Downtown Dining

 Bonaventure Brewing Co. & Restaurant
 404 S. Figueroa St., L.A. 213-236-0802 Whether you're in search of a late supper after escaping the office or just looking for a place to hang during happy hour, this is a great spot to know about.

 Cassell's Hamburgers
 3266 W. 6th St., L.A. 213-480-8668 Cassell's makes big, meaty, thick 'n' juicy burgers that rival those of the Westside's Apple Pan.

 Engine Co. No. 28
 644 S. Figueroa St., L.A. 213-624-6996 L.A. is often dismissed for its dearth of historic landmarks, but Engine Co. No. 28 is a distinctive downtown gem, particularly appreciated during mealtime.

 Hong Kong Harbor Chinese B.B.Q. Restaurant
 845 N. Broadway, L.A. 213-617-2983 Hong Kong Harbor is a large eatery with an even larger menu. The dinner list features 322 numbered items.

 Lucques
 8474 Melrose Ave., West Hollywood 323-655-6277 This is intelligent, sensual cooking. As small as the menu is, there are so many things you'd want to order that choosing can be difficult. Standouts include grilled Atlantic snapper set on green rice dotted with pine nuts; suckling pig with its crackling crust; and a juicy veal chop with cavolo nero (Tuscan black cabbage) and truffle butter.

 Pacific Dining Car
 1310 W. 6th St., L.A. 213-483-6000 Where else, outside of Las Vegas, can you get prime rib done just so, with a baked potato and a Manhattan at 4 in the morning?

 The Original Texas Barbecue King
 867 W. Sunset Blvd., L.A. 213-972-1928 At this Southern barbecue place, just west of Chinatown, rib racks, chicken and briskets are grilled on a smoke-blackened oil drum over hickory.
 

 Empress Pavilion
 988 N. Hill St., L.A. 213-617-9898 Awesomely large, this ornate, bustling Hong Kong-style restaurant offers 175 menu selections.

 Full House Seafood Restaurant
 963 N. Hill St., L.A. 213-617-8382 Full House Seafood Restaurant has been around for 20 years. Much of its food is in the subtle Cantonese style, but there are plenty of dishes for those who like their food spicy.

 Hoy King Seafood Restaurant
 207 Ord St., L.A. 213-680-1705 Hoy King Seafood Restaurant may be in Chinatown, but it gives the feeling of a back street in Hong Kong. The lunch menu offers many choices, and the combination meals provide good value. (At dinner, when the place is really packed, there is a grander menu that includes abalone, sea cucumber and shark's fin dishes.)

 Mon Kee's Seafood Restaurant
 679 N. Spring Street, L.A. 213-628-6717 Don't judge the ambience of this Chinatown landmark until you taste the Mon Kee Special Wor Wonton soup, made with shrimp, scallops and squid.
 

 Bernard's Bistro
 506 S. Grand Ave., L.A. 213-612-1580 Bernard's Bistro offers casual French dining at the landmark Regal Biltmore Hotel in the heart of Los Angeles.

 City Grill
 930 Wilshire Blvd., L.A. 213-627-4289 Inside the Omni Los Angeles, you'll find City Grill, featuring traditional American cuisine.

 Conollys Restaurant
 11510 W. Pico Blvd., West Los Angeles 310-479-2133 This hip yet cozy spot run by Irishman John Connolly offers food that is wildly eclectic.

 Otto's Grill & Beer Bar
 135 N. Grand Ave., L.A. 213-972-7322 Otto's, on the Grand Avenue side of the Music Center, is perfectly situated for the pre-show dinner crowd and has a wide array of beers and wine for post-show carousing. Reservations are a must for sit-down dining before the opera, symphony or theater, but there always seems to be a little room in the bar to squeeze in one more person ordering a quick bite.
 

 Checkers Restaurant
 535 S. Grand Ave., L.A. 213-891-0519 Tucked into a charming downtown boutique hotel is this outstanding restaurant, a pleasantly sedate refuge from the hassles of city life.

