Milk

101 Best restaurants of Los Angeles

@latimes

"#38 Alimento is the charismatic kid in your high school class who fit in well among several cliques without committing to one group or label. The restaurant rides the line between neighborhood staple and citywide destination. It’s a great choice for a promising first date. Families with food-loving teenagers will find dinner here worthy of an occasional Sunday night splurge. Zach Pollack’s Italian menu at once upholds and rebuffs tradition: He turns tortellini in brodo into soup dumplings. A dish of scallop crudo derives its acid and heat from Japanese yuzu kosho. I can’t escape spaghetti in tomato sauce with Dungeness crab everywhere in the city; this is the version, finished with bottarga-laced breadcrumbs, that nails the tensions between sweetness and sharpness, creaminess and crunch. The wine list leans to small producers and amiable oddballs. Brunch, new at the restaurant this year, caters to brunch haters: An eggy, cheesy, porky English muffin sandwich says breakfast, a punchy chopped salad with salami and anchovy epitomizes lunch, and the culinary twain, if so desired, need never meet. Wine and beer. Street parking. Credit cards accepted."