République

République's building on La Brea was built in the late 1920s for Charlie Chaplin. Later it was home to Campanile and La Brea Bakery, and in 2013 Walter and Margarita Manzke opened République there. The Los Angeles Times marked its tenth year in the Chaplin building in 2023.

It is three things in one. Mornings it is a café and bakery, and the pastry is the reason to come: Margarita Manzke won the James Beard award for Outstanding Pastry Chef or Baker in 2024. Breakfast and brunch run every day from eight until two. Evenings, Tuesday to Saturday, it is a California-French dining room built on seasonal ingredients. The wine is chosen by the sommelier Sarah Clarke, and the bar takes its cocktails seriously.

The wine is chosen by the sommelier Sarah Clarke, and the bar takes its cocktails seriously.

The room is the old building at full height, with seven spaces across two floors and a patio for anything from six to three hundred people. Go for breakfast on a weekday and take the pastries seriously, or book dinner for two on a Friday and order around the bread. Why we like it: it is the rare Los Angeles restaurant that is as good at eight in the morning as at eight at night.

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