It\u2019s easy to be down and not necessarily want to go out.<\/p>\n
Fortunately, our Food team, led by senior editor Danielle Dorsey<\/a>, has some amazing recommendations for new favorites and old haunts that will fill your stomach and lift your spirits.<\/p>\n This month\u2019s highlighted selections include locales from Altadena and Echo Park to Malibu and Westwood that the team feels are all worth your time.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s take a look at a few of their selections<\/a>.<\/p>\n The iconic restaurant along PCH<\/a> was on the heels of reopening after the Pacific Palisades fire last February when heavy rain caused mudslides that led to flooding and extensive damage.<\/p>\n Fourteen months later, Duke\u2019s Malibu is open with significant renovations and limited lunch and dinner menus featuring Hawaiian-influenced seafood staples such as crispy coconut shrimp, Korean sticky ribs and hula pie.<\/p>\n As the restaurant celebrates 30 years in operation, plans are underway for an anniversary party this summer.<\/p>\n (Kayla Bartkowski\/Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n Golden Leaf Restaurant (San Gabriel)<\/p>\n A Taiwanese restaurant in San Gabriel was forced to remove stinky tofu<\/a>, a popular, culturally significant dish, from its menu after repeated complaints from residential neighbors and fines from the city.<\/p>\n City officials have encouraged Golden Leaf restaurant to install an expensive filter to address the pungent smell, though owners insist that none of their immediate shopping center neighbors have complained about the odor.<\/p>\n Supporters launched a Change.org petition<\/a> last summer backing the preparation of the dish.<\/p>\n (Bill Addison \/ Los Angeles Times )<\/p>\n Hoja Blanca (Palm Springs)<\/p>\n If you\u2019re heading to Coachella today, it\u2019s worth making a detour for this weekly pop-up at a sleek Palm Springs bar.<\/a> <\/p>\n From married couple Omar Limon and Blanca Flores Torres, with help from Omar\u2019s brother Arnold Limon, Hoja Blanca offers a playful take on modern Mexican food with dishes such as quesabirria tacos, esquites with cauliflower and a tetela topped with pork belly, all served alongside Bryan Jimenez\u2019s classic cocktails.<\/p>\n (Stella Kalinina\/For The Times)<\/p>\n Meymuni Cafe (Rancho Park)<\/p>\n As war unfolds in Iran and neighboring countries, L.A.\u2019s Persian community has found comfort and support at restaurants such as Meymuni<\/a>, a modern Persian cafe that offers free tea and cookies to diners, many of whom stop by after related protests at the nearby Federal Building.<\/p>\n The cafe opened in 2025 with barbari bread and lavash wrap sandwiches, tahini-date shakes and chai lattes, plus a full slate of events aimed at uplifting the local Persian community.<\/p>\n (Stephanie Breijo \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n NADC Burger (Westwood)<\/p>\n The rapidly expanding smashburger chain<\/a> from Pasta Bar and Sushi by Scratch Restaurants chef Phillip Frankland Lee has opened its first L.A. location in Westwood Village, with plans to open additional locations in the city.<\/p>\n The signature burger at NADC \u2014 an acronym for \u201cnot a damn chance\u201d \u2014 features two Wagyu patties, American cheese, grilled onions, jalape\u00f1os, pickles and a house sauce, with beef tallow fries and brown butter chocolate chip cookies rounding out the short menu.<\/p>\n (Stephanie Breijo \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n Roshona Bilash (Larchmont)<\/p>\n After stepping away from the kitchen for decades, Abul Ibrahim has opened a quick-service restaurant in Melrose Hill <\/a>that celebrates the Bangladeshi flavors he grew up with.<\/p>\n Roshona Bilash, which translates to \u201cluxurious taste,\u201d features Bengali classics such as bone marrow nihari, rice pilafs and meats and breads cooked in a clay oven, with plans to expand with regional specialties such as seafood dishes popular along the Bangladesh coast.<\/p>\n Check out the full list here<\/a>.<\/p>\n You’re reading the Essential California newsletter <\/p>\n Sign up to start every day with California’s most important stories.<\/p>\n By continuing, you agree to our Terms of Service<\/a>, which include arbitration and a class action waiver. You agree that we and our third-party vendors may collect and use your information, including through cookies, pixels and similar technologies, for the purposes set forth in our Privacy Policy<\/a> such as personalizing your experience and ads. <\/p>\n The week\u2019s biggest stories (Kyra Saldana\/For De Los)<\/p>\n Los Angeles Times Festival of BooksCalifornia livingCrime, courts and policingEntertainment and media newsWhat else is going onMust readsOther meaty readsFor your downtime (Illustrations by Lindsey Made This; photograph by Frazer Harrison \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n Going outStaying inL.A. Affairs<\/p>\n Get wrapped up in tantalizing stories about dating, relationships and marriage.<\/p>\n Have a great day, from the Essential California team<\/p>\n Jim Rainey, staff reporter How can we make this newsletter more useful? Send comments to essentialcalifornia@latimes.com<\/a>. Check our top stories<\/a>, topics<\/a> and the latest articles<\/a> on latimes.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Much of the news dominating the local restaurant scene has focused on sadness. Two Los Angeles icons, Cole\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":246554,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8,2299,1085,891,2300,2297,340,2303,63,2302,1086,1459,2301,2298,74,225,315,688],"class_list":{"0":"post-275601","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-california","8":"tag-california","9":"tag-california-headlines","10":"tag-california-news","11":"tag-civic-revolt","12":"tag-covid","13":"tag-covid-19","14":"tag-days","15":"tag-essential-california","16":"tag-israel","17":"tag-l-a","18":"tag-los-angeles-times","19":"tag-may","20":"tag-pandemic","21":"tag-part","22":"tag-president-biden","23":"tag-red-county","24":"tag-san-diego","25":"tag-state","26":"tag-time","27":"tag-years"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275601","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=275601"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275601\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/246554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=275601"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=275601"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=275601"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1773537252_510_.jpeg\")
<\/a> Duke\u2019s (Malibu)<\/p>\n![\"Traditional](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1776606370_543_.jpeg\")
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<\/a> <\/p>\n
Hugo Mart\u00edn, assistant editor, fast break desk
Kevinisha Walker, multiplatform editor
Andrew J. Campa, weekend writer
Karim Doumar, head of newsletters<\/p>\n