15 L.A. restaurants where ordering the house specialty is a must 64%
By Jessie Schiewe0%
3/28/2025, 8:21:25 PM
Topics: Dining, Culinary Guide
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Decision fatigue is a real issue when it comes to dining in Los Angeles.
With so many fantastic restaurants to choose from, the first hurdle is simply deciding where to go for your next meal out.
Once you’ve narrowed that down, you’re then faced with menus that can range from sparse to compendious, like the famous 300-item menu at Thai Town’s Jitlada.
But sometimes, one dish emerges as a house specialty.
It takes the pressure off knowing that there’s a crowd-favorite item that never fails to delight.
“I love signature dishes and hate when restaurants run out of them,” says Cento Pasta Bar chef Avner Levi.
The restaurant is known for its spicy pomodoro that’s topped with whipped ricotta and verdant basil oil.
“Its popularity wasn’t something I expected; the dish just took on a life of its own.”
Even though the popularity of the dish can put pressure on the kitchen, Levi sees the signature dish as a sort of blessing because “it makes it easier for guests to come back and be more adventurous with seasonal dishes as they know the staple will always be there.”
There are tons of legendary foods in L.A. — take the chili cheese dog that customers line up for at Pink’s Hot Dogs or the plump xiao long bao at Din Tai Fung.
Next time you want to take the guesswork out of ordering, try the signature dish at one of these 15 L.A. restaurants, from garlic chicken at a long-standing Cuban spot to a memorable salad in Pasadena.
Jessie Schiewe is a freelance journalist.
Chicken Parmesan at Dan Tana's
For 60 years, this little yellow house on Santa Monica Boulevard has been serving up one of the best chicken Parmesan renditions in the city.
The cutlet in Dan Tana’s chicken Parmesan is huge, with a crispy breaded exterior and blanketed in a layer of bubbly, broiled cheese and swimming in a pool of marinara.
The dish comes with a large side of spaghetti marinara and is so filling you might not finish it all, which is a good thing because it makes for great leftovers in a sandwich or salad for lunch the next day.
Chopped Italian salad at Alejo's Italian Restaurant
It isn’t every day you hear people freaking out over a salad, but fans of the chopped Italian at Alejo’s swear by it, not just as a start to the meal but as a worthy main course.
True to tradition, the salad features finely chopped lettuce, garbanzo beans, tomatoes, mozzarella cheese and salami.
It’s the house-made vinaigrette that makes this version stand out from others.
And no, the restaurant will not share the recipe with you.
It doesn’t hurt that fresh bread and garlic oil is served with every order.
Zhengyalov hatz at Zhengyalov Hatz
Zhengyalov hatz is an Armenian flatbread stuffed with more than a dozen chopped greens, including spinach, scallions, beetroot leaves, cilantro and sorrel.
For years it was the only nondessert item served at the eponymous Glendale restaurant, and even though the menu expanded with chicken shawarma and lahmajun at the end of 2024, diners still come specifically for the flatbread that’s about the length of a forearm, and kneaded, rolled out and griddled in an open kitchen behind the cash register.
The flavor profile is savory, sharp and refreshing, and you can order a slab of butter to slather atop the warm bread.
No.
6 Famoso pollo at Versailles
Cuban immigrant William Garcia first opened Versailles in 1980 on Venice Boulevard, drawing inspiration from his mother’s recipes.
Now with three locations, Garcia has since welcomed his sons into the family business.Versailles is known for its large menu, offering everything from grilled salmon fillet to Cuban sandwiches to a vegan picadillo dish.
But it’s the No.
6 Famoso Pollo that keeps customers coming back decades later.Also known as the famous garlic chicken, the plate includes a roasted half chicken marinated in a citrusy mojo criollo sauce, topped with sliced onions and golden-fried plantains with chewy, caramelized edges.
The dish comes with your choice of white rice and black beans or moros y cristianos (rice and beans cooked together).
