Southwest: Los Angeles’ New Gastropub Scene

In this city of Champagne dreams, a craft-beer fan had to head south to San Diego for a fix. Luckily for hip hops aficionados, L.A. these days is all about well-crafted beer options and delicious pint pairings.

Just east of downtown at Eagle Rock Brewery, a fedora-clad crowd sips beers with names like Revolution (an American extrapale ale) and Manifesto (a Belgian white spiced with coriander and citrus). Add a burger or salad from the Flatiron Food Truck parked out front, and it’s one of the city’s most affordable, diverse beer brunches.

Brew fans enjoy small plates of intensely flavored pub fare like the bäco, a hybrid flatbread and taco, at Chef Josef Centeno’s Bäco Mercat (pictured), while Arts District newcomer Little Bear goes the all-out Belgian-style beer route (17 offerings on tap), serving up reinvented Belgian-accented dishes like house-smoked salmon with beluga lentils. —Jenn Garbee