Los Angeles and Southern California

The Top 10 Restaurants in Southern California and Los Angeles

The top ten restaurants in Los Angeles and Southern California were carefully selected using a three tier ranking system comprised of different recognition levels. For each level of recognition, the restaurant received points based on the type of award or recognition given. After each restaurant was examined, we added up the points each restaurant had earned to determine the top ten restaurants. The first tier was where each restaurant could potentially receive the most points, since each level of recognition was national or internationally known. Tier two was where each restaurant could receive the second highest amount of points. This level of recognition included local and regional areas. Tier three offered the least amount of potential points, since the recognition received includes individual food critics and local critics, such as a local newspaper or magazine. Our group did a biography on each head chef in the top three establishments. However, the website for Bastide is temporarily unavailable due to recent renovations, so we decided to use the fourth best restaurant and chef as there is a minimal difference in points received.

1)Mellise
2)Spago
3)Bastide

4)OsteriaMozza

5) Providence

6) Lucques

7) Sona
8) Urasawa
9) Water Grill

10) Saddle Peaks

Top Three Chefs

Melisse Restaurant: Chef Josiah Citrin

The restaurant Mélisse was named after a lemon-scented herb that is found in the Mediterranean. It is a fine-dining upscale restaurant in the casual culture of Southern California. Mélisse opened its doors by Josiah Citrin and his wife Diane in July of 1999 and continues to be a great success today. The restaurant earned a mobile 4-star rating after only eighteen months of operation and has continued these standards each year. The menu offers contemporary American/French cuisine with many French influences in each recipe.
Josiah’s recipes all reflect his experience and skills learned while working in Paris. The interior of Mélisse has a warm European feel and style to it. Guests often say it “feels like a warm French country home.” Mélisse was voted "Best Restaurant in Los Angeles" in Zagat 2006, "Best New Restaurant" in July 2000 by Food & Wine Magazine, "Best Newcomer" in the collector's edition of Gourmet Magazine's, Guide to America's Best Restaurants, and one of "The World's Most Exciting New Restaurants" by Conde Nast Traveler.

As a young boy growing up in Santa Monica, CA, Josiah always had an intense passion for food. He grew up in a household consisting of his Grandmother and Mother who were also food lovers and shared a passion for the art of cuisine.
Josiah graduated from Santa Monica High school and decided to move to Paris to further his love for the culinary arts. Little did he know his Paris experience would change his life forever. While living in Paris Josiah worked in a fine dining restaurant and began to work his way up. Paris is where Citrin fell in love with French cuisine and has influenced many of Josiah’s recipes.
Josiah decided he had spent enough time in Paris and moved back to the United States to apply his new found knowledge and skills. He began to work in some of Los Angela’s finest well known restaurants with the finest chefs. Citrin worked alongside the famous Wolfgang Puck and restaurants including Chinios and Granita. Josiah’s love for food was continuously evolving while learning and working with the best of the best.
Over the next few years Josiah moved on to work in the most famous restaurants in Los Angeles, which included Patina and Pinot Bistro, Capri Restaurant, and Jackson’s. He married a beautiful woman by the name of Diane and had two kids, a boy and a girl.
After working with the best chefs in the best restaurants in LA, Josiah knew he wanted the challenge of owning his own restaurant. On July 23rd, 1999, Josiah and his wife opened a local upscale restaurant, known as Mélisse. The restaurant was perceived as an instant success by the local neighbourhoods along with business and leisure travelers from all over the world.
Some of his favourite ingredients include salt, heirloom tomatoes, morels, fava beans and white asparagus. Josiah likes to use seasonal produce that exudes his passion for French cuisine. By using farmer market fresh foods his passion is to create new flavours while still keeping in touch with old traditions. Today Josiah is considered to be one of the most popular restaurateurs and continues to be featured in different television food shows and recipe books. Josiah also has many prestigious titles under his belt including “top ten new chefs” by Food and Wine Magazine (April 1997) and “Rising Star-1997” by restaurant hospitality.

