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Plugs — Lien Ta
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Plugs — Lien Ta

L.A. food, drink, and leisure recs from the Here's Looking At You restaurateur + LINKS

Feb 01, 2025
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Plugs — Lien Ta
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Plugs is The Angel’s recs column. Every week, you’ll get six picks—a restaurant, a bar, a shop, an ingredient, a person, and a treat—from someone in Los Angeles who knows what they’re talking about, plus a selection of Angel-curated links. (Plugs are for paid subscribers of The Angel only; upgrade your subscription to receive all six!)

To highlight the community that’s doing so much right now, I’m devoting an entire month of Plugs to restaurant industry players. Support restaurants! <3

#66 is Lien Ta, the restaurateur behind Here’s Looking At You and All Day Baby (RIP) and a fierce advocator for the Los Angeles restaurant industry. Lien is one of the best we’ve got. She is an excellent host (pay a visit to HLAY, and you’ll see). She co-founded Regarding Her, a national organization committed to accelerating the growth of women-owned businesses in the food and beverage industry. And she’s eloquent and outspoken about the issues facing food businesses. Lien’s recent post on how the wildfires have affected restaurants’ numbers was widely shared, rightfully. Fun fact: Lien’s partner is Eddie Navarrette (aka Fast Eddie) — talk about a power couple. Here are her Plugs!


Restaurant — Malibu Seafood

I can’t remember my first time at Malibu Seafood, but after getting a clue from my surrounding neighbors at adjacent picnic tables, I now always return with: table linens, Burgundy stemware, and a baller bottle of wine. (If I remember, I’ll bring a flight of hot sauce bottles, too.) Eddie and I have been coming here together for years (sometimes, he brings Krug!) — whether to catch a weeknight sunset, celebrate Valentine’s Day, or find a place to be alone in my grief, Malibu Seafood is my most restorative oceanside escape to celebrate every range of emotion. I always order: fried oysters, a fried fish sandwich, and a cup of clam chowder.

Lien and Eddie, fried fish, and Krug at Malibu SeafoodLien and Eddie, fried fish, and Krug at Malibu Seafood
Lien and Eddie, fried fish, and Krug at Malibu Seafood.

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