FOUND's 2025 restaurants of the year
Best new westside & eastside restaurants, 9 pop-ups gone permanent, favorite new bars, MORE
Here now, our full list of 2025’s best in FOUND restaurants: two Nines of our favorite new westside and eastside spots of 2025, plus bonus lists of our 9 pop-ups gone permanent and our favorite bars of 2025, all with links for your booking convenience. But, before that, the big reveal for paid subscribers of our favorite new restaurant of the year. Please enjoy.
RESTAURANTS • First Person
Restaurants of the Year 2025
Clam pizza and a tiki-tilted cocktail, soundtracked by some Southern Hemisphere-adjacent disco off Main Street Santa Monica at Not No Bar. Duck sausage wrapped in tofu skin, resting on a small pond of onion brodo at firstborn. I don’t think 2025 will be topped when it comes to losing track of time enjoying incredible, delicious, imaginative dishes surrounded by good people in new restaurants.
There was also a lovely plate of battered skate, mint, and peas at Wilde’s, where the line really isn’t as bad as you think it is (just commit, is all); scallop skewers and a spicy hamachi hand roll with a built-in salsa macha feature at Doto; charcoal-grilled shrimp and pork balls with a little char and a lot of umeboshi plum sauce and shiso at Yhing Yhang BBQ; and everything at Baby Bistro as well. Also, fresh, return-worthy setups serving up corner birria, burgers best enjoyed with two hands, and arepas and icebox pies.
The restaurant that stands out above the rest to me is Altadena’s Betsy. Locally sourced ingredients, open flame, killer wine, rhythm, and an intentional space filled by the community and backdropped by the San Gabriel Mountains. Story aside, it reminds you how lucky you are to call Los Angeles home. And how you really can’t go wrong with an unpretentious, precise steak and a big bowl of crisp, perfectly dressed greens. Read more about it and our other favorites from the past year below. –James Royce
RESTAURANTS • The Nines
Best new restaurants, westside, 2025
Beethoven Market (Mar Vista), Jeremy Adler at the front and Felix alum Michael Leonard in the kitchen dishing up repeat-worthy Cal-Italian, w/ wine, olive oil-infused vodka Vespers, intel
RVR (Venice), delicious, stylish, fun, still always-buzzing spot from Gjelina’s Travis Lett, intel
Holy Basil (Santa Monica), Deau Arpapornnopparat and Joy Yuon’s lauded, next-gen Thai empire expands west of the 405
Vin Folk (Hermosa Beach), family-run bistro serving up interesting wines, headcheese toast, raws and greens, various hot plates from porchetta to chili crab on breezy South Bay patio
Yhing Yhang BBQ (West Adams, above), vibrant, treat-yourself neighborhood anchor for grilled, Thai street-food, rotating specials, intel
Marvito (West Hollywood), psychedelic Austin-style dive bar, South-Of-The-Bordercana w/ all the 1970s Tex-Mex cantina fixtures
88 Club (Beverly Hills), swanky, club-lite setup for elevated-nostalgia Chinese classics, intel
Darling (West Hollywood), Sean Brock of Husk’s West Coast outpost for Southern fare w/ a live-fire tilt, hi-fi listening lounge to the side, intel
The Wilkes (Brentwood), Barrington Ave and Sunset Blvd’s destination steakhouse w/ leather booths, vintage dishes
RESTAURANTS • The Nines
Best new restaurants, eastside, 2025
Hermon’s (Hermon, above), been-there-since-forever-feeling neighborhood corner bistro, intel
Wilde’s (Los Feliz), British fare done beyond properly, line still out the door, intel
Cafe 2001 (Arts District), minimalist, all-day creative, fun food affair from Yess team, intel
Morihiro (Echo Park), Akitakomachi rice-obsessive omakase in sleek new Echo Park space
Cannonball (South Pasadena), wines by the glass, cocktails, burgers, other reminders that Pasadena can be worth the trip, intel
Doto (Virgil Village), bright, breezy multi-hyphenate perch for morning coffees and laptops, afternoon and evening wines, Cali-Japanese fare, all-day vinyl soundtrack, intel
Betsy (Altadena), beckoning community setup situated around open kitchen, flames, serious wine, big salads, seasonal vegetables, grilled meats, intel
Taqueria Frontera (Cypress Park & Silver Lake), authentic Tijuanense taco standout, intel
Firstborn (Chinatown), chef Anthony Wang’s modern Chinese-American hitting its stride w/ fried Chongqing chicken, gnocchi in black bean sauce, highballs, martinis, Palomas featuring Szechuan peppercorn, intel
RESTAURANTS • The Nines
Pop-ups gone permanent, 2025
Baby Bistro (Victor Heights, above), started in chef Miles Thompson’s garage, had an extended stay at Koreatown’s Hotel Normandie, now one of the west’s most lauded restaurants in century-old bungalow, intel
Wildcrust (Highland Park), pandemic sourdough crusts, now in a warm, busy, modern strip mall fixture w/ all the de rigeur touches, intel
Chainsaw (Melrose Hill), favored for its pies, making a case for its grilled meats, arepas, drinks, more reasons to stick around
Bub and Grandma’s Pizza (Highland Park), from Hollywood farmer’s market to Cypress Park lunch, breakfast, occasional dinner brick and mortar to sidewalk standout serving up crispy, whole pie or by-the-slice thin-crust excellence
Mustard’s Bagels (Culver City), first a Highland Park window, now a Culver City open-faced bagel sandwich staple
Little Fish (Melrose Hill), fried fish sandwich pandemic darling stands out amongst Kuya Lord, Bar Etoile, other focal points leading the Melrose Hill moment, intel
Fiorelli Pizza (Beverly Grove), West Coast ingredients, East Coast inspirations, formerly housed in Venice Beach garden
Corridor 109 (Melrose Hill), sleek tasting menu in the back of Bar 109’s lively front
Old Gold Tomato Pies (Los Feliz), airy, crispy square, Sicilian-style slices from former Konbi chef
BARS • The Nines
Best new bars
Vandell (Los Feliz), eastside third place for experimental cocktails from industry vets in a vintage, low-lit setting
Real Charmer (Virgil Village), Pirates of Virgil Ave, w/ appropriate nautical accoutrements, experimental cocktails like regularly ordered Meze Martini
Bar Benjamin (Hollywood), nondescript outside, all the fixtures of a major player in LA’s libation scene inside, intel
Bar 109 (Melrose Hill), casually wowing cocktails, stellar service, on-point vibes, more delicious than a neighborhood cocktail bar should be, intel
Not No Bar (Santa Monica), killer pizza, tropical cocktails, natty wines, Euro house on hi-fi system from Dudley Markey team, intel
Damn, I Miss Paris (West Adams), reason for Angelenos long lamenting the lack of chic cocktail lounges to rejoice, intel
No Smoking Bar (Culver City), self-aware dive bar w/ DJs, back patio
Bar Bacetti (Echo Park), Roman-holiday inspired aperitivo bar tucked away on tree-lined residential street, intel
Cafe Tondo (Chinatown), all-day pananderia w/ CDMX-coded sidewalk parties, intel
ASK FOUND
To close out the year, two PROMPTS for which we seek your immediate attention:
What gyms are you eyeing as you plan your resolutions?
Where are you headed for a ski trip in 2026?
Hit reply or email found@itsfoundla.com with more answers or questions.