Highland Park, Los Angeles · restaurant
This Highland Park spot isn’t playing around with the spice, but it’s also not just heat for heat’s sake. Mala Class dishes out impeccably balanced Sichuan fare (yes, the chili crisp is homemade and no, you can’t buy it—yet). The room’s dark and intimate, lit like a noir film, and the crowd leans effortlessly cool. Slurp the dan dan noodles slowly and don’t wear white.