LA munchies hit different because this city was basically built to feed people at odd hours with a craving and no plan. There's a taco truck idling on a corner near you right now. There's a strip mall within a mile with a Thai spot, a donut shop and a laundromat, and two of those three will change your night. This is what we actually eat after a sesh, sorted by what your brain is yelling for. If the good stuff is across town, get a ride. Nobody ever regretted a rideshare to Boyle Heights.
Tacos and taco trucks
Hot take to start: the best al pastor in the city is off a truck, not inside a restaurant. Trucks have a trompo and something to prove.
The trucks worth the wait
- Leo's Tacos Truck at La Brea and Venice is the move for al pastor shaved straight off the spinning trompo, with the pineapple flicked on top like a little trick shot. The line moves.
- El Chato works Olympic and La Brea, a late-night staple that has fed more lifted people than any truck we know.
- Mariscos Jalisco in Boyle Heights is a daytime truck, and the taco dorado de camarón (crispy shrimp taco under salsa and avocado) is the best thing you can eat standing up in this city. Fight us.
Sit-down taco spots
Guisados does stewed-meat tacos on handmade tortillas in Boyle Heights and Echo Park. Sonoratown in DTLA brought Sonoran style flour tortillas to a corn tortilla town and nobody has been the same since. Tito's Tacos in Culver City is old-school hard shell, shredded cheese, zero apologies. Tacos Por Favor in Santa Monica is the beach-side lunch run when the June gloom finally burns off.
Cielito Lindo on Olvera Street does taquitos drowned in a thin avocado sauce, and has for longer than anybody's parents can remember. And Carnitas Michoacán in Lincoln Heights is the late-night carnitas institution.
Burritos
LA burrito culture is not San Francisco burrito culture and we're tired of pretending they're in the same conversation. Theirs is a meal. Ours is a vibe.
Al & Bea's in Boyle Heights makes the bean and cheese burrito that ruins all other bean and cheese burritos. Sounds like nothing. Is everything.
Lucky Boy in Pasadena does breakfast burritos the size of a forearm, and after a morning sesh in the Arroyo they're basically medicine.
Korean BBQ and Koreatown
Koreatown is the best stoner neighborhood in Los Angeles and it isn't close. It's dense, walkable, lit up all night, and every block has something on a grill.
Park's BBQ is the top-shelf pick when you want the meat to be the whole point. Kang Ho-dong Baekjeong is louder, rowdier and better with a group, with the egg and corn cheese cooking in the ring around the grill.
Not feeling a grill? Sun Nong Dan does galbi jjim, the braised short rib that shows up bubbling and covered in cheese (they torch it at the table, which is a lot of fun to watch a little toasted). BCD Tofu House is soondubu, the spicy soft tofu stew, which is exactly what your body wants when you've been lifted all day and forgot to eat. Dan Sung Sa is the old-school Korean pub, dark wood, scribbled walls, skewers and fried stuff for the table.
Thai Town
Thai Town is a few blocks of East Hollywood holding some of the best Thai food in the country.
Jitlada does Southern Thai and does not lower the heat for you. Ask for mild, still cry a little. Sapp Coffee Shop is the boat noodle and jade noodle spot, tiny bowls of rich, dark broth. Pa Ord Noodle is the other boat noodle camp, and yes, people have strong feelings about which is better. Try both, pick a side, start arguments.
Ruen Pair is the late-night Thai Town classic. And over on Sunset in WeHo, Night + Market brings the Thai drinking food, with Night + Market Song holding it down in Silver Lake.
Ramen and Sawtelle
Little Tokyo has the old guard. Daikokuya is the line you'll see on the corner, rich tonkotsu, worth every minute. Kouraku is the Little Tokyo old-timer that's been feeding night owls forever.
On the Westside, Sawtelle Japantown is a whole stretch of ramen, curry, dessert and snacks, and it's walkable once you're there. Tsujita LA is the tsukemen pick: thick noodles, separate dipping broth so rich it's almost gravy. Dip, slurp, stare into space.
Pizza
Pizzeria Mozza on Melrose is the fancy-ish pie, blistered and chewy and very good. Jon & Vinny's on Fairfax is the neighborhood spot that half of LA quietly thinks is the best pizza in town. Prime Pizza on Fairfax and in Little Tokyo is the big floppy slice, and Joe's Pizza in Santa Monica and Hollywood is the NY slice for East Coast transplants homesick at midnight.
Then the weirdos. Abbot's Pizza Company in Venice does a bagel-crust pizza and it's been a Westside stoner landmark since forever. Purgatory Pizza in Boyle Heights is punk and good. Casa Bianca Pizza Pie in Eagle Rock is the old-school red booth spot with the eggplant and sausage pie. If you only go to one place on this whole list, a hot take: make it Casa Bianca.
Burgers, chili and hot dogs
LA is an In-N-Out town, but the real move is In-N-Out on Sepulveda near LAX, where the planes come in so low over the lot you can read the tail. Eat in the grass, look up, lose your mind. Rite of passage.
Apple Pan on Pico is a counter, a hickory burger and a slice of banana cream pie,. Father's Office in Culver City and Santa Monica does a no-substitutions burger, and if that annoys you, that's on you. Original Tommy's at Beverly and Rampart is the chili burger, chili everywhere, at the original shack. Hawkins House of Burgers in Watts makes towering, sloppy, legendary burgers.
