New York Times
12.9.2019
As she finishes her first year as our California restaurant critic, Tejal Rao names the flavors she can’t forget from in and around the city. Throughout my first year as a restaurant critic living in Los Angeles, zigzagging across the city in my car, I kept a running list of delicious things I wanted to tell you about. There was the sheer, oversize tortilla sobaquera that I had at in Boyle Heights just the other day — its floury edges charred on a convex comal, its stretchy folds stuck together with melted cheese, all of it dipped, bite by bite, into hot broth. The kibbe nayeh at Skaf’s, in Glendale, was on my list, too. The pile of raw meat was dressed so that it shined luxuriously with fat, but seasoned and presented so daintily. Over the summer, I flagged the creamy melon gelato at , somehow more concentrated in flavor and perfume than a piece of ripe fruit, and tinted the pale pinkish orange of the sun setting on Beverly Boulevard. Bento Box at From the softly chewy rice to the dashi-poached fava beans to the sweet, crisp-edged crab dumplings, every single bite in Brandon Hayato Go’s lunchbox is made with care. Reservations are hard to come by at the tiny kaiseki restaurant in Row DTLA (the same high-end shopping mall that hosts Smorgasburg on Sundays), even for these lunches that diners carry out. Put yourself on the list to be notified of cancellations, and if a spot opens up, pounce.