It’s been another magnificent year on the food scene in LA. We’ve seen everything from a wave of seafood restaurants to haute vegan, dim sum and huge hunks of grilled meats rise to the top of the must-haves. Young chefs continue to light up the neighborhoods with big, bold flavors, even taking it to outlying areas – planting a seed, if you will. Established chefs have moved and shuffled, while others opened fabulous new concepts in storied old buildings. While we’ve had incredible meals at newcomers all over town, it’s difficult to touch on every delicious dish served at every restaurant from the year. So here are 10 spots that we think mattered in 2013, thanks to their vision, design or menu – or all of the above.
Din Tai Fung at Americana at Brand
Bringing xiao long bao to the mall-going masses was big news. In Glendale. This is the third location of the soup dumpling chain in LA and the fourth in the country. No matter where it opens, there are always a line (we walked into the new outpost at 4:43 PM on a Friday evening with no line and empty tables; by 5:36 the place was packed with a line out the door), beautiful and juicy pork dumplings, and an army of cooks hand-making them on the spot.
Why it matters: While we don’t think it will alleviate the hungry hordes in Arcadia, having a location closer than Arcadia is big news to a huge portion of Angelenos needing their juicy-pork-dumpling fix. And this outpost has a full bar, which means cocktails, which means, um, yes. Please.