Up in Pasadena, Pie 'n Burger is the coffee shop classic. For dogs: Pink's Hot Dogs on La Brea is famous for a reason, and Carney's in Studio City serves them out of an old train car. Bob's Big Boy in Burbank is pure Americana. Johnnie's Pastrami in Culver City has the outdoor fire pit and the pastrami dip, and it's built for late.
Donut shops
The LA donut shop is a whole genre. Pink boxes, a strip mall, one family running it forever. Most neighborhoods have one, and the 24-hour one on your corner is probably better than you think.
The landmarks: Randy's Donuts in Inglewood, the giant donut on the roof, which is somehow even funnier when you're stoned. The Donut Hole in La Puente, where you drive straight through a giant donut (a job for your sober friend at the wheel). California Donuts in Ktown with the panda donut. Bob's Coffee & Doughnuts at the Original Farmers Market, DK's Donuts in Santa Monica, Stan's Donuts in Westwood and Primo's Donuts on Sawtelle round it out. Westsiders will argue DK's vs Primo's for an hour. Let them.
Late-night eats
After midnight the map shrinks: taco trucks, Koreatown, the 24-hour donut shop, the old delis and a couple of chili burger stands. We wrote a whole page on it. Head to the late-night LA guide for what historically runs late, and check hours before you roll.
LA munchies by area
The 405 is a parking lot and nobody's crossing town for a snack. Here's what's good near you.
Westside
Venice gets you Abbot's Pizza Company, Gjusta for a bakery and deli spread you can't finish, and Hinano Café for a dive bar burger a block from the sand. Abbot Kinney has Gjelina when you want to feel like an adult. Santa Monica has Bay Cities Italian Deli and the Godmother sandwich (a meal for two people who think they're one person), plus Tacos Por Favor, DK's Donuts and Joe's Pizza.
Culver City is low-key the Westside munchies capital: Tito's Tacos, Johnnie's Pastrami and Father's Office, with Versailles close by for Cuban garlic chicken. Sawtelle Japantown covers everything else. Full rundowns in the Venice guide, Santa Monica guide and Culver City guide.
Hollywood and WeHo
Hollywood has Pink's Hot Dogs on La Brea, Joe's Pizza and Mel's Drive-In on Sunset for the old-school diner booth. Thai Town is right next door on Hollywood Blvd, so Jitlada, Sapp Coffee Shop and Ruen Pair are all fair game. Roscoe's House of Chicken 'N Waffles is the chicken and waffles answer.
West Hollywood has Night + Market on Sunset and Barney's Beanery, the old roadhouse with a bowl of chili and a lot of history. More in the Hollywood guide and the West Hollywood guide.
Eastside
Silver Lake and Echo Park are a strong munchies zone. Cafe Tropical does guava and cheese pastries and Cuban coffee, Pine & Crane does Taiwanese plates, Night + Market Song goes loud and spicy, Guisados is in Echo Park and The Brite Spot is the diner. See the Silver Lake and Echo Park guide.
Further northeast, Casa Bianca Pizza Pie in Eagle Rock is the main event, and Galco's Soda Pop Stop in Highland Park has a wall of sodas you'll stand in front of for twenty minutes. The Highland Park and Eagle Rock guide has the rest.
Downtown
Grand Central Market is the easy answer: a whole hall of stalls, walk around and graze. Sonoratown for flour tortillas, Howlin' Ray's in Chinatown for Nashville hot chicken (the line is long, plan on it), Philippe the Original for a French dip on the sawdust floor and Wurstküche in the Arts District for sausages and Belgian fries. Little Tokyo has Daikokuya, Kouraku and Prime Pizza.
Boyle Heights is right over the river with Mariscos Jalisco, Al & Bea's and Purgatory Pizza. It's all in the Downtown and Arts District guide.
Koreatown and Mid-City
Koreatown: Park's BBQ, Kang Ho-dong Baekjeong, Sun Nong Dan, BCD Tofu House, Dan Sung Sa and California Donuts. Langer's is just east near MacArthur Park for daytime pastrami (the #19 is the one). Check the Koreatown guide.
Mid-City and Fairfax have Canter's Deli, Jon & Vinny's, Prime Pizza, the Original Farmers Market with Bob's Coffee & Doughnuts, and Apple Pan a quick ride west on Pico. Leo's Tacos Truck and El Chato both work La Brea. The Mid-City and Fairfax guide covers it.
The Valley
The Valley gets clowned by the beach people and it doesn't care. Carney's in Studio City, Bob's Big Boy in Burbank, Porto's Bakery in Burbank and Glendale (potato balls and cheese rolls, buy a dozen, eat four in line), Mel's Drive-In in Sherman Oaks and Zankou Chicken with the garlic sauce you'll still taste tomorrow. See the North Hollywood and Studio City guide.
South Bay and Long Beach
The South Bay has In-N-Out by LAX for the planes and Randy's Donuts in Inglewood for the roof donut. Hawkins House of Burgers in Watts is worth the trip up the 110.
Long Beach has Hole Mole for tacos, Cambodia Town's noodle spots (point at what the next table is eating) and easy grazing along 2nd Street in Belmont Shore. The Long Beach guide has the full rundown.
