The Best Restaurants In Highland Park

The first thing you’ll notice at Mustard’s—besides the line—is Kendrick blasting from the speakers. Right on cue, DJ Mustard’s “MUSTARRDDD” drops, and you realize there’s some cheekiness happening. This tiny weekend-only pop-up near Figueroa and York has a “we’re here until we’re not” attitude and often sells out by 1pm, which might be annoying if its crackly fresh-baked sourdough bagels weren’t so incredible. We’re fans of the Grampa Sam with a flurry of fried capers that’s their take on a classic lox situation, but the standout is the Deanna Michelle, a play on Din Tai Fung’s cucumbers in bagel form topped with chili oil and miso scallion schmear.

If you’re someone who enjoys food trucks, mariscos, and/or eating sweet and spicy dishes, you'll be very into Simón. The chef (who also runs Carnal) comes from a fine dining background in Oaxaca, which shines through in various ceviches and things like a barbacoa octopus taco. If we had to pick a highlight on the menu, it'd be the aguachile negro in an inky black sauce that’s silky, a bit sweet, and punchy. We also love that Simón has its own refrigerated self-serve salsa cabinet. They offer five different housemade options and if you're not sure which one to try, the jar labels provide taco pairing suggestions.

Mala Class is a cute spot to take a date, even if everyone here is doing the same thing. This tiny Sichuan restaurant is walk-in only, so expect to wait for a table when date night is in full swing. And if you can handle some pre-dinner small talk (and eating noodles in tight quarters), you’ll be rewarded with a small selection of fragrant Sichuan dishes. The bean curd and cucumber salad is dressed with a punchy housemade black vinegar, the plump pork dumplings have a dual sauce of chili oil and aromatic-infused soy, and the dan dan noodles with minced pork is one of the city’s best (and spiciest). All of Mala Class’s nine or so dishes are under $20 and come out quickly, which makes lingering in this charming plant-filled space with a few crowds of dumplings all too easy.

The ‘70s man cave vibe at Sam’s Place—wood paneling, flannel curtains, extremely low lighting—makes it feel like you need a password to get in. You don’t, and that’s good because you’ll want to make it your new hangout. Sure, it’s yet another wine bar with good food, but the straightforward confidence of Sam’s cooking puts it in a different league. For “just snacks,” there’s a salami plate with cornichon butter that’ll make you wonder where cornichon butter has been all this time. For a full meal, there’s spicy sweet potatoes, a herby salad, and an excellent bavette steak. Whichever route you go, you’ll order at the bar, where the owner talks through what they’re pouring that night before you grab a candlelit booth and settle in.

Carnal is sneakily a fine dining experience, even if it brands itself as a casual spot. This small Oaxacan restaurant from the Simón chef is somewhere you go for run-of-the-mill plans like hangover brunch with your friends, but the food looks (and tastes) worthy of a special occasion. Familiar Mexican ingredients are spliced together in ways that get your feet tapping under Carnal’s long communal table: fatty tuna tlayudas sprinkled with chile-dusted grasshoppers, a vegan mushroom ceviche negro that jolts your mouth, and a pink-in-the-middle duck breast that your server dowses in smoky mole negro. And just when you start to question if Carnal is all that “casual” after all, the chef’s cousin offers you a humble café de olla in a ceramic mug because it’s good for digestion. Take them up on it.

Our list of reasons for loving HP's favorite bagel shop just grew longer. Now called Belle’s Delicatessen, this former takeout window went through a retro glow-up and emerged as a full-service Jewish deli with hot pastrami on double-baked rye, sour pickle plates, and scallion latkes. The paint has barely had a chance to dry, but the dining room exudes old-timey charm with leather booths and tchotchkes aplenty. And like all proper delis, Belle’s is an all-day affair. Make a morning stop for a bagel sandwich with pastrami-spiced lox, or grab a stool at the bar for an after-hours pickle martini or “Gin & Tonukkah.”

Highland Park is the perfect pick for Highly Likely’s second location. It’s a neighborhood that apparently loves an all-day cafe (there are at least five others along Figueroa), and also needs more reasonably priced places to eat pasta with friends. The space kind of resembles an upgraded WeWork with its excessive foliage and open floor plan, and the laptop crowd dominates until 5pm. That’s when the counter-service cafe flips into a sit-down dinner spot with dishes like pappardelle bolognese and mushroom piccata. This Highly Likely is also home to a truly outstanding backyard patio where you can sit with a fig negroni and pretend you’re in a secret garden behind an artist’s studio.