For an upcharge, you can order all white or all dark meat.
The most alluring quality of the No.
6 Famoso Pollo is the crispiness of the chicken skin.
The vibrant garlic sauce soaks through to deliver a pungent wallop with each bite.
Slippery shrimp at Yang Chow
If you've ever wanted to drink your vinegar and chile-laced dumpling dipping sauce, these are the dumplings for you.
At Yang Chow, the spicy wonton soup is essentially a giant bowl of dipping sauce made with plenty of vinegar, soy and chiles.
The restaurant adds hot broth to create a highly slurpable soup.
It's full of thin-skinned wontons filled with minced pork and shrimp.
They are the perfect vessels to soak up all the soup.
Spicy pomodoro at Cento Pasta Bar
Hidden in a seemingly nondescript building off West Adams Boulevard, Cento is ready to whisk you to the Italian or Mediterranean coast with its partitioned patio that features a sandy floor, string lights and an olive tree anchoring the center.
Or you could reserve a seat at the chef's counter, where you'll watch broccoli bucatini get topped with anchovies and creamy burrata or spicy pomodoro get a splash of verdant basil oil before they're sent out to tables.
Though the specialty here is Mediterranean-inflected handmade pastas, the entire menu is worth exploring, including a steak tartare with citrusy black lime vinaigrette; a radicchio salad with persimmons, dates and pecans; small plates such as charred octopus and meatballs with corn polenta; and large-format dishes including grilled orata and duck confit.
Finish your meal with the signature banana pudding tiramisu and browse the beverage menu for cocktails spiked with seasonal fruit or wines by the glass.
Lomo saltado at Mario's Peruvian
The lomo saltado at Mario’s Peruvian is the ideal one-container meal.
It hits most of the food groups with tender chunks of steak, sauteed slivers of onions, chopped tomato and thick-cut fries, all heaped together.
I use the term “fries” loosely as they will be the opposite of crispy by the time you open your dinner, but that’s a good thing.
Instead, think of them as seasoned potato logs the consistency of perfect baked potato.
One order is enough for two and weighs about as much as my 6-month-old godson.
But why not round out the meal with some pollo de chicharron too?
The fried nuggets of chicken are good at any temperature.
Just don’t forget sides of the restaurant’s aji, a vibrant green sauce that’s heavy on the cilantro and chile.— Jenn Harris
Dianne salad from Green Street restaurant
It's the salad on everyone's table, garnished with a single slice of orange and a plate of zucchini bread.
If there were a single dish associated with the city itself, it might be this, introduced to Pasadena diners in 1979.
The iceberg lettuce is shredded and tossed with diced boiled chicken, crunchy slivered almonds, fried noodles and lots of toasted sesame seeds.
The dressing gets its signature tang from a mix of rice vinegar and dry mustard.
I always ask for extra.
If you only have the time for a single meal in town (and you appreciate a good salad), it should be this one.
Dino's chicken combo at Dino's Famous Chicken
Dino's is an L.A. institution, serving up chicken that's tinged crimson from a spicy garlic marinade that draws from founder Demetrios Pantazis' Greek background, as well as the Pico-Union neighborhood that's home to the original location.
When Pantazis died in 2017, his family carried on the legacy, including his beloved chicken recipe.
As for the fries, they're chopped skinny and have the ideal McDonald's-reminiscent consistency of slightly crispy ends with soft centers.
They come as a generous side in the popular chicken combo plate and are saturated in the addictive marinade.
You can also skip the chicken (though why would you?)
and get Dino's fries with the chicken juice poured directly on top.
There are also the infamous DUI fries, loaded with carne asada, pastrami and chili, which I assume are most attractive when you're looking for something hearty to soak up a night's worth of booze with little concern as to how your stomach will feel in the morning when you wake up.
