What about seafood?
Around Silver Lake:
Night + Market Song
Pine & Crane
Wat Dong Moon Lek
Kismet
Places that I don’t think have any counterpart in NYC and are vegetarian-friendly:
Baco Mercat
Baroo
Broken Spanish
Odys & Penelope
Gjusta is the worst. Parking’s a pain, lines can be long, and there might be nowhere to sit. The food’s good, but the design and organization were about as customer-hostile as I’ve ever seen. As Jonathan Gold said, “Of course you hate Gjusta—everybody hates Gjusta.” And if you’re coming from New York, their smoked fish is a fucking joke.
I’d do Rustic Canyon over Gjelina for market-driven California food.