FOOD FIGHT: L.A.VS.S.F.
The menu at Santa Monica’s oh-so-busy Native Restaurant is a multicultural mix. Diners can fill their brunch table with a rainbow of California fruit, syrup sandwiches (a French toast remix inspired by Compton rapper Kendrick Lamar’s hit “Humble”) and hearty kimchi latkes, a piquant take on classic Jewish potato pancakes. At dinner, the menu becomes even more eclectic, with kombu-scented potatoes, Korean gochujang-glazed pork chops and deep-fried chocolate, a rather elegant version of a Mexican churro featuring candied Serrano pepper.
The wildly diverse menu at Native is emblematic of the variety in the exploding food scene in Los Angeles, where an ethnic and culinary melting pot is bringing forth some of the country’s most creative and magically delicious food. With its world-wise mix of Asian, Latin and soul food flavors, Native’s menu is exactly what Los Angeles tastes like right now.
Owner Nyesha J. Arrington is the embodiment of this heady mix: She’s half Korean and half African-American, and the kimchi latkes are a nod to her Korean grandmother. Just a few years ago, Arrington says, Los Angeles “wasn’t a dining destination.” With some high-end and ethnic exceptions, the food scene was a bit safe and maybe a little stiff.
But Arrington and others say that in the past couple of years, the food center of California has been moving south. “I feel like in the last six years it’s been percolating, and now just in the last two years, it’s really celebrated,” Arrington says of the L.A. food scene.
“I think L.A. is the hottest food city in the country
