Lukshon’s starkly chic décor attracts members of LA’s trendsetting interior design community.
Bottega Louie
Artists flock to beautiful spaces like the Beaux Arts splendor of the Brockman Building, where this culinary staple has made its home. Busy both day and night, brunch is where Bottega Louie stands out with options like the pancetta and burrata scramble with caramelized cippolini onions and mushrooms, or the lobster hash with two poached eggs, Maine lobster tail, Yukon Gold potatoes, shallots, and smoked paprika hollandaise. 700 S. Grand Ave., LA, 213-802-1470
Church & State
This bohemian brasserie has a history as stormy and tempestuous as any artist’s temperament, but that only seems to make the French menu that much better—as does its moody location in an otherwise desolate Downtown quarter in the historic Biscuit Company Lofts building. Start with the juicy Burgundy snails en croute, but keep the main course simple with steak frites. 1850 Industrial St., LA, 213-405-1434
Kitchen Table
This new restaurant providently popped up right on the Downtown Art Walk route, but get above the crowd by reserving a table on the second-floor (née rooftop) dining area so you can enjoy alfresco dishes like pork cheeks with spaetzle, green apples and mustard; or grilled fish with summer squash, oven-dried tomato, and grapefruit. 410 S. Main St., LA, 213-617-3000
L&E Oyster Bar
After a long day of hipster-ing around Silver Lake, you’ll find mustachioed young gents and their bespectacled lady lovers un-ironically rushing to this cozy reservoir-adjacent spot for plates of oysters on the half shell and glasses of chilled Muscadet. Be sure to try the heaping fried oyster po’ boy with gribiche and pickled onions. 1637 Silverlake Blvd., LA, 323-660-2255
Larry’s
This restaurant with Executive Chef Brendan Collins at the helm is named after local Boardwalk artist and legend Larry Bell, so naturally the Westside’s galleristas gravitate to this Venice spot for standout savories like the murgh makhani pizza with Indian butter chicken, raita, and scallions, and the seared kabocha squash tortellini and a beurre rouge. 24 Windward Ave., Venice, 310-399-2700
Lukshon
Let’s not forget the decorative arts. LA’s interior designers haunt the Helms Bakery District in Culver City, and when all that swatch-matching works up an appetite, they come to Sang Yoon’s starkly chic Southeast Asian eatery to nibble on delicacies like Sichuan lamb tartare with pickled Fresno chiles, prickly ash, cumin, and puffed black rice. 3239 Helms Ave., Culver City, 310-202-6808
Porta Via
Shopping for your own private art collection in the world-class galleries of Beverly Hills can be hard work, so in-the-know buyers pop by this bustling Italian-inspired eatery for an outdoor power lunch of kale salad with quinoa, citrus, pine nuts, grilled red onion, oven-dried tomatoes, crispy leaks, and shaved Parmigiano; or a happy-hour cocktail in its swank next-door bar. 424 N. Canon Dr., Beverly Hills, 310-274-6534
Ray’s & Stark Bar
One of LA’s most notable dining dynamos, Kris Morningstar packs the midcentury modern-inspired dining room of his LACMA-based resto thanks to a menu that can include inventive, ultrafresh dishes like octopus with burrata, charred broccolini, Fresno chile puree, fennel, and preserved lemon-olive vinaigrette, as well as rice agnolotti with sottocenere truffle cheese, hen-of-the-woods mushrooms, wild arugula, hazelnuts, and lime brown butter. What better thing to do after seeing a great art exhibit than discuss it over great food? 5905 Wilshire Blvd., LA, 323-857-6180
