Six SoCal restaurants added to California Michelin Guide

Six Los Angeles restaurants were named Wednesday to the famed California Michelin Guide.

Michelin Guide inspectors spend the year seeking out the best restaurants, with selections added twice a year. This month, the guide recommended a variety of eateries, from a seafood-tasting spot to a Chinese American restaurant.

Corridor 109

Corridor 109 is described as “an intimate 11-seat counter” restaurant in Melrose Hill behind its sister establishment Bar 109. The place is mostly focused on fish, especially on dishes served raw.

Chef and owner Brian Baik sharpened his cooking skills in New York before returning to Los Angeles, according to the guide, and the work shows. The courses show “great care and finesse,” said the Michelin Guide, and memorable dishes include its Santa Barbara spiny lobster tartare in a kombu tartlet with a whitefish mousse.

The place is open Thursdays through Saturdays but “reservations are a must.”

Firstborn

This Chinese American restaurant located on Broadway in Mandarin Plaza is owned by chef Anthony Wang, a first-generation American as the name suggests, according to the Michelin Guide.

The guide praises the place for having a “welcoming and comfortable” dining room and a “well-organized kitchen” that produces dishes meant for sharing.

The main dishes rotate, but the guide recommends dishes like tender tofu dumplings with sautéed shiitake mushrooms or duck sausage.

Lapaba

Lapaba is a new pasta bar in Koreatown by Matthew Kim and McKenna Lelah, who are also husband and wife. The bar fuses Italian cuisine with a Korean twist, according to Michelin.

A highlighted dish is the Bulgogi meatballs served in a truffle tomato sauce and paired with milk bread. Another example are pastas paired with short rib ragu.

The guide recommends ordering as a group to sample more of the dishes, as “portions aren’t huge.”

Little Fish Melrose Hill

This sit-down restaurant on Melrose Avenue is praised for its high-quality and sustainably-sourced fish and California produce.

It offers lunch dishes such as fried fish sandwiches and the tuna melt, highlighting a menu that is “casual in form but precise in execution.” During dinner, one can order seared pork and shellfish sausage.

Lugya’h

The guide calls this Mexican restaurant‘s tlayudas the “star of the show,” alongside its tortillas and sausages.

Located in Los Angeles’s Maydan Market on Jefferson Boulevard, it’s in a food market setting where one orders at a counter and then finds a seat. Portions are “hearty,” the guide said.

Zira Uzbek Kitchen

The restaurant is a great place to try food from Uzbekistan, a country that sits between China and Europe. The owner Azim Rahmatov serves lunch and dinner daily at the location in the Fairfax District.

The menu includes traditional cooking with salads, soup such as lagman with hand-pulled noodles, grilled skewered meats and dumplings.

Download The California Post App, follow us on social, and subscribe to our newsletters