When it comes to great fusion restaurants, Amiga Amore sets the standard. The chef couple behind this tiny spot Frankensteins together an impressive lineup of Mexican-meets-Italian dishes inspired by the stuff they grew up eating: plump elote agnolotti, a caprese with diced cactus, and a bowl of chorizo and clams with thick slabs of chile de arbol toast. Whether you drop by the bar with a date or sit at a big round patio table with a group, it’s the food that’ll linger in your mind for weeks. And even if you would never have thought to make pasta dough out of masa or make a caprese salad with nopales, you’ll leave here glad someone else did.

This strip mall Highland Park taquería takes a more-is-more approach with its fully loaded tacos. Each one comes on a Dodger-blue corn tortilla layered with crispy griddled cheese, diced onions, cilantro, crema, cotija, guacamole, and a mesquite-grilled protein of your choice. (Oh, and the option to add seven different salsas and hibiscus-pickled onions, too.) If this sounds like a messy mountain to you, you're not incorrect. But it's a mess worth making. Order the Villa's Trio, a cheesy, three-taco sampler that includes grilled asada, chorizo with potato, and chicken with black beans.

Mariscos El Faro is a Sinaloa-style seafood truck that will convince you to stay well past your 30-minute lunch break. Located outside a park off Figueroa, the truck sets up a few tables and stools on the sidewalk where you can enjoy an ice-cold michelada, fresh oysters, and their signature aguachile in a Clamato-y sauce with big heat from crushed chiltepín chiles. Everything we've tried from the truck's impressively large menu is delicious, which explains our tendency to over-order when we come here (and take a nap under a tree at the park afterward).

Maciel's is your best bet for a vegan deli sandwich in Highland Park, and possibly all of LA. They make their own plant-based meats in-house, offer dairy-free cheeses by the pound, and nothing costs more than $15. Our favorite lunch at Maciel's is the classic Italian—it's loaded with meat-free salami and pastrami, chopped pepperoncini, and a tasty pickled cherry pepper spread. If you're looking for vegan food that makes you feel like someone cares about you (and your taste buds), you'll love this place.

Hippo is a kind-of-Italian spot with qualities you currently find in most nice LA restaurants: high ceilings, graphic floral designs on the walls, and a menu full of crudos, pasta, and big plates of meat. But Hippo mashes all those familiar elements up in a way that feels exciting. The crudos and pasta are all excellent, and it's also a great spot for a few drinks before heading out to all the other bars along Figueroa.

Goldburger opened its first brick-and-mortar in Highland Park back in 2020 and has since exploded in popularity. These are the most substantial burgers in LA's oversaturated smash scene. From their namesake "Goldburger," topped with american cheese, grilled onions, and garlic-mustard aioli, to the "LA Special," loaded with thick cuts of pastrami, these smashburgers will keep you full past dinner or possibly even into breakfast the next day. Get the kind-of-spicy curly fries, too.

Joy is a popular Taiwanese restaurant that's convenient when you want a satisfying meal in less than a half-hour but would rather eat popcorn kernels off the floor of your car than do a drive-thru. Owned by the same people as Pine & Crane, the order-at-the-counter spot has a small menu with a ton of variety. They serve daily cold appetizers, a few different soups, noodle and rice sections (we love the salty, savory Chiayi chicken rice), and fantastic sandwiches made with their flaky homemade scallion sesame bread. Almost everything falls under $15, and even when it's crowded, you can be in and out before your meter expires along York.

Jeff’s Table isn’t the first deli hidden behind a liquor store in Highland Park—they’re not even the first one to occupy the space they’re in. But hidden or not, this is one of our favorite places to get a sandwich in the neighborhood. If you’re really hungry, get the “Jeff’s Special”—hot pastrami, sauerkraut, and what’s basically a big parmesan crisp on rye—or the “Dirty Baby,” which is a turkey salad sandwich that involves housemade chili crisp, two kinds of smoked cheese, and pickled onions. Order a side of the spicy, creamy Thai peanut mac salad to balance everything all out.

This decades-old Mexican spot on York Boulevard has a full antojito menu with everything from tortas to tostadas, but coming here without ordering one of their namesake huaraches would like going to the La Brea Tar Bits and not seeing the woolly mammoth. The sandal-sized strips of fried masa come with smooth refried beans in the middle and topped with crumbly cheese, a slightly bitter crema, and a choice of meat (we like the pleasantly greasy cabeza). Order it super-style and they'll pour on a big ladle of salsa verde or roja, too.

When you want SGV-quality dumplings without crossing east of the 110, Mason’s Dumpling Shop has your back. This all-day, order-at-the-counter spot comes from the team behind Monrovia’s Luscious Dumplings and offers a wide variety of doughy parcels, from classic xiao long bao to steamed fish dumplings. We come here for the pan-fried pork variety, which hide a garlicky wallop beneath their crisp, lacy edges. They’re great eaten when still a little too hot and dipped in a DIY sauce made at the table from soy, vinegar, and housemade chili oil.