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Published Jan 6, 2023
Vowed to be healthier this year? Fortunately, in a city like Los Angeles, it’s easy to eat nutritious food that goes beyond basic salads and is still packed full of flavor. Whether you’re starting a new diet plan like Paleo or Whole30 or you have dietary restrictions like gluten-free or vegan, these are the best healthy restaurants in Los Angeles to keep you on track (without making you feel like you’re in health-food purgatory).
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EVERYTABLE
1. Everytable
Everytable’s mission is to make healthy food affordable and accessible to everyone, and they do so by offering ready-to-eat meals you can grab-and-go from their multiple storefronts around Los Angeles and beyond. They also adjust their pricing according to each neighborhood as part of this mission. Everytable’s menu is wide-ranging from the vegan tofu larb with rice noodles to a heartier curry chicken created as a collaboration with a local pop-up, Trap Kitchen from Compton.
Multiple locations; everytable.com
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TULSI INDIAN EATERY
2. Tulsi Indian Eatery
Tulsi is a modern Indian eatery that has rapidly expanded around Los Angeles. Their menu is completely plant-based, including using vegan alternatives for dishes that normally use meat, including their popular “chick’n” tikka masala. They also serve healthy regional specialties including spinach curry in ginger and mustard leaves, vegetarian biryani, and of course, a variety of curry. A cooling (and probiotic-fueled) yogurt lassi is the perfect beverage to wash it all down with.
Multiple locations; tulsieatery.com
ALFALFA
3. Alfalfa
Salad-focused Alfalfa got its start as a farmers market stand in Hoboken, New Jersey and then opened its second location in Los Angeles, where one of the co-owners had lived for a few years. There are a number of tasty salad choices on the menu (we’re fans of the date-filled West Coast and the Peruvian Chicken), plus the option to build your own bowl. For balance, they also serve breakfast burritos and small, gluten-free donuts made fresh daily.
2309 Main St., Santa Monica, CA 90405; eatalfalfa.com
MOTHER TONGUE
4. Mother Tongue
If exclusivity is what you’re after, look no further than this restaurant from award-winning chef Michael Mina on the fourth floor of Heimat, a massive members-only, luxury fitness club in West Hollywood. Mother Tongue serves up a global menu of reinvented comfort foods using nutritious ingredients that don’t taste overly healthy. Each dish on the menu is also labeled to indicate whether they are plant-based, keto-friendly, anti-inflammatory, or good for your cognitive functions.
900 N. La Brea Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90038; hellomothertongue.com
BOTANICA
5. Botanica
Botanica in Silver Lake is all about healthful and nourishing cooking dished up with good vibes. The menu is vegetable heavy but not completely vegetarian, with dishes like Japanese sweet potatoes and farm-fresh eggs for brunch, and squash with chrysanthemum yuzu pesto or mushrooms and brown rice for dinner. They also serve natural wines and cocktails featuring farmers market products.
1620 Silver Lake Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90026; botanicarestaurant.com
HONEY HI
6. Honey Hi
Honey Hi isn’t just good for diners, but also the community. The restaurant prepares their food using mostly organic produce purchased at local farmer’s markets and steers clear from refined sugars and additives. There are nutritious sweet potato hash bowls and salads that are definitely worth trying, but Honey Hi also serves up some indulgence with a healthy twist, including gluten free brioche French toast.
1620 Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90026; honeyhi.co
BONJUK
7. Bonjuk
Healthy and comforting, Bonjuk specializes in Korean rice porridge that is perfect any day but especially on those chilly winter ones. There are almost a dozen porridge options, from vegetable to mushroom and oyster, each of which is listed on the menu along with its nutritional benefits. To complete the meal are also some sweet porridge desserts such as pine nut porridge. Yum.
450 S. Western Ave. #FC3, Los Angeles, CA 90020
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TRUE FOOD KITCHEN
8. True Food Kitchen
A restaurant founded by a well-known doctor of integrative medicine is bound to have a focus on health, but True Food Kitchen makes the menu approachable. Here, eating healthy is all about balance and making small changes towards better alternatives instead of extreme diets. Menu favorites include the grass fed burger with a flaxseed bun, hearty salads, flavorful grain bowls and pescatarian dishes full of superfoods.
Multiple locations; truefoodkitchen.com
SUMAC CUISINE
9. Sumac Cuisine
By now most of us know how healthy the Mediterranean Diet is, and Sumac Cuisine in Hollywood is no exception. Opened by a husband and wife from Lebanon, Sumac prepares food the way the family would prepare it at home. In addition to the usual suspects like fattoush salad, hummus and falafel, Sumac also offers lesser known items like moudardara prepared with organic lentils and rice, green beans stew and more. Our advice? Come here with a friend and order a few different items off the menu to share.