http://www.melisse.com/

Spago Restaurant: Chef Lee Hefter

Spago is located in Beverly Hills California it is one of many Wolfgang Puck fine dining restaurants. A James Beard Foundation award winning restaurant it is highly popular too many. Spago is a relaxed bar and grill atmosphere that serves quality and flavorful menu items.
Lee Hefter is a managing partner and executive corporate chef to the Wolfgang Puck fine dining group. Hefter began his journey into cuisine at a young age starting his apprenticeship in New Jersey and New York area at local restaurants and was in charge of a New York country club at the age of 21. This was the start of his journey on becoming a great chef. After working in the New York area Hefter decided it was time to try something new he ventured to San Francisco and began working with Chef Barbara Tropp at her China Moon Café. This is the time when he was finally noticed by Wolfgang Puck and began working at the original Spago restaurant in West Hollywood as a sous chef. Throughout his career he is credited at working at some of the world’s top restaurants including such names as, L'Ousteau de Baumaniere, L'Aubergarde , Troisgros and Granita. And then in 1997 he was titled with his role as head chef for Spago in Beverly Hills.
Hefter uses seasonal ingredients and cultural influences to tap into some of the world’s most original and flavorful dishes. Spago classic menu items include such things as handmade Sweet Corn Agnolotti with Mascarpone, Chino Farms Roasted Beet Salad, as well as daily changing selections of fish and produce of the season.

http://www.wolfgangpuck.com/restaurants/finedining/spago/beverlyhills/index.php

Osteria Mozza: Chef Mario Batali

Osteria Mozza is a small Italian cuisine restaurant located in Los Angeles, California. The restaurant features something called a “Mozzarella Bar” where fresh food items area produced from Mozzarella, Burrata, Bocconcini, Strachiatella and many more. The dining room offers window seating surrounding the entire room with an impressive wine rack on display. The room presents an indoor and outdoor opening onto Melrose Ave and also offers a private dining area that can seat up to forty people at a time. Osteria Mozza has come to be a famous hot spot in Los Angeles and continues to impress everyone and anyone who is lucky enough to get a reservation at Osteria Mozza.

Mario Batali is the head chef/owner of the famous Osteria Mozza in Los Angeles, California. He grew up in Seattle and was raised in a household that loved food and loved to cook. As a child Mario would gather fresh berries and work with his Grandmother in preparing different types of pies and jams. After graduating from Rutgers University, Mario decided to enrol at the Le Cordon Bleu culinary school to further his love affair with food and cooking. However, Mario felt that he needed more “hands on” learning, and quickly realized the classroom was no longer for him. Mario quit culinary school and took on an apprenticeship working alongside one of London’s famous chefs, Marco Pierre White. Mario then moved on to work for three intense years in a small town in Northern Italy. After three years of working in Northern Italy, Mario felt he had enough experience and knowledge to return to the United States and further his career and passion in the culinary arts.
Mario continuously worked in many New York hot spot restaurants and in 1998 he opened the famous Babbo Restaurant. Within the same year, the James Beard Foundation awarded Babbo as “The Best New Restaurant” of 1998. The New York Times also awarded the restaurant three stars. Since Babbo was such a well known hit, Mario decided to open up nine other restaurants, included Osteria Mozza, in Los Angeles, New York, and Los Vegas.
Mario enjoys sharing this knowledge and passion for food any way he can. You may have already seen him on many television shows, such as the Food Networks Iron Chef. Mario has also published a total of six cookbooks throughout his career.
Throughout his career he has had many accomplishments and has been recognized for numerous awards. In 1998 he was named “Man of the Year” in the chef category by GQ Magazine; In 1999 Babbo Restaurant was awarded the James Beard Foundation for “Best New Restaurant”. In 2002 Mario was awarded the James Beard Award for the “Best Chef: New York City”. In 2005 his Babbo restaurant was awarded the Restaurant & Institutions “Ivy Award”. Also, in 2006 the Molto Italiano was awarded the James Beard Foundation for “Best International Cookbook http://www.mariobatali.com/restaurants_osteriamozza.cfm