Los Angeles certainly knows a thing or two about rolling out a red carpet. But when it comes to meals that steal the show, breakfast and brunch are hands-down winners. Along the city’s palm-tree lined boulevards and sandy shores, restaurants and cafés dish out extraordinary eggs, globally inspired bites and innovative flavors to a finicky crowd that will gladly share a round of applause for a distinct point of view.
Whether it’s twists on simple doughnuts or a special-occasion showstopper, breakfast and brunch are more than a meal in the entertainment capital of the world. Here’s where to go for the best breakfast in Los Angeles.
As always, check for travel guidelines and closures before planning your trip.
Special-Occasion Brunch Places in Los Angeles
For an L.A. brunch with a side of coastal bliss, drop by Sandbourne Santa Monica, Autograph Collection, where the indoor-outdoor restaurant, Marelle, has ocean views from its patio. Daily breakfast leans vegetarian (you can’t go wrong with the polenta and eggs). But weekend brunch is where lemon ricotta pancakes, steak and eggs, and a salmon niçoise salad impress.
In a building imbued with grandeur and history (it was built in 1929 by Charlie Chaplin), Mid-City’s République lives up to its good looks and pedigree. Drop by the café and bakery during the week for baked pastries, bacon and eggs, or shakshuka. If you get lucky and nab a table for weekend brunch, go all-in on indulgent dishes like a Maine lobster omelet and fried chicken and waffles.
Another looker is downtown’s Redbird, housed in the former rectory of a 19th-century Roman Catholic cathedral. The airy spot is just right for celebratory brunches with daily pastries served alongside favorites such as shrimp and grits and duck confit chilaquiles, which all wash down well with out-of-the-ordinary brunch cocktails.
Start your day with brunch at Sandbourne Santa Monica, Autograph Collection’s Marelle. (Photo: Amanda Villarosa)
Mexican Breakfast and Brunch Restaurants
In Los Angeles, Mexican food is comfort food, and you can’t swing a string of chili peppers without hitting somewhere to savor south-of-the-border flavors. The effortlessly chic hideaway vibes make Mírate in Los Feliz a favorite, as do the indoor-outdoor dining and inventive twists on brunch favorites like carne asada with sunny-side-up eggs, avocado toast and eggs on blue masa sourdough, and a version of eggs Benedict made with cochinita pibil (pulled-pork) that will make you wonder why you ever ate it any differently.
At Girasol Cucina Mexicana in Monrovia (closed Tuesdays) you’ll find a deep bench of delicious Mexican breakfast dishes served all day, from tres leches French toast to five kinds of chilaquiles and molettes (open-faced toasted-baguette sandwiches with refried beans, melted cheese and salsa).
The former antique emporium-turned-restaurant Gracias Madre has a gorgeous patio in West Hollywood and flavorful plant-based weekend brunch dishes made from scratch, including jackfruit tacos, maitake mushroom fajitas and hearty bowls piled with veg and spice.
The drinks at Marelle are incredible, too. (Photos: Amanda Villarosa)
Vegetarian and Vegan Breakfast Spots
The original Crossroads Kitchen opened on Melrose in 2013 (a second debuted in Calabasas in 2022), and it’s been a gathering place for vegans and vegetarians ever since. Drop by on the first Saturday of the month for coffee and pastries on the patio, or tuck into weekend brunch faves like BLT sandwiches with plant-based bacon, black bean breakfast burritos and stuffed zucchini blossoms.
Early risers can head to Mid-City at 6 a.m. where Grain Café whips up veggie omelets with tofu egg, French toast with whole-wheat bread soaked in soy milk, and organic gluten-free oatmeal.
After one bite of the lemon lavender waffle or challah French toast at bright and sunny The Butcher’s Daughter in Venice on a Saturday or Sunday morning, you might never look at brunch the same way again. The Brunch Pizza with spinach, caramelized onion, impossible sausage and thyme Bechamel sauce is worth the L.A. traffic to eat here again and again.
Enjoy French toast at Marelle. (Photo: Amanda Villarosa)
Bakery Breakfast in Los Angeles
Who says you have to go all the way to Paris to have a good croissant? Not Angelenos. Just hustle to Petit Grain Boulangerie in Santa Monica before 10 a.m. (when they usually sell out) and bite into a delicate and flakey crescent that tastes like the City of Light. The bakery case is full of other delights, too, such as pain au chocolat and fresh quiche.
The name of the game at cozy Jyan Isaac Bread in Santa Monica is bagels. The sourdough rings (onion, everything, pumpernickel) are the real deal, and you can order bagel sandwiches to go if you want to make it a picnic brunch.
Heading to a morning meeting? Arrive with a dozen signature strawberry-stuffed doughnuts from The Donut Man, handmade every day in their Grand Central Market location, and you’ll be the talk of the table.
(Anything But) Basic Breakfast in Los Angeles
Like everything in L.A., breakfast doesn’t mean boring, especially at Burbank’s Bea Bea’s, where the pancake menu is eye-popping, with flavors like Oreo cookie, Thai tea and sweet cornbread (with salted honey butter) that shine alongside unusual riffs on French toast and waffles.
Family-owned for two generations, John O’Groats on the Westside is still a favorite. It’s likely the homemade biscuits, melt-in-your-mouth buttermilk pancakes, and crispy bacon and sharp cheddar waffles that keep L.A. breakfast lovers lining up.
If old-school diners are your morning jam, beeline it to the cash-only S&W Country Diner in Culver City where you can build your own egg dishes and add whatever you want to your pancakes every day of the week.
The sweet poolside setting of Viviane Restaurant at Avalon Hotel Beverly Hills, a Member of Design Hotels is low-key sophisticated, L.A.-girls’-brunch pretty — and it serves daily acai bowls, berry smoothies and signature egg dishes, as well as classic brunch fare, salads and sandwiches on weekends paired with specialty cocktails and mocktails.
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