Take the Whole Family Out for dineL.A. Restaurant Week This Summer

Featuring $15 Lunch and $29 Dinner Menus for dineL.A. Restaurant Week, Canoe House is a colorful Hawaiian-inspired restaurant that stands out for many reasons in South Pasadena. Spicy tuna on crispy rice is an L.A. classic, and Canoe House serves their version with Sriracha aioli and scallions. Their BBQ spare rib and fried chicken platter with Thai slaw and fries eats like a luau. North Shore shrimp evokes Oahu food trucks like Giovanni’s, sautéing shrimp with white wine and teaming with sambal, garlic, cabbage, and white rice. Nothing says tropical like pineapple upside down cake, which sports dark rum sauce and comes with a scoop of coconut pineapple ice cream. Parents looking to add pep to their meal can supplement with a mai tai or lava flow cocktail.

Capital Seafood is a family-friendly Chinese restaurant with San Gabriel Valley food cred on the Westside. The Arcadia standby replaced short-lived Newport Seafood and now features a grand dining room with elaborate floral chandeliers and plant-lined patio. A dim sum menu that runs 80 items deep includes steamed har gow bursting with shrimp and pork & shrimp shiu mai topped with tobiko. Embellish with soy sauce, chile sauce and/or hot mustard. The $25 Lunch Menu brings standbys like orange chicken and salt and pepper pork chop. Capital Seafood dials up the discourse for the $49 Dinner Menu, when entrees include interactive Peking duck served with house-made buns. Also, it’s hard to imagine a diner of any age who wouldn’t enjoy pan-fried pork potstickers with lacy edges or mango pudding.

Chef Michael Cimarusti and front of house partner Donato Poto proved their mettle by collecting a James Beard Award for Best Chef: West and two Michelin stars in 2019 at sister restaurant Providence. Nearby, Connie and Ted’s is a more casual affair, complete with a large patio that lets kids hang loose. Parents can savor a half-dozen oysters with fresh-grated horseradish and mignonette, available on the $25 Lunch or $39 Dinner Menus. Kids will devour cod and chips, whether it’s in a sandwich with tartar sauce with shredded lettuce and pickles at lunch or served on a plate at dinner. The whole family will enjoy their decadent blondie for dessert that incorporates caramelized chocolate, vanilla ice cream, and salted caramel sauce.

Just about any pizza will do for many kids, but Cosa Buona makes some of L.A.’s best pies, pliable and char-pocked from cooking in a wood-burning Stefano Ferrara oven. The $15 Lunch Menu brings barbecue chicken to the mix, along with smoked scamorza, jalapenos, onions, and ranch dressing. Chef-owner Zach Pollack also serves creative Italian comfort food. The Stepmother riffs on the famous Bay Cities sandwich The Godmother, piling Italian cold cuts and cheese with “the works.” For the $29 Dinner Menu, kids will like getting messy with delicious chicken wings slathered with Zach’s red hot sauce. Meat Lover’s Pizza is the most tempting dinnertime pie, topped with pepperoni, sausage, coppa, tomato, onion, and mozzarella. Their fantastic cheesecake with Luxardo cherries is the star for dessert.

Pizza and pasta is a kid’s dream, and Eataly L.A. delivers at Westfield Century City. Turin-born Italian food destination Eataly takes up 67,000 square feet at the mall’s northeast corner. La Pizza & La Pasta houses two huge gold-tiled, wood-burning ovens that yield Neapolitan style pizza. For dineL.A. Restaurant Week, they’re tossing classic Margherita and pizza salsicciotta with tomato sauce, mozzarella di bufala imported from Campania, sweet Italian sausage, mushrooms, and basil. Pastas (fresh or dry) are also excellent, particularly feathery tagliatelle al ragù with braised brisket, Parmigiano-Reggiano DOP and Pecorino Romano DOP. This restaurant also serves house-made mozzarella for the $15 Lunch Menu. The $29 three-course Dinner Menu adds options like prosciutto e melone, a choice of dessert, and a touch of theater in the form of tableside tiramisu. Bonus: Westfield Century City also has a Westfield PlaySpace (playground) on level one.

Sam Fox and Phoenix-based Fox Restaurant Concepts tout The Henry as “the greatest neighborhood restaurant,” and this Beverly Hills beauty with a wraparound patio delivers for families. The centrally located restaurant opens for dinner at 4 p.m., which is certainly kid-friendly. Their eclectic $25 Lunch and $39 Dinner Menus dial up global comfort for dineL.A. Restaurant Week. Top starters include grilled & chilled shrimp cocktail with charred lemon and short rib potstickers. What kid (or adult) doesn’t like pan-fried dumplings? Harvest bowl is one of the better grain bowls in the area, melding 10 seasonal vegetables, seeds and sauces. They dial up the proteins at dinner, supplying choices like rotisserie half-chicken with vegetables and “umami sauce,” and Korean Prime skirt steak with “double egg” fried rice. Nighttime desserts range from light (strawberry shortcake) to indulgent (peanut butter moelleux).

