The 4 reservations you need to make now at LA’s hottest 2023 restaurant openings

Meet the seafoody sibling to Italian restaurants Ospi and Jame Enoteca. Steered by chef/owner (and former Top Chef contestant) Jackson Kalb, Jemma di Mare sailed into Brentwood in May and serves red-sauce classics in one of LA’s ritziest pockets. The interiors are unabashedly nautical featuring deep blues, decorative ropes, and exposed wood galore. The menu is just as ocean-flavored and all about bounty from nearby waters, resulting in hits such as squid ink prawn scampi and taglioni that’s served alongside a whole lobster (an especially Insta-worthy dish for two). It’s East Coast-inspired Italian with a dash of California—and one of the splashiest new additions to Brentwood’s expanding restaurant scene.

Pasadena is home to a slew of French fine-dining spots, but it welcomed a free-spirited addition to that genre in January. Chelou is French slang for “unexpected,” and that’s exactly what chef Douglas Rankin (Trois Mec, Petit Trois) delivers at his most whimsical spot yet. Bar Chelou’s contemporary French dishes take unexpected detours to Japan and Spain, best exemplified by the Ibérico pork chop dressed with hot mustard and fennel pollen furikake. Feast on it all in an eccentric setting inspired by the Pasadena Playhouse next door—Bar Chelou makes for a standout pre-theater meal—complete with an arched doorway, dramatic drapery, and a regal green color scheme. To all that, add well-balanced cocktails and an ever-changing list of small-production wines, and you’ve got one of the buzziest bistros in town.

Sophisticated South Asian shared plates—and a wild weekend brunch—set this modern Indian restaurant apart in NYC. When it unveiled a Los Angeles location in May, Baar Baar brought its Bollywood-meets-boudoir aesthetic to the city’s downtown. Award-winning chef Sujan Sarkar turns out imaginative small plates such as sweet potato chaat with whipped feta and a stewed Kashmiri duck taco that will satisfy even the most serious LA street-food connoisseur. Wash it all down with a cocktail inspired by acclaimed Indian blockbusters such as the RRR (rum, cacao, and coffee bitters), and know that you’ll be back to dine at this sleek and sultry hotspot soon—fittingly, the restaurant’s name means “again and again” in Hindi.

The hit Rossoblu team has brought its Italian cooking chops to Superfine Playa, a bright, casual restaurant that debuted in April at the swanky Runway Playa Vista mall. Owners Dina and Steve Samson branched out from their Bologna focus to spotlight California produce at their new restaurant. Think grilled Baja California striped bass with a warm potato salad, olive pesto, and a yellow tomato sauce. Housemade pastas such as rigatoni with chicken liver ragu are a highlight, as is the craft cocktails and snacks-forward happy hour that runs from 3 pm to 5 pm Wednesday to Sunday. There’s seating aplenty at cozy booths, a sunny patio, and at a minimalist bar. Next up on the Superfine Playa menu: New York- and Neapolitan-style pizzas that were smash hit at a pop-up at Rossoblu.