An Eater’s Guide to Hanukkah 2024 in Los Angeles

This year, Hanukkah begins in the evening on December 25 and ends in the evening on January 2. While not the most religiously significant holiday within Jewish culture, it is one of the most fun: marked by festive games, oil-fried foods, and gift-giving. Los Angeles, with its large diasporic Jewish community, has several restaurants, bakeries, and delis across the county that answer the call of the holiday’s golden-fried food traditions: from doughnut shops turning out takes on puffy, powdery, jelly-filled sufganiyot to crispy potato latkes served with fatty sour cream and applesauce.

Fully realized to-go dinners for individual family celebrations are available, but if you want to observe with the reliability and comfort of a dine-in experience, there are spots across the city offering Hanukkah dishes — or dishes fit for Hanukkah — that can be savored at a restaurant. Order Ahead To-go menus became a sustaining force for both diners and restaurants during the pandemic, and the new-normal tradition continues in 2024 with a robust slate of takeout dinners that are ready to heat and eat in the warmth of home. This Santa Monica stalwart is offering its usual Hanukkah bounty, with to-go main courses like brisket braised in red wine and tomato sauce as well as sides like kale salad with persimmons, toasted pecans, and honey dates; carrots served with an herby chimichurri; potato latkes; and homemade applesauce.



Desserts include cinnamon-sugar-dusted brioche donut holes and a chocolate olive oil tart. Pre-orders can be made through December 30 at 2 p.m.

for pickup and delivery from December 24 through January 1 during the business’s open hours. The kosher restaurant, owned by the Spielberg family (yes, those Spielbergs), will offer its sleekly packaged latke kits for $42. Each kit comes with a dozen latkes, apple compote, sour cream, and instructions for reheating to their intended crispiness.

Orders can be made for pickup (at its Pico-Robertson location) and delivery via its website , or by calling the restaurant at (310) 859-0004. On the sweet side, find sugar-dusted sufganiyot (box of six) or large blue-and-white cookies (box of six) for $35 each. This year, the restaurant will also host a celebration meal on the first night of Hanukkah, December 25, that begins with a candle lighting and includes dishes like apple-challah bread pudding, sufganiyot, and flaky potato latkes.

Reservations can be made via Resy or by visiting milkywayla.com . When in Doubt, Trust a Deli The option for those who don’t want to think too hard about where to ring in Hanukkah is clear: one of Los Angeles’s many Jewish American delis , which feature family gathering —appropriate spreads throughout the year, although sometimes without the specificity of the holiday and an Ashkenazi-centric lens.

Still, the deli is an icon of Jewish culture in America, a place of comfort whose survival usually speaks to stories of family resilience. This irreverent vegan deli pop-up is serving up gluten-free latkes by the dozen: come for classic scallion and dill pickle varieties served alongside cashew sour cream, apple sauce, and cashew Russian dressing (for the dill pickle latkes). All dishes are available to order for pick-up at Atwater Village Farmers Market (December 22); delivery pre-orders are also available via Avocado Toast from December 20 to December 22.

The delightfully old-school Beverly Hills institution will offer large-format catering options for Hanukkah celebrations at home, including platters of crispy fried latkes with sour cream and applesauce ($24.95), traditional holiday brisket ($49.95 for two pounds of brisket), powdered-sugar-covered sufganiyot ($5.

95 each), and festive “blue and white” cookies ($5.95 each); matzoh ball soup is also on order for those who want spring to come a little sooner. The Los Angeles deli mainstay is putting together its standard slate of offerings for the holiday, including tender holiday brisket; potato latkes with creme fraiche and homemade applesauce; roasted heirloom carrots with honey and rosemary; matzoh ball soup; a winter farmers market salad; and six individual chocolate babka rolls.

The packaged meal is available for pickup and delivery from Wexler’s Santa Monica location from December 25 through January 2 for $325 before tax and gratuity. Make a Reservation In 2024, some restaurants offer special Hanukkah menus; others offer dishes that, while not marketed for the holiday, still fit the spirit of it: oil-fried and joyful. Suzanna Goin’s A.