 Ciao Trattoria
 815 W. 7th St., L.A. 213-624-2244 This downtown Italian restaurant is a visual delight and serves as an ideal prelude to the theater or symphony.

 Cicada
 617 S. Olive St., L.A. 213-488-9488 Cicada offers Italian comfort food in a hushed, glamorous setting. Set in the 1928 art deco Oviatt building downtown, this classy restaurant still looks very much like the haberdashery it used to be.

 Tesoro Trattoria
 300 S. Grand Ave., L.A. 213-680-0000 Located in the fountain court of downtown L.A.'s massive California Plaza, this stylish trattoria is perfectly situated for a business dinner or an early meal prior to an evening at the Music Center across the street.

 Zucca
 801 S. Figueroa St., L.A. 213-614-7800 In keeping with its Italian theme, Zucca looks the part of a big city ristorante. Occupying the bottom of an office building at 8th Street and South Figueroa, it's one of the few downtown L.A. restaurants that has a presence on the street. Any of the meats from the wood-burning oven or rotisserie are an excuse to pop open a Chianti Classico or Brunello.
 

 El Rinconcito del Mar
 2908 E. 1st St., L.A. 323-269-8723 This Mexican seafood restaurant has been a fixture on East 1st Street in Los Angeles for more than 30 years. The long menu offers a variety of seafood cocktails and soups, appetizers such as ceviche tostadas, fish tacos, steamed clams, oysters baked with chipotle chiles and cheese, and many other dishes.

 Frying Fish
 120 Japanese Village Plaza, L.A. 213-680-0567 The owner of this compact sushi bar claims that his was the first in Los Angeles to feature a conveyor belt that moves sushi around the room. Dubious distinction award, anyone?

 Full House Seafood Restaurant
 963 N. Hill St., L.A. 213-617-8382 Full House Seafood Restaurant has been around for 20 years. Much of its food is in the subtle Cantonese style, but there are plenty of dishes for those who like their food spicy.

 The Fisherman's Outlet
 529 S. Central Ave., L.A. 213-627-7231 The biggest sellers are the fried seafood plates, which come with rice or with crunchy skinny fries and a little cup of dill-spiked cole slaw.

 Water Grill
 544 S. Grand Ave., L.A. 213-891-0900 Everything from the sea, both near and far, appears on Water Grill's menu. Under chef Michael Cimarusti, this once-moribund seafood house has become the city's best. Stop in before the theater or a concert for oysters from the raw bar, or try a bowl of the fabulous white clam chowder laced with applewood-smoked bacon.
 

 Ciudad
 445 S. Figueroa St., L.A. 213-486-5171 Latin variety is nestled deep in the heart of new Ciudad.

 El Rinconcito del Mar
 2908 E. 1st St., L.A. 323-269-8723 This Mexican seafood restaurant has been a fixture on East 1st Street in Los Angeles for more than 30 years. The long menu offers a variety of seafood cocktails and soups, appetizers such as ceviche tostadas, fish tacos, steamed clams, oysters baked with chipotle chiles and cheese, and many other dishes.

 El Taurino
 1104 S. Hoover St., L.A. 213-738-9197 At this busy restaurant, meat (and lots of it) comes shredded, sliced and smothered to satisfy the staunchest of carnivores.

 La Parilla
 2126 Cesar Chavez Ave., Boyle Heights 323-262-3434 Many specials are designed for two or more, so bring an omnivorous friend with a lusty appetite--and a healthy love for mariachi music.

 La Serenata de Garibaldi
 1842 E. First St., East Los Angeles 323-265-2887 Just the thought of La Serenata de Garibaldi's camarones in cilantro sauce, gorditas filled with rock shrimp or fish enchiladas is enough to get L.A.'s Mexican seafood aficionados out to Boyle Heights.