Gjelina

The order to build around is still the wood-fired pizza: thin-crust, Neapolitan-style, blistered from the oven and backed up by plates of seasonal vegetables rather than treated as the whole event.

Gjelina opened on Abbot Kinney Boulevard in Venice in 2008, with founding chef Travis Lett setting the tone for produce-forward cooking that felt particular to this stretch of Los Angeles. Roasted fennel, seasonal grilled vegetables and those now-famous pizzas became the language of the place: simple, market-led, direct.

That approach has travelled far beyond one dining room. The New Yorker, Condé Nast Traveler and Eater have all credited Gjelina with helping popularise a market-driven, vegetable-forward way of eating in Los Angeles. It remains the flagship of the Gjelina Group, and the current kitchen continues to work from Lett’s original philosophy. Go for brunch or dinner; the appeal is the same seasonal clarity that remade Abbot Kinney’s restaurant scene.