O.C. Brentwood location will feature a special dinner themed around “olio nuevo” (new oil) to celebrate Hanukkah on Sunday, December 29; it also pulls inspiration from Amelia Saltsman’s cookbook, The Seasonal Jewish Kitchen .

The $85 menu will include starter options like green olives with za’atar and citrus; traditional and untraditional Hanukkah fare like sweet and savory cheese pancakes or latkes with roasted smashed apples and sour cream; Yemenite pumpkin and carrot soup with white beans and kale; a main course of braised beef brisket or trumpet mushroom with pomegranate-glazed Brussels sprouts; and, for dessert, pistachio ice cream sundae drizzled with olio nuevo. Reservations will soon be open on OpenTable Experiences. Those looking for Akasha’s cult-favorite Vodka and Latkes dinner service are in luck: the cocktails and a la carte service are available for dinner at the restaurant from Thursday, December 26 to December 30, as well as January 1, from 5:30 p.

m. until close. Starters include faux vegan “liver” (made from blended peas, walnuts, and caramelized onions) and a seedy pletzel challah flatbread; entrees feature slow-cooked brisket and tangerine braised chicken.

The headliners, of course, are the latkes: the gluten-free Yukon Gold potato latkes can be ordered by the half-dozen. Akasha is also making its annual Hanukkah dinner offerings in a to-go format again: Pre-orders are available on Tock for pickup from December 26 to December 30. Save Room for Something Sweet Sufganiyot, jelly-filled doughnuts with North African and Eastern European origins , have become an iconic Hanukkah dessert — a sweet counterpart to savory oil-fried latkes.

While many mom-and-pop doughnut shops around Los Angeles serve up some form of jelly doughnut (raspberry or strawberry jelly-filled are ubiquitous), some restaurants go to the next level for the holiday, offering sufganiyot with artisanal ingredients and even yeasted sprinkle doughnuts shaped like the Star of David. Fairfax icon Genghis Cohen has debuted its latest Hanukkah ice cream collaboration, partnering with Santa Barbara-based McConnell’s Fine Ice Creams this year. The Chinese American restaurant, owned by Marc Rose and Med Abrous, will offer a limited-edition (and extremely punny) “Baby Got Mac(aroon)” pint for the holiday; it plays on the flavors of toasted coconut macaroons in creamy coconut cream ice cream with shards of bittersweet Guittard chocolate melted throughout.

Scoops will be available for diners at Genghis Cohen for $7 a pop or for $14 per pint to order on-site at Genghis Cohen, at McConnell’s Fine Ice Creams, or on McConnell’s Fine Ice Creams website beginning Friday, December 6. This artisanal doughnut favorite has locations across the Southland, including in Santa Monica, Fairfax, Torrance, and Manhattan Beach, and serves up sufganiyot with a twist each year. While in previous years, Sidecar’s sufganiyot have been available for pre-order, this year it will be serving its apple-cranberry sufganiyot on Mondays in December and every day through the holiday (starting early on December 23 and running through January 2, specifically); online ordering is available.

For those who keep kosher, Schwartz Bakery offers pastries and desserts, including sufganiyot for Hanukkah, prepared under rabbinical supervision. Offerings on the website include traditional sufganiyot filled with vanilla custard, chocolate custard, caramel, or jelly, and decidedly non-traditional dishes like maple doughnuts pocked with “candied facon” and a monster fried chicken breast sandwiched between two glazed doughnuts. Orders can be placed online for delivery; items can also be picked up in-store.

The classic Los Angeles doughnut shop will offer three renditions to mark Hanukkah: traditional jelly-filled sufganiyot, mini sufganiyot, and yeast-raised “Star of David” sprinkle doughnuts. The doughnuts will be available for pick-up in-store or for pre-order on Primo’s website through the month of December and into early January. Sign up for our newsletter.

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