These Are The Best Places To Eat Deep In The Valley In LA, According To A Local

Coming from Northeast LA, I don't trek to the deep San Fernando Valley often; the drive can be brutal during rush hour (which is most of the day). LA dwellers like to make fun of the Valley, but it is home to many amazing people, housing is cheap, and the food is good. To me, it feels like the epicenter of nerd culture in Los Angeles, as it has many nerdy spots to drink and game, like Guild Hall and Roguelike Tavern. Yes, all the Michelin-starred restaurants are south of the 101, with only two of them in the Valley at all, but that mostly means food in the Valley is not only good, but affordable — and the spots on this list are among the very best.

I've been in LA for nearly a decade now. When I first moved here, I stayed with family in Van Nuys, but spent no time there. I didn't know where to look for good food. Now, after all these years, I have better ideas. The Valley is such a large, sprawling portion of the city. Renting a commercial space here costs less than in other neighborhoods, so it's easier for people to open the restaurant they want, as opposed to what will attract the most diners. I've worked enough jobs out there and found places for lunch that I now make a point to visit with some regularity. For the sake of this article, I'm considering the "deep Valley" anything West of the 405 in the San Fernando Valley.

One of my first LA food loves, Vinh Loi Tofu, is a vegan Vietnamese restaurant run by Chef Kevin Tran and his wife Lynne Phan, who make all their own tofu. I don't bother with the menu. I go with a group and tell Chef Kevin how hungry we are and how spicy we like it. Pretty soon, plates of mouthwatering fried rice, curry soups, and noodles start showing up, all with his amazing mock meats. Chef Kevin has a sense of humor, too. Once, I brought a friend to Vinh Loi, who Chef Kevin took one look at before serving him chicken nuggets to ease him in. They were delicious.

What really sets Vinh Loi apart is the flavor. Everything is spiced to the fullest. The chef does not hold back on his use of lemongrass, ginger, shallots, garlic, galangal, and chilies. The textures and flavors of the "meats" are so impressive that I took my farmer father-in-law to eat there, and he never realized it was vegan. The vegetarian fish sauce appears to be made of fermented beans and is awesome. If it weren't so far from me, Vinh Loi would certainly be in my regular rotation of LA restaurants I take out-of-towners to.

Like many on this list, Zaatar N' More is easy to miss in the middle of a strip mall. I spent three months in Beirut and have been searching for man'oushe za'atar that lives up to what I was eating at the bakeries along the street in my neighborhood of Hamra. As a city with a sizable Lebanese population, I knew I'd eventually find something in LA. A producing job took me out to Northridge for a few months, and in my search for good lunch options, I stumbled upon this place.

Chef Hassan Chiha moved to the U.S. from the Tripoli area of Lebanon in 1986 and opened up an Italian restaurant with his family. A few decades later, he turned the Italian franchise over to his brother and started Zaatar N' More. 

Chiha is passionate about Lebanese food, which came through as soon as I walked in. My usual man'oushe orders bounced around from the stuffed cheese and za'atar, a flatbread stuffed with cheese and covered in thyme, sesame seeds, and olive oil; cheese akawi, flatbread with akawi cheese, sesame seeds, and nigella seeds; vegetable labneh, flatbread with veggies and labneh yogurt; and kashk, flatbread topped with bulgur wheat soaked in yogurt. They're all good, but kashk is what I craved most and had the most trouble finding in Los Angeles. The wraps are all equally great. Warm flatbread fresh out of the oven just cannot be beat.

I'll admit I used to think there was no good coffee in the Valley. Laidrey proved me wrong. The pour-overs I got there had rich, complex flavors, and all of the espresso drinks are well-crafted. My usual flat white could hold its own with any sold on the other side of the Santa Monica Mountains. Since this is Los Angeles, offering matcha drinks is an unofficial requirement, and Laidrey's seasonal Flower Bomb Matcha masterfully combines ceremonial-grade matcha and orchid syrup.

Like another one of my favorite LA coffee shops, Endorffeine, Laidrey is owned by scientists. Co-owner Marisa Briones has a PhD in molecular and medical pharmacology and works in HIV and addiction research, while co-owner and roaster Gacia Tachejian was a behavioral research scientist. Tachejian uses her research knowledge to find farms with ethical practices, focusing on their operations, employee wages, giving back to their communities, and opportunities for women. The shop sources its beans from female-led or female-run farms across the world.

Laidrey has great veggie or bacon breakfast burritos on the menu, full of avocado and tater tots. There's also avocado toast with za'atar and feta, quiches, and a full spread of pastries, including multiple flavors of vegan croissants. Local bakery Bakers Kneaded supplies Laidrey with all of its breads and pastries.  

Anytime I'm road tripping out of LA, I make a stop at one of Furn Saj's locations along the 101 or 5 freeways. Furn Saj is a family bakery and restaurant that opened in 2013 and now has three locations: two in the Valley and one in San Diego. The bakery's expansive and, honestly, overwhelming menu makes it difficult to drop in quickly and grab a bite. I want my usual Za'atar man'oushe, kashk man'oushe, falafel plate, and spicy veggie wrap, but I also want to try new dishes, like the adjarski and the saroukh boat. Both involve bread and copious amounts of cheese.

If I can, I go to Furn Saj with a crew, and we load up the table with too much food, making sure we have a fresh fattoush salad to counter all that bread. The eatery makes vegan versions of many traditional dishes with Impossible meat — a rarity for Lebanese bakeries. The Impossible kibbeh is a vegan take on the deep-fried, spiced balls of bulgur and beef.