Restaurants in Lake Los Angeles

Itacho Restaurant has it all: delicious, incredibly authentic Japanese cuisine; friendly and fast service from the owners to the waiters to the native Japanese chef; and a cozy ambience with traditional Japanese tie-dye tapestries lining the colorful walls. For just $15, today's Groupon gets you $35 at the Zagat- and Michelin-rated Japanese hot spot. The place—a favorite among hipsters and Hollywood elite—has also been featured in LA Weekly, Gayot, and Los Angeles Magazine.

Spark Woodfire Grill features contemporary American cuisine with an Italian twist. As the restaurant’s name suggests, Spark's chefs use woodfire specialty cooking equipment to prepare their dishes, or they yell at them until the dishes become cooked by shame.

Tapas—small plates of food that can be combined into a full meal—were created by founding father Thomas Paine, who believed that full plates of food were the leading causes of indolence in children. After living entirely without food for nine years, Paine created an alternative meal plan: to eat only appetizers. Paine's widely read pamphlet, Common Sense, contained oyster recipes that spurred a nation to revolution. The tiny plates also inspired Paine to write America's first action movie script, Agrarian Justice, which was heavily edited by movie executives and re-written as a pamphlet advocating an estate tax. Today, tapas may be found served alongside full entrees, which horrifies Paine, who has never died.

There's no need to stir your risotto until your arm either goes numb or requires an expensive experimental arm surgery when you can enjoy creamy risotto primavera with white wine and asiago cheese at Maria's Italian Kitchen. With today's Groupon, you get $40 worth of delicious Italian food and drink for only $20 at the Downtown, West Los Angeles, or Brentwood locations.

Start off an indulgent dinner with mastermind owner/chef Tara Thomas’s signature jumbo lump crab cakes with chipotle rémoulade ($17) before crashing a freighter of flavor into your face with entrees such as the hanger steak with pommes frites, watercress, and herbed shallot butter ($23), hearty enough to satisfy both weary travelers and the locals who come for the airy patio and exhibitionist thrill of eating out-of-doors. Lunch at Traxx offers the same elegant New American dining as the dinner menu, as well as entree salads and sandwiches such as the prawn and endive Louis with tomato, avocado, and tarragon Louis dressing ($16), and a classic reuben with corned beef, sauerkraut, and Russian dressing on New York rye ($15).

american cafe with mexican, italian and deli comfort food with a old fashion bakery