Balboa Island’s Famed Frozen Banana Stand Is Expanding to Long Beach
Sugar ‘n Spice, Balboa Island’s beloved frozen banana stand that inspired Arrested Development’s Bluth’s Original Frozen Banana Stand, will head to Long Beach this year. The frozen dessert stand told Eater it is targeting a December opening in the Belmont Shores neighborhood; Longbeachize first reported the expansion. Sugar ‘n Spice will open at 5269 E. Second Street. Sugar ‘n Spice opened on the picturesque Balboa Island in 1945 and has gained a cult following for its frozen treats, including the iconic dipped banana, spumoni ice cream cake, frozen tiramisu dipped in chocolate, and a vanilla ice cream–based Balboa bar. It also offers scoops of ice cream in flavors such as vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, and rocky road. The Long Beach outpost will be Sugar ‘n Spice’s second location and will mark the first expansion outside of Balboa Island. Dinner lands at Holy Basil Arts District Holy Basil’s new location in the Arts District will begin dinner service on Monday, October 26. The resta
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All the New Restaurant Openings to Know in Los Angeles
An assortment of dishes at Bar Fortuna in Santa Monica, California. | Catherine Dzilenski Los Angeles is no stranger to restaurant openings, whether debuts in iconic buildings helmed by big-name chefs, humble neighborhood haunts, or pop-ups leaping into permanent spaces. The city’s dining scene continues to grow even as operators face stunning challenges related to ongoing impacts from the 2020 coronavirus pandemic, the 2023 Hollywood labor strikes, the 2025 Palisades and Eaton fires, and systemic slowdowns affecting the entire global food supply. This roundup features a running list of all the latest openings you should know about across the Southland. For Eater editors’ curation of the best new restaurants in Los Angeles, check out the heatmap, and for a guide to the best restaurants in the city, look to the Eater 38.
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The Best Dishes Eater Editors Ate This Week: October 26
Fried scamorza at Bar Fortuna in Santa Monica. | Mona Holmes The editors at Eater Los Angeles dine out several times a week, if not per day, which means we’re always encountering standout dishes that deserve time in the limelight. Here’s the very best of everything the team has eaten this week. Cornbread with anchovy butter from Dom’s Taverna in Santa Barbara The best cornbread I’ve ever had in Los Angeles — and maybe my life? — is the sour milk version at Dunsmoor inspired by Edna Lewis. The iteration at Dom’s Taverna, however, is highly competitive. The skillet cornbread has a crusty exterior that gives way to an impressively soft and cake-like center. What makes it so surprising is the addition of a quenelle of anchovy butter on top, with a small divot in the center to cradle a pool of honey. As the butter melts, the honey waterfalls into the cornbread, seeping into each crevice. The salinity and deep umami of the anchovies in the butter make an ideal contrast to the sweetness of su
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Your Los Angeles Restaurant Weekend Guide: October 23
A selection of sashimi from Tiger’s Den. | Rebecca Roland Every Friday, our editors compile a trusty list of recommendations to answer the most pressing of questions: “Where should I eat?“ Here are four places to check out this weekend in Los Angeles. And if you need some ideas on where to drink, here’s our list of the hottest places to get cocktails in town. For smoky tacos from a stellar taquero: Tacos Royale in Silver Lake There are plenty of reasons to visit Tacos Royale. Just take your pick: First, Tacos Royale’s Hermosillo-style utilizes a unique preparation that trims the fat and nerves and cooks over a low flame, leaving tender and delightfully smoky meat. Second, there are ample deep-fried cracklings and a fire salsa bar. Owner Saúl Pérez García uses organic beef tallow flour tortillas. Finally, there’s a downstairs bar adjacent to the parking lot stand on West Sunset Boulevard near Coronado Street, where one can take an asada taco or burrito and down it with cerveza. Go with
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Downtown LA’s Original Pantry Cafe Is Back
The Original Pantry Cafe. | AaronP/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images The iconic Original Pantry Cafe will reopen on November 19, and the timing couldn’t be better for Los Angeles. After the century-old diner closed in March 2025, the owners announced that the Downtown restaurant would reopen, but no one knew when. With restaurant closures continuing at a constant pace in 2026, the return of one of Southern California’s oldest restaurants comes as welcome news, first reported by SF Gate. The Original Pantry Cafe will collaborate with the nonprofit Hope the Mission, a prominent service provider for the unhoused in Greater Los Angeles. Real estate entrepreneur Leo Pustilnikov became the new owner in September 2025. SF Gate’s report also states every meal will help fund the nonprofit while providing job training and support to those caught up in the cycle of home insecurity. Some former Original Pantry employees, many of whom worked at the restaurant for decades, will also return to work, as Pustiln
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The Best Sushi Restaurants in Los Angeles, According to Eater Editors
Tiger's Den. | Rebecca Roland Los Angeles has a plethora of culinary strong suits, including regional Chinese fare, tacos of all stripes, and world-class sushi. Nearly every corner of the city — the Valley, the Westside, the San Gabriel Valley, and the South Bay — lays claim to an incredible sushi counter with a veritable master at the helm. More casual experiences offering hand rolls and old-school takeout reflect the breadth of LA’s sushi culture. From reasonably priced gems to extravagant omakase, here are the best places to get sushi in Los Angeles. New this update: Osusume Fumio, Tiger’s Den, and Sushi Nakazawa join, while Soko and Norikaya leave the list.
