Fill Up on Fried Chicken, French Toast, and More at LA's Best Brunch Spots

From old favorites to new hotspots, these restaurants are serving the best brunch in LA.

Poppy+Rose brunch
Photo courtesy of Poppy+Rose
Photo courtesy of Poppy+Rose

Even with its ever-evolving food scene, LA's identity as a brunch town never changes. You can land in just about any LA neighborhood on the weekend and witness Angelenos sitting down to everything from Ricotta Cheese and Blueberry pancakes to Croque Madames stuffed with Maine lobster as they brim with the type of joy that only well-laid brunch plans can ensure. While COVID-19 caused a break in the action, LA's restaurant industry came back in full force, and with it, so did a certain sense of happiness. But this city isn't one to rest on its laurels, and over the past few years, the industry has continued to push boundaries to maximize your brunch experience, whether you're looking for that perfect brunch destination to satisfy a group hang or a solo cocktail. Read on for the brunch in Los Angeles to enjoy this weekend. 

Pasadena
This pandemic-era restaurant comes courtesy of Vanessa and Thomas Tilaka Kalb (Flour+Water), who converted the Pasadena Fire Department’s former horse stable into a neighborhood dining destination with a charming interior and grab-and-go market, plus a lush outdoor patio with ceiling fans to keep the Pasadena heat at bay. Elevated American comfort food is the theme here, with dishes presented on unique floral plates that make items, such as a Hot Dish and a Pimento Cheese Omelet, all the more appetizing. Along with mimosas and a full craft cocktail menu, Seasonal Fizz cocktails are on offer, pairing sparkling wine with in-season fruit. There’s also a riff on a Bloody Mary called a Red Snapper, with house-made snapper mix, cheddar cheese, Tajín, and your choice of spirit.

Akasha brunch
Photo courtesy of Akasha

Culver City
Helmed by chef Akasha Richmond, this Culver City staple is housed in the historic Hull Building and features a New American menu with global influences translated through California ingredients. Brunch is served Saturday and Sunday from 10 am to 3 pm, with highlights like Tiramisu French Toast and Shakshuka, plus drinks like an Elderflower and Aperol Mimosa alongside traditional mimosas and Bloody Marys. Akasha also totes one of the best bottomless deals in town at just $20 for unlimited mimosas (90-minute limit with purchase of a big plate required). Chef Akasha has also curated her favorite pantry items in the restaurant’s marketplace, so you can grab the restaurant’s popular pastries or house-made jams to go.

Silverlake
The team behind Here’s Looking at You opened this all-day counterpart in Silver Lake in late 2019, and it quickly became a neighborhood favorite thanks to a creative comfort food menu. The restaurant recently expanded to offer dinner service, but its brunch menu still manages to draw in hangover-weary Angelenos with items like the ADB Biscuit Sandwich, with scrambled eggs, American cheese, strawberry jam, and bacon or sausage on a buttermilk biscuit. For the cocktail menu, they’ve got boozy milkshakes, Bloody Marys, and Micheladas, plus craft cocktails like the ADB Painkiller with aged rum, Chinola Passion Fruit Liqueur, coconut cream, pineapple, and orange juices, and a strawberry puree float.

West Adams
One of our essential Black-owned restaurants in LA, Alta’s dining space includes a light-filled interior with windows that overlook Adams Boulevard, plus a gorgeous wood-paneled back patio with draping greenery and string lights. Chef Keith Corbin, a Watts native, along with chef Daniel Patterson, deliver an all-day Cal-fresh and Southern-inspired menu with standouts that include a market-veggie-filled vegan California “gumbo,” Oxtails and Rice, and Fried Chicken served with Fresno hot sauce, but you’ll want to order the crispy Black Eyed Pea Fritters with spicy herb sauce and cornbread along with a side of honey butter for the table. 

Fia brunch
Photo courtesy of Fia

Santa Monica
With an eclectic interior that feels like a countryside B&B and a hidden patio where lights drape from trees among potted plants, Fia is a place you want to keep coming back to. For brunch, executive chef Brendan Collins simplifies things into a three-course, prix fixe affair, where a basket of pastries is presented for the table, and bottomless mimosas or margaritas come with the $67 price tag. The hardest decision will be landing on an entree, with options like a Maine Lobster Croque Madame competing with a Black Truffle Cheesy Scramble and Southern Fried Chicken with biscuits. Add the $15 Amalfi Lemon Mousse if you want to top it off with something sweet.

