The 38 Best Restaurants in Los Angeles

"Operating in the shadows of Orange County’s Little Saigon can be tough for Los Angeles’s Vietnamese restaurants. Comparisons between the two regions are inevitable, with Little Saigon’s veritable cornucopia of Vietnamese restaurants mostly edging out those found in Los Angeles. Kim Hoa Hue, however, can hold its own anywhere. The original location in El Monte opened in the mid-aughts and a second restaurant came online in Temple City in June 2024. Every meal at this central Vietnamese specialist should begin with the Hue combo, a sample platter of banh beo (steamed rice cakes topped with shrimp and cracklins), banh nam (rice cakes embedded with shrimp and steamed in banana leaves), and banh bot loc (shrimp and pork dumplings). Follow it up with a green papaya salad topped with sweetish beef jerky and plenty of liver. The com hen — a bowl of steamed rice, baby clams, sesame seeds, and fresh herbs served with a light clam broth — is a regional delicacy that every Vietnamese food lover should experience. — Cathy Chaplin, former senior editor" - Eater Staff