The Best Brunches On La Brea, California

The Sycamore Kitchen, a rustic, brick-walled café, is always bustling with customers at the order counter or balancing their trays on the way to a table on the patio. The menu is healthy, with a signature twist on many classics. Strips of honey-sherry glazed pancetta lends a sweet undertone to the eggs Benedict. The Mediterranean Salad, sweetened with chopped dates and with briny bits of blue cheese tossed into crunchy kale and radicchio, is a sure winner. And of course the aroma of Stumptown coffee brewing behind the counter is reason enough to grab brunch at The Sycamore Kitchen.

Hidden from the busy La Brea strip behind vines is the cozy Café Verona. Perfect for a brunch date, this café has its own garden that produces fresh herbs and vegetables ready to flavor authentic Italian dishes. Cheeses, pasta, cannolis, and even cured ham and fish are imported weekly from Italy. Though the café doesn’t have a brunch menu, breakfast is served until 4pm every day, and the baked Uova del Giardino with a side of Parmigiano Polenta is the perfect combination.

After some particularly exhausting shopping, put down your bags at Café Midi. Located inside the American Rag store, the café has a menu as thick as a book. From eggs to salads to big meaty platters (try the Hanger steak!), Café Midi will have you covered for brunch. Breakfast and lunch is served all day, and you’ll be leafing through quite a few pages of delicious food items.

Republique, with its cathedral-like architecture, is all about big spaces, brick walls, and low hanging ceiling lamps over long, wooden, communal tables. Although not extensive, the weekend brunch of a hearty waffle ranchero, some traditional beef chili, and a buttery ‘Sticky Bomb’, cream-filled brioche buns sweetened with maple and salted with bacon, might just be what you need!

The La Brea Bakery has been catering to Angelenos since the ’90s. The bakery has been celebrated in numerous magazines for its artisan breads, but the café exhibits the same level of care for its delicious brunch, served all day. The sandwiches are assembled on freshly baked bread. Go for the roasted butternut squash pizza; it comes straight from a wood burning oven to your table, hot, crisp, and perfectly charred around the edges.

For a Mexican brunch flavored with a generous sprinkling of cumin and cilantro, check out Tinga; its menu is spiced to perfection. All the meats are marinated to make them ultra flavorful. If you can handle the chipotle-steeped chicken, get a platter of the Chicken Tinga tacos or even a mighty Chicken Tinga burrito that comes with all the fixings. This, along with a customary side of guacamole made extra special with Cotija cheese, is a brunch fit for a king.

Once in awhile, a fancy Sunday brunch buffet with fine food and bottomless Sangria is a perfect way to end a busy week. The Italian cuisine on the buffet table at Pip’s is full of variety. From the fresh pasta bar that stars a delicious spaghetti bolognese to the classic Margherita pizza on homemade crust and made-to order eggs, Pip’s ensures you get the best food amid an ambiance enlivened with live jazz.

Twist is another rustic café on the south side of the strip, serving organic pressed sandwiches, burgers, and salads. The popular pulled brisket between house-made brioche buns is what many customers come here for, but there’s also a house-roasted turkey sandwich that is just as delicious. Don’t forget to polish off the burgers with a sweet and salty caramel fudge square.