Los Angeles’s 2025 Eater Award Winners | Eater LA

"Quiet resilience defines this live-fire Altadena restaurant, where owner Tyler Wells — who lost his home in the Eaton Fire — and lead chef Paul Downer have built the consummate community dinner hangout amid a corridor scarred by flames. The hearth powers a chicory Caesar flecked with glimmering white anchovy and a snowfall of Parmesan; the “cheese we are liking” of the day with crackly, sea-salt-pocked focaccia; pillowy ricotta gnocchi doused in lemon butter and freckled with black pepper; and sprouting cauliflower with charred onion vinaigrette. Table centerpieces like the heritage pork chop and tomahawk rib-eye take beautifully to the flames, and a scorched Basque cheesecake brings the fire and caramelization other versions often miss. Warm, attentive service and the open hearth give the room its glow; the move is to go with a big enough group to snag the five- or six-seat banquette and watch Altadena’s dining scene come to life." - Rebecca Roland