The Westside Hit List: The Best New Restaurants On The Westside

Some say LA's Westside is a vapid wasteland hemmed in by freeways, some say it’s the center of the known universe. And, frankly, some people who live there haven't ventured outside its borders since 1996. But no matter what you think of the Westside—which we’re defining as everything west of Beverly Hills—there’s no denying that it’s home to some of the most exciting new restaurants in the city. Which is exactly why we created a Westside Hit List to keep track. Much like our LA Hit List, you’ll only find places on here that we've checked out and genuinely love. If you think we missed a great new place in the greater 405 area, we want to hear about it.

New to the Hit List (8/17): Bludso's, Shirube, Atla, Xuntos, Best Bet, Planta Cocina

THE SPOTS

Bludso’s second location in Santa Monica is organized chaos. People hover by the host stand with that “I want meat and I want it now” look in their eyes. Cartoonishly tall takeout orders pile up on a table near the entrance. Everyone’s drinking bourbon, beer, or iced tea. TVs show sports games and hulking trays of Texas-style BBQ and sides sparkle in the sunshine pouring through the windows. The bark and smoke on the meat here are pretty much scholarly—the original La Brea location is a mainstay on our Best BBQ Guide guide for a reason. Come with a hungry group. 

Small plates restaurants in Santa Monica often translate to bad tapas or wagyu sliders that cost more than a good burger. Not at Shirube. This Tokyo-based izakaya works well for snacking on roe-topped chawanmushi, grilled duck breast with a beautiful pink center, and delicate halibut sashimi. Most dishes cost less than $20, which makes Shirube an ideal place to load up on snacky things and drink sake with a date at the bar (where you can watch the kitchen staff swirl udon noodles in salty roe butter).

This NYC-based Mexican restaurant from the team behind Damian and Pujol just opened a Venice location. Atla may not be reinventing the wheel but they do the classics thoughtfully, like potato and cheese flautas that shatter like glass and a delicate quesadilla with epazote in every bite. Despite its casual lunch and dinner service, Atla ain’t cheap. (We're talking a $16 quesadilla.) The fact that everything is sincerely enjoyable makes a meal here worth the splurge.

A year ago, LA barely had a handful of Spanish restaurants. Now there are over a dozen options, with some even offering specific regional styles. Xuntos in Santa Monica is the latest of the bunch. At this northern Spanish tapas spot, you can snack on Galician tuna empanadas and get a little buzzed on Basque cider in a two-story space that’s perfect for dates. Energy levels stay high, tapas dishes come out fast, and the bar is great for talking as you watch a sword-yielding employee carve a jamón leg. Rather than standard tapas like ham croquettes (which, yes, are very good here), opt for the less common finds like gigantic, crispy-edged beef ribs, fried anchovies, and scallops on the half-shell bathed in saffron butter. 

This casual A-frame restaurant on Washington isn’t just a comforting place to eat pasta and pizza while surrounded by servers in bright red blazers. It’s now our favorite Italian spot in Culver City. A bold statement for a July opening? Sure. But warranted considering their smoked eel pasta rolled in pecorino butter, brisket meatballs, and pizzas. These pies come out of a wood-fired oven with a blistered crust and soft doughy centers that somehow avoid sagging under toppings like sausage and miso mayo. Expect to see dates gulping amaretto sours, friends snacking on zucchini blossoms, and families towing $800 strollers. Reservations may be tough, but you can usually book slots a few weeks ahead without much fuss.

Meet the Westside’s best option for a fancy vegan dinner. Planta Cocina's glitzy space is right on the Marina Del Rey boardwalk, and it feels like the West Coast version of the Versace mansion. They serve vegan sushi, pasta, and bar snacks that closely replicate their meat-and-fish counterparts. We especially love the miso-glazed eggplant nigiri, which tastes better than a lot of the sushi we’ve had in LA. If you’re looking for a restaurant to bring that vegan DJ you met on Hinge, book your table on a “Maki Monday” or “Pour Decision Wednesday,” when you can make the most of Planta’s specials like unlimited rolls and half-priced bottles of wine.

There’s an air of mystery surrounding Le Great Outdoor in Santa Monica. The name sounds like it could be an REI surplus store and its Instagram presence, while beautiful, doesn’t give away many details. So here’s the deal: it’s an order-at-the-grill dinner spot in the Bergamot Station parking lot where meat, fish, and veggies are cooked right in front of you. Everybody’s hanging out on picnic tables and drinking chilled wine from Argentina. The whole experience feels like you stumbled onto an impromptu neighborhood block party—but with people who actually know what they’re doing at the grill.