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Lightning, Thunderclaps, and Mexican Rum Fuel Sherman Oaks’ New Cocktail Bar
Cocktails and snacks. | Robert Campbell Gilbert Pérez Bar, a new, experiential cocktail destination in Sherman Oaks, opens on Thursday, October 22, directly above its acclaimed sister establishment, Daisy Margarita Bar. In the works since Daisy opened in early 2025, Gilbert Pérez may be from the same team, but it’s a different type of watering hole altogether and something entirely new for Southern California. Mad-scientist barman Max Reis brings next-level theatrics to Gilbert Pérez; a strict no-smartphones policy keeps the focus on the spectacle unfolding throughout the bar. Business partner Matt Egan, an accomplished director of photography in film and television, brings his own expertise to making Gilbert Pérez more than a rum-focused cocktail bar: It’s somewhere between a theme park and the Magic Castle, but with Mexican spirits (in multiple senses of the word) and a mythology all its own. Showcasing over 70 rums from sustainable, small-batch producers across Mexico, the bar take
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The Secrets Behind Jar’s 25-Year Staying Power
Steak. | Matthew Kang I like to think of the restaurant world like sports: there are heroes and villains, legends and heels. And then there are the GOATs. I love thinking about the Greatest of All Time in particular because they help define what it means to be fed and to find community. To me, the greatest restaurants have staying power, influence, quality, and relevance, year in and year out. With almost two decades of exploring this city’s restaurants, I feel it’s time to start naming some of the GOATs of Los Angeles, places that only exist here and create a distinct cultural significance. Sign up for the Kang Town newsletter This post originally appeared in my Kang Town newsletter, where I cover all things dining in the West. Sign up here to get my latest stories. I’m calling this my Pantheon of LA Restaurants (not to be confused with my Pantheon of Animals, a deep cut). My first inductee: the stately and timeless Jar in Beverly Grove. Founded by chef Suzanne Tracht, Jar celebrates
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Santa Monica’s Bar Fortuna Opens This Week With Gorgeous Pastas and Negronis Galore
Santa Monica’s Bar Fortuna makes its Main Street debut on Wednesday, October 21. Chef and owner Brian Bornemann’s charming, almost 40-seat restaurant is barely a three-minute walk from his noted seafood restaurant, Crudo e Nudo. Here, Bornemann draws on his personal connections with vendors to keep prices as low as possible for diners while maintaining high quality. The result is a compelling eight pastas prepared on site; an enjoyable selection of starters (many sourced from the Santa Monica Farmers Market); good-to-share main dishes; French, Italian, and California wines; and a cocktail menu that rivals any other in the Southland. Bornemann grew up on Ocean Park in Santa Monica; he created Bar Fortuna to make dining out in his neighborhood affordable and accessible. “There’s some good pasta options in town, but they’re either wildly expensive or dinner time only,” says Bornemann. “I don’t want to replicate a Roman street food dish and charge $34 for it. We also chose a smaller space
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Stiletto Brings Live-Fire Cooking and Comté Gougeres to Santa Monica
Pork schnitzel. | Peridot Just weeks after opening bakery Matilda’s in a restored 1940s administrative building at the Santa Monica Airport, restaurateur Sean Martin will debut his next project, Stiletto, on October 21. Named after the Douglas X-3 Stiletto jet housed at the neighboring airport museum, the restaurant centers on local produce and live-fire cooking from Ireland-born chef Patrick Powell, whose resume includes now-closed Allegra, Chiltern Firehouse, and One Club Row in London. “The term we’re using is modern steakhouse, but sometimes I think it’s almost underselling it, calling it a steakhouse,” Powell says. “There’s a lot more to it.” The menu opens with a Matilda’s baguette with butter; a briny Ortiz anchovy and Gordal olive gilda; and steak tartare dressed with a mayonnaise-based emulsion of ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, and Tabasco. “It’s pretty classic, but I think it’s as good as a tartar can get for me, and it’s exactly how I want to eat it,” Powell says.
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