Los Angeles · United States
Gillian McKeith's guide to healthy restaurants in Los Angeles.
Written by Gillian McKeith
Los Angeles has the produce, the growing season and the appetite, and that combination is why I so often find the best plant cooking in America out here rather than on the East Coast.
My list spans the Westside, Silver Lake and downtown. Botanica in Silver Lake does vegetable-led breakfast and lunch with California sourcing that actually shows on the plate. Crossroads Kitchen on Melrose is the fine-dining vegan room that proves plants can carry a proper dinner, while Café Gratitude keeps the all-organic, plant-based cafe line honest. Pura Vita in West Hollywood does vegan Italian with handmade pasta and no excuses, and Real Food Daily has been feeding LA whole food since 1993. Sun Cafe in Studio City is raw and cooked vegan done generously, Shojin downtown is vegan Japanese with real technique, and Kismet in Los Feliz brings Middle Eastern vegetables to the table with style.
For everyday eating, Monty's Good Burger is fast food made from plants without pretending to be health food, and Little Pine in Silver Lake is a fully vegan dining room where the profits go to animal welfare rather than a PR agency.
I am not remotely impressed by a wellness logo on a window. Show me the farm, the market, the fruit and vegetables at their peak, and then I will book a table. Nobody on this page has paid to be recommended.
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9 restaurants in Los Angeles
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Botanica
$$Los Angeles, United States
Silver Lake's market-driven all-day restaurant, where vegetables run the menu.
Best for: Breakfast or lunch in Silver Lake when you want to taste the vegetables rather than the dressing.
Café Gratitude
$$Los Angeles, United States
Organic plant-based cooking and the affirmations on the menu people still tease it for.
Best for: An all-organic, plant-based meal when you need clean food and no surprises.
Crossroads Kitchen
$$$Los Angeles, United States
Tal Ronnen's Melrose dining room, fully vegan Mediterranean cooking that reads like a serious omnivore menu.
Best for: A grown-up vegan dinner where the cooking, not the virtue, does the talking.
Kismet
$$$Los Angeles, United States
Californian-Middle Eastern cooking where the vegetable dishes are the ones people talk about.
Best for: Middle Eastern vegetables cooked with enough care to be the main event.
Monty's Good Burger
$Los Angeles, United States
The Impossible smashburger that made LA queue.
Best for: Fast plant-based burgers when you want the comfort without the meat.
Pura Vita
$$Los Angeles, United States
Organic vegan Italian and a natural wine list, in West Hollywood.
Best for: Vegan Italian that does not ask you to forgive the pasta.
Real Food Daily.
Los Angeles
Real Food Daily
$$Los Angeles, United States
One of LA's original organic vegan kitchens, going since 1993.
Best for: Wholefood staples that have kept Angelenos fed for three decades.
Shojin
$$$Los Angeles, United States
Macrobiotic Japanese cooking and vegan sushi in Little Tokyo.
Best for: Sushi and Japanese small plates with no fish and no compromise.
Sun Cafe
$$Los Angeles, United States
Studio City's organic vegan kitchen, strong on raw and gluten-free plates.
Best for: Raw and cooked vegan dishes big enough that nobody leaves hungry.
Been here? Write a review
If you have eaten at any of these Los Angeles kitchens, click through to the restaurant page and leave a review. I read every submission before it goes live.
Eating well in Los Angeles: your questions
- Where can I eat healthy in Los Angeles?
- Start with Botanica in Silver Lake for vegetable-led brunch and lunch, Crossroads Kitchen on Melrose for a proper vegan dinner, or Real Food Daily for wholefood that has been reliable since 1993.
- What is the best vegan fine dining in LA?
- Crossroads Kitchen on Melrose. Tal Ronnen cooks plants with the technique most kitchens reserve for meat, and the room feels like a real restaurant rather than a wellness seminar.
- Where can I eat vegan Italian in Los Angeles?
- Pura Vita in West Hollywood. Handmade pasta, cashew cheeses and a fully vegan Italian menu that does not apologise.
- Do I need to be vegan to use this LA guide?
- No. This guide is plant-forward, not plant-only. Some of these kitchens are fully vegan, others simply treat vegetables as the reason you came in. Meat eaters are welcome and will find plenty to order.
- Can a Los Angeles restaurant pay to be listed?
- It cannot. I choose every entry on sourcing, freshness and what actually reaches the plate. Money has never bought a line in this guide and it never will.
Every Los Angeles restaurant in the Gillian McKeith Restaurant Guide
Every Los Angeles kitchen in the guide, with my notes on each.
- Botanica
- Café Gratitude
- Crossroads Kitchen
- Kismet
- Monty's Good Burger
- Pura Vita
- Real Food Daily
- Shojin
- Sun Cafe
Eating a particular way in Los Angeles
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About the author
Written by Gillian McKeith
I'm Gillian McKeith: television presenter, creator of the global hit show You Are What You Eat, writer, nutritionist, and the editor behind this guide. Every Los Angeles entry here is chosen and written by me. I judge kitchens on the things that actually matter: real ingredients, honest sourcing, vegetables cooked with care, and food you feel better for eating.
Nothing on this page is a paid placement. Restaurants cannot buy a recommendation, and any listing marked as sponsored is labelled as such. If a kitchen slips, it comes out of the guide.
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