Carne asada torta at Mi Teresita Taco Truck
This taco truck parks at the corner of Western and Lexington in the heart of Hollywood seven days a week, from 8:30 p.m. to 3:30 a.m.
Located in front of an auto shop, most diners eat on the sidewalk (using the truck’s ledge as a tabletop) or in their cars.
They're here for the densely packed tortas.Each torta is composed with almost scientific exactness, the layers of juicy carne asada, lettuce, tomato, avocado and creamy mayo evenly distributed between slices of bread toasted on the plancha and wrapped in cheery yellow paper.
Each order comes with sides of smoky habanero and creamy avocado salsa as well as a bag of pickled onion, jalapeños and carrots.
The truck takes cash only, so come prepared.
Warm butter cake at Nick's South Lake Avenue
The butter cake at Nick’s South Lake Avenue proves that the best things in life are worth waiting for.
After you finish dishes like deviled eggs topped with crumbled bacon bits, shrimp taquitos and pan-seared Chilean seabass, you’ll finally be presented with the dessert menu, where you’ll find Nick’s famous warm butter cake.
Encased in a crystallized sugar crust, the moist cake is topped with a scoop of creamy vanilla ice cream and fresh berry compote.
It’s so popular that some diners come specifically for the sweet finale.
Chicken special panini at Il Tramezzino
Out of more than 20 sandwich options, Il Tramezzino’s chicken special panini has been the restaurant’s most popular for more than three decades.
The Italian cafe, which has a second location in Studio City, uses traditional country baguettes and was one of the first shops on the West Coast to introduce panini in the early 1990s.The ingredients in the chicken special panini are few but mighty: grilled chicken breast, sun-dried tomato, avocado, provolone cheese and the cafe’s secret pesto sauce that customers have long struggled to replicate.
Owner Veronique de Lestang estimates that between the two locations, at least 200 chicken special panini are ordered every day.
The original location in Beverly Hills now offers beer and wine.
Beef with vermicelli fried dumpling at Tai He Ju
All of the dumplings at this incognito shop in an El Monte strip mall are made from scratch daily.
Out of the 12 varieties, including steamed and pan-fried options, the beef with vermicelli fried dumplings are the staple.High-quality brisket is ground in-house, then paired with Korean vermicelli to create a balanced filling.
Available in quantities of four or eight, each order comes with the restaurant’s house chile oil and a generous bowl of complimentary corn egg drop soup.Make a reservation to avoid a wait on the weekends.
If you’d like to make the dumplings at home, you can order them frozen by calling a day in advance.
Cochinita pibil at Chichén Itzá
The Cetina family’s counter in Mercado La Paloma has been a longtime beacon for some of the most focused and accomplished Yucatecan cooking in Los Angeles.
Its three tamale variations are a window into the kitchen’s regional specificity.
Vaporcitos are perhaps the most famous Yucatecan style — thin, smooth rectangles, steamed in banana leaves, filled with chicken, pork or vegetables.
Any of them pair well with the silky tomato salsa you pour over top.
Tamal horneado, a baked variation, emerges from the oven with a brittle shell; crack it with a fork to reveal a still-soft interior with achiote-stained chicken, hard-boiled eggs and epazote-scented tomato.
Tamal colado, the most unusual of the trio (and my favorite), achieves its texture using exceptionally fine masa.
The effect is akin to a savory pudding threaded with chicken.
Call ahead to order any of these tamales in bulk for the holidays.
Chicken katsu curry at Daichan
Who doesn’t love a good agedashi tofu?
And who doesn’t love enjoying one in the confines of one of the most warm and homey Japanese restaurants in the city?
I love Daichan and always regret not making it out there more often to enjoy the simple, delicious food, cozy confines and so much bric-a-brac and cool stuff hanging from the walls and ceiling that you can barely scooch your chair out for fear of knocking something over.
The agedashi here is as simple as it needs to be — plump chunks of tofu, perfectly fried and with a neat little nori bowtie wrapped around each piece.
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