LA Restaurants Make HerStory

Twice a year, Dine LA Restaurant Week highlights the scope and diversity of Los Angeles as a world-class dining destination. For Women’s History Month, we're highlighting eight must-try Dine LA restaurants that are female led and/or have female chefs. Make your reservations now for special lunch and dinner menus at hundreds of local restaurants, April 1-15.

Stephanie Izard opened her first restaurant at age 27, and was the first female chef to win Bravo’s Top Chef. The James Beard Award recipient has since made a string of high-profile TV appearances and opened five more restaurants, including the new Cabra, a restaurant and bar atop the Hoxton Hotel. 

Inspired by the vibrant flavors of Peruvian cuisine, Cabra serves shareable plates in a colorful, energized setting, complimented by an expressive cocktail menu and wine list. ‘Cabra’ is Spanish for ‘goat,’ and Cabra, like all of Izard’s eateries, includes a goat-meat option (goat empanadas with huacatay mayo).

Melissa Kalb first created culinary waves in 2018 when, with partner and rising-star chef Jackson Kalb, she made an El Segundo strip mall an unlikely pasta destination with the opening of Jame Enoteca. After 15 years in the hospitality industry, she knows how to create a truly exceptional guest experience. Alongside chef Kalb’s hand-rolled pastas, imaginative salads, and satiating sandwiches, this is the secret of Jame Enoteca’s unusually authentic Italian aura.

Melissa once again teamed with Jackson to launch Ospi in Venice. Offering a Dine LA lunch menu,  Ospi is sure to delight diners with a phenomenal selection from it's eclectic, Southern Italian menu.

Originally from Latvia, former model and pastry chef, Margarita Kallas-Lee runs the dessert programs at Pasta|Bar and Sushi|Bar concepts: cultured interpretations of Italian and Japanese cuisine.

Owned and run by Margarita and husband, chef Phillip Frankland Lee, their hyperseasonal Pasta|Bar reflects the local produce market at any given time, combining peak-season vegetables and fruit in simple yet creative ways. . Alternatively, the Lee's intimate, 10-seat Sushi|Bar is an omakase speakeasy, where diners can watch the chefs’ playful, free-form and sometimes unexpected takes on new-wave nigiri and other Japan-inspired delicacies.

A former chief of staff to financial CEOs and celebrity entrepreneurs, Dina Samson is both a James Beard Women’s Entrepreneurial Leadership and C200 Champion WIN Lab fellow. She has also co-founded three organizations which focus on supporting and uplifting L.A.’s restaurant community: the Independent Hospitality Coalition; RE:Her; and FeedLoveLA.

Located in downtown L.A.’s City Market South, Rossoblu tells the culinary tale of two places that chef Steve Samson considers home: Los Angeles and Bologna. The tastes of these two distant cities converge and complement one another in handmade pastas, market-fresh produce, and an extensive in-house salumi and butchery program.

Chefs Susan Feniger and Mary Sue Milliken have been business partners for more than 35 years and friends for even longer, since meeting as the only two women in the kitchen of Chicago’s Le Perroquet. In 2018, the duo were the first women to receive the Julia Child Award from The Julia Child Foundation for Gastronomy and the Culinary Arts.

Located within Santa Monica’s Gateway Hotel, their most recent venture, Socalo serves conscientiously-sourced, seasonal SoCal Mexican fare, with quick counter service at brunch and lunch, and full-service dining at dinner.

Nestled in a corner of Hollywood’s storied Roosevelt Hotel, The Barish is a posh, reimagined steakhouse that takes its name from chef Nancy Silverton’s paternal grandmother’s family. 

The 110-seat Barish’s Spanish Colonial Revival design motifs and old-world ambiance are enlivened by a central, wood-fired hearth. Silverton’s menus marry familiar steakhouse flavors with those of the Italian countryside, where she spends her summers. Accordingly, The Barish serves pasta, all baked al forno style, and nuanced sorbeti and gelati desserts. Nearly everything is cooked in the hearth, including a variety of cuts of beef served with sides and sauces, plus poultry and fish dishes.

Marie Petulla started waiting tables in Chicago at age 18, gradually working her way up to bartending at some of that city’s most influential bars. Opened by Petulla and Executive Chef Chris Keyser last year, U Street Pizza crafts two-day fermented dough, topped with sauce made from Bianca DiNapoli tomatoes and ultra-fresh produce from California farms.

Kat Hong’s meteoric culinary career has included becoming the only female chef de cuisine at a U.S. Michelin Three-Star restaurant and being honored as one of Food & Wine’s Best New Chefs four years later. In January, Hong and her chef husband John realized their dream of opening their first restaurant together with Yangban Society, in L.A.’s Arts District.

Rather than trying to elevate or modernize Korean food, the couple are seeking cuisine that is authentic to their experience as Korean Americans.