Arts District
After wowing Chicago diners (as well as the judges on Top Chef), chef Stephanie Izard brought her Midwest Girl & the Goat restaurant to the West Coast in 2021, landing in a luscious, plant-filled space in the burgeoning Arts District. The globally-inspired menu focuses on seasonal California ingredients, with brunch offering decadent dishes such as Cured Smoked Salmon with tzatziki cream cheese and a fried egg salad, and a Potato Crepe with Vietnamese-style sausage, MontAmore cheese, sweet and sour sauce, and pickled veggies. Drinkwise, a rotating list of craft beers, a global selection of wines from small producers, and fun craft cocktails round out the menu.

Manhattan Beach
One of our fave women-owned spots, Interstellar features a daytime menu of globally-inspired items with a full coffee bar, a selection of pastries, and a mix of sweet and savory dishes. Enjoy a panko-fried Chicken and Waffles topped with truffle honey butter, Smoked Salmon Toast smeared with scallion cream cheese, or mixed berry French Toast. Interstellar’s beverage menu stands out with a sake list, plus craft cocktails like a Pink Mimosa with pink guava juice and extra-dry prosecco and a Spicy Bloody Mary with applewood smoked bacon and jalapeño. There’s also a Dog Menu featuring Wagyu beef or chicken with market veggies and fruit.

Little Dom's brunch
Photo courtesy of Little Dom's

Los Feliz
This favorite Los Feliz sidewalk cafe offers a prime spot for people-watching along Hillhurst Boulevard and possibly the earliest brunch in town, beginning at 9 am and extending through 3 pm every Saturday and Sunday. The obvious choice from the brunch menu is the Breakfast Pizza with a sunnyside-up egg, speck, mozzarella, and tomato sauce, though the Buckwheat Polenta with braised kale and onions topped with a fried egg is a close runner-up. Rounding out the brunch options are an Egg Sandwich with applewood-smoked bacon and white gravy, Eggs Bruschetta, and Ricotta Cheese and Blueberry Pancakes. The brunch cocktails include bottomless prosecco or mimosas with OJ or grapefruit juice, plus Little Dom’s Bloody Mary and an Aperol Spritz.

Manhattan Beach
Michelin-starred chef David LeFevre basically ignited the food world in Manhattan Beach, and his first outpost is still the best brunch spot in the South Bay. The restaurant's brunch menu departs from its dinner menu (where small plates dominate), instead focusing on comforting and filling dishes such as a massive chimichanga packed with scrambled eggs, carnitas, and Oaxacan string cheese served with salsa roja. Handcrafted brunch cocktails include a sangria with pear brandy plus a meaty Bloody Mary called Blood and Smoke.

West Hollywood
Melroseplace is easily the most versatile brunch option in the bunch. A two-story restaurant with a rooftop, the vibe is Soho House without the expensive membership. Melroseplace is the rare location that works for large parties and solo brunch sessions with family-friendly prices on a high-end menu. Executive chef David Lespron offers a menu that combines traditional brunch with LA classics and experimental options like caviar fries. There’s enough room to accommodate parties with kids while still allowing space for your usual raucous West Hollywood audience in one of its many bar areas. With an impressive cocktail menu, it’s easy for brunch to melt into rooftop sushi as the sun sets.

Norah brunch
Photo courtesy of Norah

West Hollywood
With two brunch menus—one complete with items you’d expect, like a Breakfast Pizza, pancakes, and American Wagyu Steak and Eggs, while the other exclusively features vegan options—Norah is more than prepared to satisfy even the pickiest palette. The drink menu features a lengthy wine list and refreshing cocktails like a Passion Fruit Margarita and Lady Bunny, a cocktail with vodka, pressed carrot, ginger, lemon, and lime that we’re pretty sure acts as their version of a Bloody Mary. Whatever you do, order the cast iron cornbread with rosemary honey butter and a half-dozen of that day’s oysters to get your brunch started on the right foot.

