2025 has been another year of trying 150+ new restaurants!! If you’re wondering how I keep track, it’s through an app called Beli! It’s a social restaurant-ranking app where you can bookmark places you want to try and rank the restaurants you’ve been to. You can follow your friends, and the social feed shows which restaurants they have been trying and bookmarking. The most helpful part is that you can also see your mutual want-to-try restaurants, making it way easier to trap my friends into getting dinner with me! It created a year-end wrap-up, similar to Spotify Wrapped, but they call it Beli Plated.
Anyhow, this year, I had a lot of incredible sweet treats. Here are the best things I ate and drank in 2025, ordered from breakfast to dessert, with beverages at the end.
Bananas Foster French Toast from The Butcher, the Baker & the Cappucino Maker | West Hollywood, CA
If someone from out of town is visiting LA and you want to take them to a reliable LA brunch spot, West Hollywood is the place to be. I’ve brought a bunch of people to The Butcher, the Baker, & the Cappucino Maker, including my parents (read about other parent-friendly LA restaurant recs here). This was the first time that I got the French toast, and it was fabulous!! Note that you also need to get some breakfast potatoes here. You will be sorry if you skip them.
Cinnamon Bites from Society Kitchen | Santa Monica, CA
I don’t know why more people aren’t talking about this place? I took my parents to Society Kitchen for brunch in May, and the whole menu sounded good! The food was reasonably priced (for LA) and was delicious. These cinnamon bites were stuffed with cream cheese frosting, and I still think about them.
PB&J Croiffin from Wayward Baking | Los Osos, CA
This croiffin not only saved my boyfriend and I from hanger during our weekend in SLO, but it was also perfect amount of flakiness and chewiness. The peanut butter was mixed with something else so it wasn’t too dry, and the jam wasn’t too runny.
Yuzu & Lime Leaf Meringue Pastry from Lannan | Edinburgh, Scotland
I think this pastry was the messiest thing I ate all year, but it was delicious! We waited 45 minutes in line for this bakery on a Saturday morning and I can’t say it wasn’t worth it. This is the only bakery that has rivaled Foundry in Los Angeles.
Kale Caesar from Sprout Kitchen | Dublin, Ireland
Obviously, a salad was going to make the list here. I’ve had a lot of salads including a lot of Caesar salads, and I have to say that this one was special. On my trip to Ireland this summer, I had a few salads and learned the Irish always seemed to put bacon and chicken in their Caesar salads, and I had no complaints.
Beef Rib from Heritage Barbecue | San Juan Capistrano, CA
This blog post is making me remember how much I’ve waited in line for food. This place had an hour-long wait at lunchtime on a Saturday, but the beef rib was the best bbq I’ve had since my trip to Austin in 2019.
Melon Salad from Crudo e Nudo | Santa Monica, CA
Crudo e Nudo had incredible seafood, but the real standout to me was this melon salad! It was citrusy and spicy and sweet and fresh! I feel like their menu changes a lot since it was only on a chalkboard, but I would definitely go back to have this again if they still have it.
French Dip Sandwich from Hillstone | Santa Monica, CA
I tried Hillstone for the first time this year, and I think it’s one of those places that is fairly rated. Not over-rated, not under-rated. Everyone I know who has been there has enjoyed it, but there isn’t a massive hype around it. The menu is elevated American bar food with the addition of sushi (I didn’t think the fish was that good), and the service is great. They’re known for the burger and the chicken sandwich, but I think the best entree is the French dip sandwich with a healthy amount of horseradish sauce!
Sfincione from Felix Trattoria | Venice Beach, CA
Y’all I have had a lot of bread in my life, and this one may top the list. This perfect focaccia is the heavenly creation of James Beard nominee Evan Funke, and I am so glad my boyfriend and I got to share this experience for my birthday dinner (thank you Mayur!!). I also had the Sfincione Palermitano at Funke in Beverly Hills which had red sauce on top, and I can confirm the plain original sfincione is the best.
Hirame Nigiri from Uchi | West Hollywood, CA
When it comes to sushi, I usually just go to Sugarfish, but I was targeted by an Instagram ad for Uchi’s happy hour, so my friend and I checked it out. All the bites were great, it was just expensive, but this hirame nigiri was zesty and delicious!
