Glendale’s Brand Boulevard, home to Americana at Brand, the buzzing shopping, dining and residential center, has become one of the best streets for eating in all of Los Angeles. This is where you can walk from Shake Shack to In-N-Out for the ultimate fast-food taste test and where The Halal Guys is another quick and satisfying option if you’re in a hurry. But even better than that, this loaded cluster of Glendale has become home to both L.A. restaurant powerhouses and upstarts who are slinging bold flavors and taking diners around the world.
Here are Glendale’s five standout restaurants.
The Tsujita
This big and comfortable outpost of the city’s best ramen shop is part of the Americana at Brand’s impressive culinary makeover. The standard tonkotsu ramen is thick, murky, fatty and wonderful. But The Tsujita’s greatest hit is tsukemen, a bowl of noodles you dip into a bowl of ultra-rich pork broth. Get it with a seasoned, soft-boiled egg. You can also double up on pork by topping your noodles with some slices of char siu.
Din Tai Fung
This Taiwanese chain’s recently expanded restaurant at the Americana is known for some of the world’s best soup dumplings (xiaolongbao). And despite the fact that Din Tai Fung has been expanding all over L.A., you should still expect a wait if you come at prime dining hours. We love the crab-and-pork soup dumplings, and you can ball out with truffle-and-pork xiaolongbao. The fried rice and beef noodle soup are also wonderful at Din Tai Fung, but the reason everybody is here is to slurp soup dumplings.
Eggslut
Alvin Cailan’s Glendale location of his famed egg-sandwich shop is a lot less crowded than this original Grand Central Market stand, so this is a more relaxed way to get a bacon-egg-and-cheese breakfast sandwich or a fortifying egg-topped cheeseburger. Another delicious option, simply known as the Slut, is a coddled egg atop potato purée in a glass jar. Eggslut is located conveniently across the street from the Americana.
By Any Wang