The Best LA Breakfast And Brunch Spots In 2024, According To A Los Angeles Local

First time visitors might be surprised to learn that, despite its thriving nightclub scene, Los Angeles is a actually also a city for morning people. By 8am, joggers wearing luxury tracksuits are out in full force while cafes are cranking out absurd quantities of avocado toast.

So if you’re in town and want to make the most of the early morning sunshine, check out 7 of the best brunches in Los Angeles (according to a local) in 2024.

The Butcher’s Daughter 

1205 Abbot Kinney Blvd, Venice

Image credit: The Butcher's Daughter | Instagram

A safe space for vegan and vegetarian foodies, The Butcher’s Daughter offers a 100% meat-free menu—with egg and dairy-based options serving as the exception rather than the norm. But come weekends, it also serves what’s arguably the best brunch in Los Angeles, no matter what your dietary inclination. Start with a seasonal cocktail pitcher and work through plant-forward favourites like fried mushroom calamari, lemon lavender waffles and stone oven pizzas made with cashew ricotta and cauliflower crusts. The fact that Lena Dunham refers to The Butcher’s Daughter as “not a cafe, but a lifestyle” tells us what to expect. And by that I mean a lot of millennial self-reflection and green goddess dressing.

Destroyer

3578 Hayden Ave, Culver City

A few years back, Chef Jordan Kahn opened what was possibly the most ambitious restaurant/art installation that Los Angeles had ever seen: the modernist space odyssey that was Vespertine. Sadly, the restaurant didn’t make it through the pandemic—but its casual cafe counterpart across the road did. Destroyer is far more approachable, still speaks to Kahn’s wonderful weirdness. There are no egg breakfast muffins or açai bowls on the menu, but a sweetcorn porridge of pearl couscous, poached organic egg, squash blossom, crispy chicken skin, brown butter and chilli will keep you nourished and wanting to explore the menu further.

All Day Baby

3200 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles

Image credit: All Day Baby | Instagram

Whether it’s date night, a catch up with friends or brunch on a dusty Sunday morning, All Day Baby is the kind of place that fits every occasion. Located in Silverlake, an eclectic neighbourhood that’s home to young families, creatives and numerous natural wine stores, it’s somehow upmarket and uber-casual at the same time. The contemporary, light-filled dining room flush with Sando furnishings is intentionally brought down a notch with the presence of buttermilk biscuit sandwiches and glazed spam. It works. There’s no reservations here, but you can walk in any day (baby) and sometimes nights as well (it’s open until 9pm Wednesday to Saturday).

Hamburger Mary’s 

It’s a good thing the Bottomless Mimosa Drag Brunch only happens on Saturdays at Hamburger Mary’s. Because if it took place on a school night nobody would make it to work the next day and the local economy would risk collapse. Mary’s draws a massive crowd at weekends, with its rollicking brunch sessions regularly selling out. The menu is fairly standard bar fare–think onion rings and fries, hefty burgers, fried pickles and mozzarella sticks–but the stage show more than makes up for it, with a roster of karaoke, trivia and bingo. It’s like…uhh…well imagine a hens or bucks party, but gay, with spectacularly dressed performers keeping the crowd cheering between bites of their burgers.

Eggslut

317 South Broadway, Los Angeles

Image credit: Eggslut | Instagram

At Eggslut the menu is dedicated entirely to eggs in various formats: scrambled, fried, boiled and coddled. They come packed into brioche buns, or served alongside bread dippers and hash browns. And there is almost always a queue, no matter what time off day. After opening its original location in Grand Central Market in 2011, the hugely successful chain has expanded to the UK, Singapore, Korea and Japan. However, regulators have denied Eggslut from opening in Australia due to its questionable name—so for now, you’ll have to travel.

Crustacean 

468 N Bedford Dr, Beverly Hills

The phrase ‘Asian fusion’ is known to make Gordon Ramsey shudder, but to be fair, it’s what makes Crustacean a Beverly Hills institution. The restaurant’s weekend brunch service has been a fan favourite for decades, and given the location, it’s surprisingly affordable for those of us who possess zero Golden Globe awards. Their “an sum” menu is a twist on traditional dim sum, featuring ube souffle pancakes, chicken and truffle dumplings and a lobster crispy rice version of eggs benedict. Having opened back in the 90s, Crustacean’s traditional, white table-clothed dining room is starting to show its age, But the place continues to pack out every weekend, so why fix what isn’t broke.

NBC Seafood 

404 S Atlantic Blvd, Monterey Park

Image credit: NBC Seafood | Instagram

It might resemble the grand ballroom that your cousin hired for their wedding, but NBC Seafood is one of the most authentic yum cha restaurants around. Arrive any later than 8am and expect to queue, because brunch service gets frantic as trolleys of steamed dumplings and crispy fried morsels rumble through the crowded room. The Cantonese seafood menu is fairly traditional, but if succulent chicken feet give you the ick, stick with the spring rolls and prawn har gow.