (Its menu clocks in at around $100 per person for a multi-course meal with cocktails.) The Linden team also owns New York’s Chopped Cheese next door, which stays open late and offers a more affordable quick meal.
Open for: Dinner
Price range: $$$
Linden, an ultra-sleek Hollywood restaurant on Sunset Boulevard, is a snapshot of chef Jonathan Harris’s New York upbringing, where he had exposure to cultures and foodways that now inform his Los Angeles cooking. Dishes tell the story of how the Caribbean, Italian, and Jewish diasporas commingle in New York — a centerpiece wagyu pie brims with oxtails and gravy under a puffed “patty” pastry lid; prawns and polenta pool in a spicy arrabbiata cream sauce; a bread basket course features an oversized everything bagel with salty fried chicken butter. Drinks like the Lemon Ting and L.I.R.R. also wink to Linden’s East Coast reverence, but the vibe is 100 percent LA: The interior is lush (plants veritably drip from the ceiling), the well-dressed clientele almost famous. Cap the night at its chopped cheese sister restaurant next door, and you complete the full New York fantasy in the heart of Los Angeles. — Nicole Adlman, cities manager
Best for: Birthday dinners, date nights, no-reason-necessary celebrations