Spring 2026 Report
Plus most anticipated new restaurants
Welcome to the FOUND LA Spring Report. Ahead: our favorite LA restaurants, cultural finds, and getaways of the first few months of 2026 — plus our most anticipated restaurants for the season ahead.
Paid subscribers, keep your eyes open for links to Spring Reports from our other cities in this week’s newsletter.
RESTAURANTS • FOUND Favorites
Favorite new restaurants we visited during late winter/early spring of ’26.
→ LIELLE (Pico Robertson), creative and warm, a fine dining experience that’s otherwise hard to find in Los Angeles
→ HOLY BASIL (Santa Monica, above), Chef Deau Arpapornnopparat takes his delicious, inventive riffs on Thai classics west of the 405
→ CHAINSAW (Melrose Hill), phenomenal Latin fare in bustling, casual, tucked-away setting
→ Dinner at SQIRL (Virgil Village), long-anticipated expansion and proof that good things do come to those who wait
RESTAURANTS • Recent Notables
In March, FOUND LA narrowed its focus to oysters, looking at the Pacific Ocean-adjacent, LA River-lining, and beyond in our first-ever themed issue, Oyster Week, celebrating all things briny and brilliant, including:
A Routine with Ari Kolender, chef and partner at Found Oyster and Queen’s Raw Bar & Grill
A roundup of the best bivalves, all around
Custom platters and other unique oyster-themed gifts for that special someone in your life
Plus, seafood intel from restaurateurs Kat Turner and Conner Mitchell
RESTAURANTS • One-Year Club
Favorite FOUND restaurants that recently turned one year old, for your perhaps easier-booking pleasure.
Baby Bistro (Chinatown, above), thoughtful, talked-about, farm-to-table cooking w/ short, mercurial menu in century-old craftsmen, reserve
Lucia (Fairfax), upscale Afro-Caribbean in high-design space on busy stretch of Fairfax, reserve
Doto (Virgil Village), breezy, contemporary all-day Cali-izakaya w/ killer patio space, reserve
Firstborn (Chinatown), chef Anthony Wang’s better-than-most take on Chinese-American classics, reserve
BARS • FOUND Favorites
→ BAR BETSY (Altadena), the best of California’s fresh fare by day, cozy, cool wine bar by night
→ DUKE’S MALIBU (Malibu, above), back open post-fires, and a PCH-adjacent invitation to make whatever you’re doing an occasion
→ VANDELL (Los Feliz), great cocktails in upmarket environs, line always out the door
→ TIKI KAI (Hermosa Beach), maximalist theming, solid island fare, worth putting your shoes on for, but flip-flops more than acceptable
GOODS & SERVICES • Notables
Granada is a buzzy coffee shop in charming Angeleno Heights digs where guests lounge about in Adirondack chairs, shaded by a mature pomegranate tree, sipping matcha lattes and cappuccinos, and nibbling an assortment of sweet and savory pastries.
A young, self-taught, excellent knife sharpener, Steven Sharpens (above) pops up at grocery stores and markets in Brentwood, Burbank, San Gabriel, and Sierra Madre.
For a luxury escape from the chaos of Downtown with next-level biohacking tech, rooftop pool life, and more, consider the Conrad Spa.
GETAWAYS • FOUND Favorites
Travis Swikard is one of San Diego’s culinary leaders, crafting a culinary identity for an emerging food scene. At FLEURETTE in La Jolla, which opened in January, he’s cooking with more intricate plating and precise technique via a custom Athanor cooking suite made in the countryside of Lyon and shipped in one piece to San Diego (the same one in operation at several Daniel Boulud restaurants in New York).
A getaway within a getaway on Central California’s wine stretch that’s always worth going back to at Paso Robles’ IN BLOOM.
Time seems to stop inside the newly renovated PARK HYATT TOKYO (above).
NINE NINES • Distilled Lists of the Best in LA and Surrounds
RESTAURANTS • The Nines
Restaurants, most anticipated
Jacaranda (Hollywood, above), small, intimate tasting menu focused on West Coast ingredients from former Con chef, Alta Adams co-founder, Daniel Patterson, opening imminent, reserve