1156 N. Highland Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90038; sumaccuisine.com
GANCHIC
10. Ganchic
This takeout and delivery-only spot puts a healthy twist on kimbap, the seaweed rice rolls that are a staple of takeout meals in Korea. Ganchic’s founder Christina Ko wanted to bring a lighter version of this on-the-go meal to busy Angelenos. Instead of rice that is typical in the kimbap, Ganchic uses quinoa. The filling, which ranges from beef to tofu, and vegan sauces are all made without refined sugar.
672 S. Santa Fe Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90021; ganchic.com
GRACIAS MADRE
11. Gracias Madre
This plant-based Mexican restaurant from the people behind Cafe Gratitude comes with one of the best patios in West Hollywood, and the food is pretty damn good too. Find ceviche made with hearts of palm, tamale with cashew mozzarella and jackfruit carnitas tacos. Gracias Madre also has a complete allergen information for all their dishes handy for those who have allergy concerns.
8905 Melrose Ave., West Hollywood, CA 90069; graciasmadre.co
DESTROYER
12. Destroyer
A daytime cafe from an avant-garde fine-dining chef certainly will not be your regular old cafe. The inventive dishes at this minimalistic eatery feel like they are coming from an upscale restaurant made with the freshest ingredients. While Destroyer is not a vegetarian restaurant, it offers a lot of healthy, vegetable-forward dishes that are full of flavor like the caramelized chickpeas with stewed cherry potatoes and poached egg.
3578 Hayden Ave., Culver City, CA 90232; destroyer.la
SHOJIN
13. Shojin
This Japanese restaurant is a vegan and gluten-free eatery that also focuses on macrobiotic diet and prepares their food with organic and all natural ingredients. The menu consists of vegan sushi with “eel” made of tofu, “crab cake” made using mushrooms, as well as a good variety of seasonal appetizers and large plates. The brown rice sushi also makes this spot perfect for those who are looking for gluten-free food.
Multiple locations; theshojin.com
KISMET
14. Kismet
This bright eatery is one of the most popular Middle Eastern restaurants in LA right now, and for good reason. Inspired by local, seasonal produce, the menu at Kismet features inventive and beautifully-presented dishes. Though it’s not a vegetarian restaurant, there are plenty of plant forward dishes like sweet potato toasted hazelnuts and Moroccan spiced carrots. For a little taste of everything, there is the mezze meal for two which can be made vegetarian or vegan.
4648 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90027; kismetla.com
ÂU LẠC
15. Âu Lạc
Au Lac’s owner Mai Nguyen switched to a vegan diet when she was diagnosed with cancer and is now a proponent of a healthy plant-based diet as a part of preventative medicine. Started in 1997, the restaurant’s Vietnamese influenced vegan food was one of the pioneers of LA’s vegan food scene. Though they still serve Vietnamese dishes like plant-based pho and lemongrass “fish”, the menu has expanded to include a number of raw food items as well as cold pressed juices and elixirs.
710 W. 1st St., Los Angeles, CA 90012; aulac.com
16. Crossroads Kitchen
Among the many vegan restaurants in Los Angeles, Crossroads Kitchen stands out for its upscale, fine dining vegan cuisine—including options that even meat eaters are obsessed with. Find inventive dishes like the artichoke oysters appetizer made with oyster mushrooms and made to look like real oysters, the vegan cheese plate, or go all in for the fine dining experience with a seven-course tasting menu.
8284 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90046; crossroadskitchen.com
ZHENGYALOV HATZ
17. Zhengyalov Hatz
Zhengyalov Hatz in Glendale only serves one thing (plus desserts), and that is the store’s namesake flatbread. The vegan flatbread is made with 15 finely minced herbs, sunflower oil and salt. It sounds and looks so simple that it has no business tasting as good as it does, but it is delicious, fresh and vibrant, and healthy to boot.
318 E. Broadway, Glendale, CA 91205; zhengyalov-hatz.business.site
18. M Cafe
M Cafe is LA’s original macrobiotic cafe, having opened their original Melrose location over a decade ago. The macrobiotic menu is plant-focused, offering minimally processed, mostly vegan items alongside sustainable seafood options and there’s no shortage of gluten-free options. There are cold pressed juices, grain bowls and a hearty curry udon for the vegans, but the grilled ahi tuna burger has also been a favorite for years.
7119 Melrose Ave., Hollywood, CA 90046; mcafedechaya.com
RAHEL ETHIOPIAN VEGAN CUISINE
19. Rahel Ethiopian Vegan Cuisine
It’s easy to find vegan food with big flavors in Little Ethiopia and Rahel is one of the restaurants offering a completely plant-based menu. The combo is the best way to experience Rahel, with nine items including lentil stew in red pepper sauce, chickpeas and many more. Everything is served with injera, the Ethiopian sour flatbread made with teff flour, which is naturally gluten-free.
1047 S. Fairfax Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90019; rahelvegancuisine.com