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Los Angeles may be known for its beach living and celebrity-infused backdrop, but it was once a farm town. The hillsides were covered in citrus orchards and dairy farms, and agriculture was a major industry. Today, even as L.A. is urbanized, the city's culinary landscape has re-embraced a local, sustainable, and seasonal philosophy at many levels—from fine dining to street snacks.
With a growing interest in farm-to-fork, the city's farmers' market scene has exploded, becoming popular at big-name restaurants and small eateries alike. In Hollywood and Santa Monica you can often find high-profile chefs scouring farm stands for fresh produce.
Yet the status of the celebrity chef continues to carry weight around this town. People follow the culinary zeitgeist with the same fervor as celebrity gossip. You can queue up with the hungry hordes at Mozza or try and snag a reservation to the ever-popular Trois Mec that’s much like getting a golden ticket these days. Elsewhere, the seasonally driven bakery and insanely popular Huckleberry in Santa Monica has been given a Brentwood counterpart with the rustically sweet Milo & Olive created by the same owners. In Culver City, a run-down International House of Pancakes has been turned into the ski chalet–inspired A-Frame Tavern. The Ace Hotel opened an L.A. chapter Downtown, creating a hip haven when you can enjoy cocktails and locally sourced menu items poolside or in the restaurant.
Ethnic eats continue to be a backbone to the L.A. dining scene. People head to the San Gabriel Valley for dim sum, ramen, and unassuming taco lounges; Koreatown for epic Korean cooking and late-night coffeehouses; and West L.A. and "the Valley" for phenomenal sushi. Latin food is well represented in the city, making it tough to choose between Guatemalan eateries, Peruvian restaurants, nouveau Mexican bistros, and Tijuana-style taco trucks. With so many dining options, sometimes the best strategy is simply to drive and explore.
Those who normally skip vanilla ice cream because it's so—well—vanilla should shelve their preconceptions and order a scoop of Carmela's beloved brown sugar vanilla bean. But this local fave also encourages a dive into more complex flavor profiles like carrot orange ginger sorbet. The toothsome ice cream sandwich will make you feel like a kid again.
Started by former music producer and Donut Friend creator Mark Trombino, Creamo is to ice cream as Donut Friend is to doughnuts (and if you don't get those L.A. references, it's what In-N-Out is to burgers). Everything is vegan in the shop; nonetheless, nonvegans will love its 16 soy-based flavors, many of which are named after pop-punk and emo bands. Crowd-favorites stay year-round, but two to three flavors rotate seasonally, and inventive Trombino comes up with a new flavor every season. Not an ice cream fan? Vegan shakes like the Paramoreo, named after Paramore, might just change your life.
Sweet Rose Creamery is the next-best thing you'll find to homemade ice cream—only with a much posher atmosphere in the Brentwood Country Mart. From-scratch offerings feature local farmers' fare and are all-natural. Come for the salted caramel and stay for seasonal specialties like the Santa Teresa lemon buttermilk sherbet. There are even heavenly options for the lactose-intolerant.
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