Downtown LA
One of LA’s can’t-miss dining experiences, Perch offers brunch 15 stories up with a birds-eye view of Los Angeles, plus French-inspired dishes and cocktails. Brunch is served from 10 am to 3:30 pm on Saturday and Sunday, with hors d’oeuvres like Baked Brie and Truffle Cheese Frites, plus entrees like Huevos Rancheros and a Crab Benedict. There’s also the option to do a three- or four-course prix fixe brunch, which runs from $45 to $65. Mimosas, Bloody Marys and Bloody Marias, and Bellinis are on offer, but groups can opt for a pitcher of sangria with seasonal fruit (for just $31) to get the most bang for your buck. Take it a floor higher at noon, when the 16th-floor rooftop lounge and bar opens on the weekends.

Downtown LA
Run by James Beard-nominated chef Michael Reed and his wife Kwini Reed, the Black-owned Poppy+Rose has quickly become an LA favorite. You’ll have to show up early to get a table at the small Flower District location, but it’s worth the wait. An excellent place for a date or intimate gathering, Poppy+Rose offers unheard-of value in LA. Brunch serves hefty portions of Southern staples, such as Biscuits and Gravy and Fried Chicken. The Poppy Burger and Pulled Pork Hash offer the most exciting updates to brunch menu classics, however. The specialty lemonade is almost better than anything on the cocktail menu, but you can enjoy the best of both worlds with a spiked lemonade. It’s guaranteed to replace the mimosa in your brunch order.

Baldwin Hills
Available on Saturdays from 11 am to 3 pm and stretching to 8 pm on Sundays, Post & Beam’s brunch is worth planning for. Whether you’re seated in the comfortable dining room with columns and dark wood accents or on the relaxing patio backed by a blooming plant wall, you’ll quickly understand why Post & Beam was recognized as a semifinalist for Most Outstanding Restaurant in the 2022 James Beard Awards. The brunch menu offers hearty options like Braised Oxtail Hash and lighter dishes like a Farmers Market Scramble with cage-free eggs and breakfast potatoes. Also of note are the Shrimp and Grits with scrambled eggs and smoked bacon, and Fried Chicken Thigh and Buttermilk Waffle. Libations like Bloody Marys and bottomless mimosas are available, as well as a Bellini that’s sweetened with Napa Valley peaches.

Mid-City
Chefs and owners Walter Manzke and Margarita Manzke are responsible for whetting Angelenos’ appetite for French delicacies with this all-day restaurant housed in a historic building erected by actor Charlie Chaplin. They’ve since expanded on the trend with the recent opening of Bicyclette and Manzke restaurants, but Republique remains a favorite for weekend brunches that feature seasonally changing dishes as well as Margarita Manzke’s beloved pastries. The menu spans veggie-friendly items like a pupusa stuffed with mushrooms, zucchini blossoms, black beans, and Oaxacan cheese and topped with a fried egg and avocado, as well as hangover-busting dishes like a Croque Madame with house-cured ham, gruyere cheese, baby green salad, and a fried egg. Carafes of mimosas and sangria are on offer, as are brunch cocktails like Bloody Marys and a Papa Hemingway Spritz with grapefruit aperitif, rum, passion fruit, maraschino, lime, and soda.

Venice
With indoor and outdoor seating options that include Venice Boardwalk-adjacent tables, a kitschy interior space with a record player and vintage furniture, and a light-filled back patio with hanging lanterns and pops of plant life, it’s easy to lose an afternoon at The Waterfront—made easier by the fact that brunch extends until 3 pm. You’ll find spritzes, frozen cocktail options, wine by the bottle and glass, and draft as well as canned beer, plus mimosas on draft and an Adobo Michelada that pairs a lager with chipotle, pineapple, and lime. For food, you can enjoy all-day classics like a pretzel with queso, hot wings, and grilled shrimp tacos, or opt for brunch specials like Wild Mushroom Eggs Benedict, Bagel and Lox, and a selection of pot pies.

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Ashley Ray-Harris is an LA transplant who will only consider herself a native when she has her children here. She’s a TV writer and stand-up comic whose work has been featured in Bust, Vulture, and the New York Times. She was a 2021 HBO Queer Comic to Watch and 2023 BET Black Woman Comic to Watch. Her writing has appeared in The Cut, New York Magazine, Harper’s Bazaar and Cosmopolitan.