Little Tokyo

Tea Master serves some of LA’s best matcha in a Little Tokyo strip mall. This place is the real deal; the owner is a student of Edosenke, a centuries-old Japanese school of tea ceremony. And their matcha soft serve is a treat after lunch at Sushi Gen across the way.

Dig into yellowtail sashimi, shisito peppers, spicy albacore crispy rice in an industrial space. If the wait time is up there, grab one of their takeout handroll kits.

This hot-pink Italian disco, situated just behind De La Nonna, is a great place to go out. If you come early in the evening, the groovy, mirrorballed space is a chill spot to have a drink and listen to music. The dancing really picks up at around 9 p.m.

This drinks-only establishment (an anomaly in its food-driven Little Tokyo neighborhood) serves up an inventive cocktail list with a rare bent toward Japanese whiskey

Marugame Monzo is the place to go for udon of all flavors—from curry udon to uni creamy sauce udon, shrimp tempura udon, and seafood tomato cream udon.

There's something so comforting about a hot bowl of ramen on a cold day, and anytime there's even a hint of rain in Los Angeles, the lines at this Little Tokyo joint are out the door.