If you’ve eaten at Mother Wolf or Felix, you know those places treat pasta with the respect it deserves. Funke in Beverly Hills is an Italian spot from the same team, and the glamorous dining room looks like the kind of space James Bond would do spy stuff in a black tuxedo. The atmosphere is grown-up but unstuffy, and you can watch your agnolotti being formed in a 20-foot workshop at the center of the restaurant. Go heavy on the housemade pasta, and don’t leave without a sip of their fantastic tomato martini. Reservations are few and far between, so plan on booking well in advance or snagging a seat at the walk-in-only rooftop bar. 

Formally Chez Tex, this cutesy French bistro isn’t too different from its previous iteration. It's owned by the same people, the exposed brick remains intact, and the warm staff turns the sparse room into a lively, rosé-guzzling scene on Main Street. The ambiance (and great drinks) makes it a buzzy dinner option for when being "out and about" is the night's top priority. The glammed-up “haute dog” and bistro burger are fine, but don’t leave without getting the steak frites.

Originally opened in 1966 with Frank Sinatra as an investor, La Dolce Vita is one of LA’s most iconic Old Hollywood haunts. But a great time at this newly revitalized Beverly Hills landmark doesn’t rely on nostalgia alone. You’ll find Italian American classics done right, elite service, and one of the best martinis we’ve ever tasted—all in a tiny, windowless room that feels like a boozy Oscars afterparty. In other words, take all the best elements of Dan Tana’s and throw in food so good it'll have your table fighting over the leftovers. That’s La Dolce Vita. 

This buzzy pasta spot by DTLA's Superfine Pizza and Rossoblu people couldn't feel more out of place in a sleepy Playa Vista mall. Located next to a massive Whole Foods, Superfine Playa has a lot more personality than its neighbor with an upscale dining room full of chatty friends and first dates rotating excellent housemade pasta. The menu ranges from simple to slightly experimental, including lightly al dente spaghetti with tart pomodoro and rigatoni tossed in a creamy, extra-funky chicken liver ragu. But whatever you do, order the gorgeous heritage pork chop as the table's main. This seared slab of meat easily feeds two and gets punched up with sweet pickled fennel, fermented chilis, and blood orange slices that form a tangy pan sauce with the meat's drippings.

It’s been a long winter, so if you’re struggling to break into warm-weather mode, head to Isla. This breezy California-ish spot from the Crudo e Nudo people is located on Main Street in Santa Monica mere blocks from the beach, and it’s where you’ll find us hanging out all summer. The space is upscale, but still neighborhood-y with plush banquettes and an open hearth surrounded by bar seats. Grilled skewers make up most of the menu, ranging from chicken hearts to kanpachi in orange-koji marinade, and we suggest making them the centerpiece of your meal. They’re small, fall into the $8-$12 range, and are uniformly excellent, so if you’re a table of two, order all of them and fight over your favorites. Round out dinner with an absurdly fresh citrus salad, crispy calamari with macadamia nuts, and a house gin and tonic or two. Or three. It’s warm out.

Little Dynamite, or The Artist Formerly Known As Bootleg Pizza, has a new name and a new location in Culver City, but the decadent pies at this order-at-counter shop are every bit as good as when we first tried them in 2020. You could argue about whether these hefty,  squares are Sicilian, Detroit, or traditional pan-style pizza, but we’d say they’re a mix of all three: heavy on the tomato sauce, paved with layers of gooey cheese, and sporting a crispy, inch-thick crust and soft interior that tastes like biting into a custom-made pizza pillow. Pies rotate frequently—they're topped with everything from honey to sliced lemons—but the pepperoni-covered “Pep’d Up” is our never-fail mainstay. If you don’t feel like investing in a full pizza (these babies are massive), slices are available from 12-3pm.

Nearly every dining guide to New Orleans features Willie Mae’s Scotch House, and for good reason. Now with a second location in Venice, this casual NOLA classic serves exceptional fried chicken with a flaky crust that crackles and shatters the moment you take a bite. There’s a subtle, lingering heat that we love almost as much as the fact that there are no tourist lines like you’ll find out east. Rather than saving room for sides, your move here should be ordering as much chicken as possible—the juicy bird easily outshines any candied yams or mac & cheese on the menu.