What kid doesn’t like burgers? Jerry Greenberg started HiHo Cheeseburger with Matt Levin, Ajay Sahgal, and Lowell Sharron. The partners relocated HiHo from Ojai to Santa Monica in 2017 and the restaurant has proven to be a hit with locals and tourists. HiHo Cheeseburger grinds patties daily, featuring well-marbled, grass-fed Wagyu beef from First Light Farms in New Zealand, primarily chuck. Their signature burger gets an added boost for dineL.A. Restaurant Week, teaming triple-stacked patties starring mustard-grilled beef, cheese, ketchup, onion jam, lettuce, and house-made pickles. Featured in the $15 Lunch Menu or the $29 Dinner for Two, this burger behemoth comes with hand-cut fries and a choice of house-baked pie or small milkshake.

LGO Hospitality serves seasonal comfort food and lets kids see Gold Line trains pass by Pasadena from inside a revamped 1935 train depot. Zak Walters updated the menu in 2018, though they’ve maintained signature dishes to pair with meats that benefit from the rotisserie and grill. For the $20 Lunch Menu, mesquite-grilled Pacific swordfish stars in tacos, teaming line-caught fish with guacamole and pico de gallo in pressed-to-order corn tortillas. The $29 Dinner Menu brings options like Caesar salad, deviled eggs, and Mary’s organic chicken with Tuscan kale and roasted garlic to the table. Dessert centers on simple, but satisfying gelato.

Daniel Weinstock and Mike Garrett have made Maple Block Meat Co. a Culver City hit thanks to their modern takes on barbecue and comfortable setting, which includes a patio. Showcased in the $20 Lunch Menu, their peach wood-smoked meat, carved on maple blocks, centers on sliced brisket and pork spare ribs. The $29 Dinner Menu unleashes Mary’s free-range half-chicken, which comes with Christmas-colored salsas, pickled peaches, and tangy Alabama-style white sauce made with mayo and vinegar. Sides include gooey, kid-friendly mac & cheese with white cheddar crumble and earthy ranch beans with toasted chiles and smoky brisket bark.

Priced at $15 for lunch or $29 for dinner, The Proud Bird provides a meal and a show, letting food hall visitors watch airplanes take off and land across the street at LAX. The Proud Bird started as a restaurant and event space in 1967 and recently got reimagined as a food hall/museum, complete with vintage airplanes displayed on the grounds and hanging indoors - a feast for the eyes for kids. Bludso’s BBQ & Proud Bird Rotisserie is one of the top choices for house-smoked pork ribs, chicken, and brisket. The Proud Bird also houses stalls devoted to Chicken & Waffles, Farmer’s Market salads, Tasty Burgers, Handhelds (sandwiches, hot dogs and tacos), Asian (rice bowls and noodles) and Italian (pizza). A communal dining area includes one room designed to look like the inside of an airplane cabin. Parents can swing by The Mile High Club bar and lounge for a drink while kids partake in a taste of aviation.

Social Market & Eatery serves travel-friendly comfort food at the Los Angeles Airport Marriott. For dineL.A. Restaurant Week, executive chef Victor Miguel has crafted a compelling three-course $39 Dinner Menu that starts bold and stays that way. Consider charred rainbow cauliflower with sweetness from golden raisins and caramelized onions, toasted hazelnuts, and chimichurri. Color and textural contrast carries through to their rice bowl, which comes with a choice of chicken, salmon or Before The Butcher vegan meat. Social Market & Eatery’s main course also provides a chance to indulge in an 8-ounce New York strip steak with mashed potatoes and green beans. They’ve also devised a devious S’mores bread pudding for dessert that goes way beyond the campfire with vanilla ice cream and sea salt caramel.

Steve Samson and wife/partner Dina opened Superfine Pizza, a literal hole-in-the-wall down the block from their Fashion District gem, Rossoblu. They straddle the line between New York and Italy, baking pizzas with crispy crusts and good give in a deck oven. Anybody would crave these pies, and not just kids. The $15 Lunch Menu comes with a choice of two slices, plus mixed salad and soda. The $29 Dinner Menu features whole 18-inch pizzas. Highlights include spicy salami pizza with Provolone, Grana Padano, and buckwheat honey; and a version with house-made sausage, rapini, mozzarella, ricotta, and ricotta salata.

Kenneth “Cat Daddy” Pogson and Richard “Tres” Shannon created a sensation with Voodoo Doughnut in Portland. They expanded to Universal CityWalk in 2017, turning out colorful, sugary donuts with a twisted sense of humor. For dineL.A. Restaurant Week, they’re offering a baker’s half-dozen (seven donuts for $15), including their signature voodoo doll doughnut with chocolate frosting, raspberry jelly, and a pretzel stake through the doll’s heart. Their full-dozen option incorporates other classic Voodoo doughnuts like Grape Ape with purple vanilla frosting, grape dust, and lavender sprinkles; and Diablos Rex, a chocolate cake base with chocolate frosting, red sprinkles, and vanilla pentagram. Voodoo Doughnut even designed a special dineL.A. doughnut with a bread pudding base and white chocolate ganache.