Grilled Branzino from Bestia | Los Angeles, CA
I attended a housewarming party before going to Bestia, and a girl at the party said to get the fish, and I was glad she recommended it! I feel like branzino is usually just ok, but I loved the pesto and fresno chilis with this one. However, Bestia as a whole did not impress me after ordering half the menu with my supper club friends.
Linguine al Limone from Beethoven Market | Los Angeles, CA
Beethoven Market was the biggest Mar Vista hotspot this year, and it didn’t disappoint. I did eat a lot of pasta this year, and this one was a standout in presentation and taste.
Grapefruit Tart from Quarter Sheets | Los Angeles, CA
If I had to pick one dessert from this year, it would be this grapefruit tart. Quarter Sheets is such an unassuming spot in Echo Park, I don’t think the building even has the name on it. While it’s known for its pizza, you should also always get dessert. The pastry chef is incredible, but the menu changes very frequently, so it’s pretty devastating that this may have been a one-time occasion.
Funfetti Birthday Cake Blondie from Fleurs et Sel | Los Angeles, CA
Fleurs et Sel was founded by Lara Adekoya, a Bellevue High School and USC alumn, and she used to just take orders via Instagram DM and bake them in her apartment. She opened a brick-and-mortar shop in 2024, and I finally tried it this year (and went twice)! Funfetti cake is one of my favorite kinds of cake. This blondie was soft and buttery and so decadently sweet, and I really should not have eaten the whole thing in one sitting, but I have no self-control.
Milk Tea Ice Cream Bao from Woon | Pasadena, CA
I know it doesn’t look like much, but I would drive to Pasadena again just for this dessert. Mayur and I have a sweet tooth (obviously mine is sweeter), and we both agreed we would be ordering this ice cream bao sandwich before we even picked our entrees at Woon.
Cilantro Granita from Uchi | West Hollywood, CA
The happy hour menu at Uchi changes all the time, and so they don’t provide a printed menu and so I made sure to write the components down in my Notes app just for this blog post. It was a cilantro granita with cubes of pineapple, honeycomb, and jasmine cream. I don’t think I’ll ever have this again unless I somehow muster up the ambition to try to recreate it at home (unlikely but never say never), but it was exquisite.
Deconstructed Mango Sticky Rice from The Night We Met | Los Angeles, CA
This is truly one of the prettiest things I ate this year. My boyfriend and I didn’t read the description, we just saw mango sticky rice, so we were delightfully surprised when this appeared at our table.
Tiramisu from Osteria La Buca | Hollywood, CA
I’m not really a big tiramisu person, but I feel like I’ve had it a lot in LA since my roommate loves it. This one is hands-down my favorite tiramisu I’ve ever had, dethroning Donna’s. The cream was better, and I liked how it was slightly salty!!
BEST SIPS OF 2025
Thai Tea Cream Top from Kin Bakeshop | Santa Barbara, CA
Idk if cream tops are new or if I’m just late to the game, but I’m all about them! There were such interesting drinks on this menu that I’m strongly considering driving 160 miles round trip to try more.
Lychee Limeade from Mr. Sate | Culver City, CA
Make lychee limeade a more common beverage!! This was so refreshing on a summer day!
Baklava Matcha from Harvey Easton Cafe | West Hollywood, CA
I have been on a quest in 2025 for matchas that don’t taste like grass, and this was my top favorite! It was on the seasonal menu, so I’m not sure if it’s still available, but the barista recommended it, and I drank this way too fast.
Hojicha Cream Top from Stagger | Los Angeles, CA
I typically avoid Koreatown because parking is kind of a nightmare, but I went to Stagger twice this year (ok actually I didn’t drive either time lol)! I added a shot of vanilla to the hojicha cream top, and all my friends agreed that this was the best drink of the table.
Pumpkin Spice Chai Latte from Parakeet Cafe | Laguna Beach, CA
I’ve had pumpkin spice chais before, but this one hit different. It was sweet and spicy and tasted like the holidays. The thing about me is that I cannot nurse a drink, and I slurped it down in like five minutes.
RECOMMENDED READING:
Best Bites of 2023
The Best Fast Casual Restaurants in LA
